O status Social stands for position what each group occupies in the social dynamics. Differentiation usually implies some degree of hierarchy and, even if it takes place in the social order, it impacts the economic and legal order, all influencing each other. This historical construction changes over time, with greater or lesser intensity. The greater the flexibility to change, the greater the possibility that social mobility pathways will be developed within it.
Read too: Social inequality - badly perpetuated by a fixed social structure
What is social status?
Social status, as a sociological concept, is a position occupied por each individual in range of relationships of social structure where he lives. This position can be high, median, unprincipled. It is, above all, a classification that delimits society's expectations about a person and outlines for her the possible paths of social mobility. It has an organizational function based on a hierarchy, more or less rigid depending on location and historical period.
This concept is worked on by sociologists who have dedicated themselves to studying the social stratification by which the societies are organized. The position of each individual within this hierarchy is their social status, which determines not only their behavioral repertoire, their relationships with other people, but their opportunities, their access to cultural and material resources and their decision-making capacity.
Do not stop now... There's more after the advertising ;)
Social status is related to different roles we play in the organization dThe society of which we are a part. It can be assigned or acquired and determines our position based on the articulation of several characteristics, such as job position, gender, level of formal education, family nucleus, condition economic, etc. Furthermore, it outlines social roles by which each person's conduct will be modulated. It's not rigid, but changeable, just like the culture.
Read too: Karl Marx – theorist who proposed a model that aimed to transform the social structure
Max Weber and social status
Max Weber was a great student of social stratification. The word stratification derives from stratum, which in turn means layer. To visualize the concept, we can imagine a pyramid with different bands in your base to the top, each one representing a social layer according to its concentration of assets, such as wealth, formal knowledge and capacity to influence important decisions. Therefore, the study of social stratification within sociology makes it possible to understand how the social hierarchy and how inequalities are structured and reproduced.
For Weber, social stratification is multidimensional, that is, it involves multiple aspects, such as income, status and power. These three mechanisms shape the process of domination between unequals, socially differentiated into classes, castes or status. It is structured not only in economic terms, but also in terms of power, which he defines as the ability of an individual or group of individuals to impose their will on others.
Weber coined the concept of groups of status or estates. These constitute communities within society. characterized by respectability, honorability and social esteem. Unlike social class, its legitimacy does not derive from economic power, but from education, its own culture and a specific lifestyle of those who participate in this community through family relationships, friendship, marriage or acting politics. Status groups distribute power within a community. The more stable the economic stratification, the greater the preponderance of distinction based on social honors.
For Weber, social status does not exclusively involve the economic factor, but the search for honors, distinction and prestige, which can also be achieved by political power, lifestyle, cultural framework. How honors are distributed determines the social order and influences the distribution and use of goods and services. To learn more about this important author of Sociology, read: Max Weber.
Types of social status
- Assigned social status: it does not depend on the will of its owner, it is conferred on him by circumstances beyond his control, such as the family he is born into, whether he is a man or a woman, an older or younger brother. The social status assigned is also prior to its owner, that is, before he is born, this valuation is already delegated to his family, to the region where he was born, to his economic status, by a social and historical construction that preceded he.
- Acquired social status: in turn, it depends on individual action, on personal efforts, to be achieved. Continuing the above parallel, being an obedient child, being a college educated woman, being a politician. For this status, the way in which the social role is performed in order to rise and maintain a certain position is crucial. Therefore, the acquired social status is directly related to the performance of each individual's social roles.
Examples of Social Status
From the Weberian theory, three examples of social group will be pointed out and how social status operates in each one of them.
state societies
Weber built his concept of status groups on the basis of status societies such as the old societies feudal europeans. To the favored strata, such as the nobility, in addition to the monopoly of cultural tradition, the monopoly of opportunities and privileges was also attributed.s, denied to anyone who was not part of them.
The status involved prestige, power, cultural habits considered refined, lineage, social belonging, tradition, allegiance. These assets served to classify people and arbitrate their relationships. Social status could be changed, however the possibilities of social ascension were very limited.. Groups that enjoyed prestige considered themselves worthy of it and attributed it to a glorious past, while groups less prestigious people postponed to a future determined by God the honor they also desired to have in this world or after death.
caste societies
In caste societies, such as India, the groups of status are closed with sets of duties and rights defined by Hinduism. The social position of each caste is linked to a historical setting, which involves elements such as lineage, heredity, religious function.
In the rigidity of the caste system, social distance is practiced from the distinction between pure and impure, valid differentiation for people and also for food, thus, a certain caste cannot relate to people considered impure nor eating the foods considered impure, therefore, hostilities engendered from the social position develop.
Marriages only take place between people of the same origin, that is, belonging to the same caste. The conduct of the members of each caste is prescribed by the gods, so the divine will is decisive in the socialization process. Customs are handed down from generation to generation and have little variation over time. There is no social mobility, as caste positions are determined by birth and cannot be changed via marriage, formal study, occupation or any other means.
Social classes
Social classes, unlike state or caste societies, are defined by the economic component and its variables, such as income, ownership of property, service offered in the labor market, consumption capacity. On here, there is no fixity of position, it is possible to move between classes and even belong to more than one.
Weber typifies social class, which is generational, like the little one bourgeoisie and the proletariat; the profitable class, whose goods and services are valued, such as liberal professionals, bankers, merchants, industrialists, entrepreneurs; and the propertied class, whose prestige depends on the size and importance of the property, from monopolists of services and owners of large assets, even indebted, who only have their workforce as the object of property.
the social position invariably é permeated by the world of work. Thus, hierarchy is defined based on the labor market. The social status here, among other factors, intertwine-if to formal instruction, to work skills that are valued and à ability to influence important decisions.
We, for example, call doctors, as a sign of deference, those who study for years at higher education institutions; we call doctors doctors, whose mission is to save lives, and we call judges who enjoy a position of influence in the state as doctors. If you want to know more about this important sociological concept, go to: social class.
Differences between social status and social role
As we have seen, social status determines our position within a society. The social role defines our rights and duties, which demarcate the position we occupy in relation to other people, in other words, what is expected of us, what kind of actions should we take to match that status, what is the appropriate behavior for the role we play in the social group of which we are part. For example: what are my rights and duties as a woman? And as a mother? And as a daughter? And as a sociologist? Each of these questions corresponds to a social role. And social status is made up of the sum of these functions.
Social role is an expression that alludes to theater. Just as characters act in accordance with each scene and with their interlocutors, social roles are played according to the occasion, the context and the interlocutor. Our conduct is different when we are at home than when we are at work, at school, in a public place. It also changes depending on the person we relate to and our position in relation to them: spouse, boss, employee, parent, child, religious leader, teacher, student, etc.
We are socially constrained to follow a pattern of conduct and if we deviate from it, there will be sanctions, ranging from a warning to expulsion or even imprisonment. The rights and duties assigned to each social role end up forming behavior patterns that delimit what is acceptable or not as a practiced attitude.
The status and social role classify, within a social structure, the functions of each person, in order to organize the relationships according to the sets of actions expected, in a cohesive, productive arrangement with low potential for conflict. In capitalist societies, the professions, according to the valorization of their social function and their capacity to produce material gain, are directly related to the value of the position that an individual occupies, therefore with their status. Social.
By Milka de Oliveira Rezende
Professor of Sociology
