Social status

Common card · No. 208447

Social status is the relative level of social value a person is considered to possess. Such social value includes respect, honor, assumed competence, and deference. On one hand, social scientists view status as a "reward" for group members who treat others well and take initiative. This is one explanation for its apparent cross-cultural universality. People with higher status experience a litany of benefits—such as greater health, admiration, resources, influence, and freedom; conversely, those with lower status experience poorer outcomes across all of those metrics. Importantly, status is based in widely shared beliefs about who members of a society judge as more competent or moral. While such beliefs can stem from an impressive performance or success, they can also arise from possessing characteristics a society has deemed meaningful, such as a person's race or occupation. In this way, status reflects how a society judges a person's relative social worth and merit—however accurate or...

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