Types of Status: Achieved, Ascribed, and Embodied
According to sociologists and animal behaviorists, there are three types of status: ascribed, achieved, and embodied.
Ascribed Status
Ascribed status is the status one has because of birth or a role they take on later in life. The class you’re born into, your race, and your sex comes with status built into it. So for example, if you’re a white dude born into an influential and rich family in New England, you’re going to have more inborn status — in America at least — than if you’re a black woman born to a poor family in the South. Ascribed status is what fuels the caste system in India and was the basis of aristocracy in Europe and the early days of the United States. Ascribed status isn’t unique to humans. Primatologists have also observed it in our primate relatives as well. For example, male chimps born to high-status females will go on to enjoy higher status in all-male coalitions later in life.
Ascribed status doesn’t just come with birth; it can also be conferred simply by assuming certain positions later in life. For example, research has shown that randomly assigning someone as a “leader” for an ad-hoc group will give that person status in the eyes of his peers. Sure, he might do something later on to lose that status (being too domineering, making poor decisions that affect the group), but simply filling the role of leader gives the person status. Parenthood comes with ascribed status for the same reason — in the eyes of children, at least until they’re teenagers, parents hold power and authority.
Another way in which we can get ascribed status is just by growing older. In most cultures, older people are given deference by younger folks simply because, well, they’re older, and they have at least hypothetically had more experiences and gained more useful wisdom.
Ascribed status is typically stable and doesn’t change all that much over the lifetime of an individual. Typically, more traditional cultures place greater emphasis on ascribed status.
Achieved Status
Achieved status is the status one has gained through his own efforts. It’s status that is earned. Individuals that provide benefits through ability and talent to the group in which they belong earn the respect and status of that group. In modern, Western industrial societies, achieved status is given more importance than ascribed status. In America, we aspire to the ideal that Thomas Jefferson (an aristocrat who personally embodied both ascribed and achieved status) espoused — that the nation should become not an aristocracy of birth, but of virtue and talent.
Because achieved status is dependent on one’s personal effort, it is much less stable and secure than ascribed status. You must constantly prove to your peers through action that you’re still worthy of the respect and deference they’ve lent you.
Achieved status is also seen in primates, often in a more brutal and violent way. Male chimps that can violently dominate other male chimps will typically be seen as the “alpha male” of the group. It doesn’t matter if he wasn’t born to a high-status female. Chimps can also earn status by grooming other chimps and sharing resources with the group.
The same dynamic holds true in human communities. Men can gain status through demonstrations of strength and aggression, but they can also achieve status by mastering a skill that benefits their community, and by cooperating with others. Which avenue of status-achievement works most effectively depends on the circumstances.
Embodied Status
Embodied status is status that we get from our physical characteristics. Tall, handsome, fit men have more status than short, unattractive, chubby men. Included in embodied status are traits like posture and voice. Research has shown that men who stand up straight and have a deep baritone voice will be perceived as having more status than a man who slumps his shoulders and talks in a high-pitched tone.
One of the ugly sides of embodied status comes with physical and mental disabilities. Despite society’s best efforts, research has shown that handicapped individuals are seen as inferior. While Western countries have made significant progress in removing this stigma, in some cultures around the world individuals with physical disabilities are treated with severe scorn and are ostracized from the community. This behavior is also seen in animals. Evolutionary psychologists and biologists hypothesize that the ill-treatment of those with disabilities is, in effect, a natural sorting mechanism to rid the gene pool of the defect. Thankfully, for us humans, evolution isn’t destiny. We can call on the “better angels of ourselves” and treat those with physical disabilities with dignity and respect and provide opportunities for them to gain status in other ways.
Embodied status sits in the middle of ascribed and achieved status. Just as we have no control over the class, race, or sex we’re born with, we have no control over our genetics. So if you’re short, you’re always going to be short and will have to deal with the subtle slights that sometimes come with being vertically challenged. But there are some aspects of our embodied status that we have control over. We can exercise and eat right so we have a fit-looking body. Dressing well boosts one’s status too. Just taking care of some basic hygiene like brushing your teeth and washing your face can up your embodied status as well.
One thing to keep in mind is that ascribed, achieved, and embodied status interplay with one another. Ascribed status can give an individual a leg up on gaining achieved status. For example, a middle-class, suburban kid will likely have more opportunities to develop the traits and skills necessary to gain even more status than a poor, urban kid will.
Achieved status likewise can help one get ascribed status. A poor kid who pulls himself up by his bootstraps can eventually get the ascribed status that comes with being a middle-class adult. Roles that come with ascribed status like doctor, police officer, professor, firefighter, soldier, etc. take effort on the part of the person to get in that role in the first place. They first achieve status, but then enjoy the fruits that come with the ascribed status of those roles.
Embodied status can provide more opportunities for individuals to gain achieved status. For example, research has shown that good-looking people earn more money than not-so-good-looking people. But again, genetics isn’t destiny. Even people who didn’t get Brad and Angelina’s good looks can gain high status through achievement. This higher-status-through-achievement in turn creates opportunities to accentuate embodied status by losing weight or getting dental veneers.
Why You Should Care About Your Status
You’re hardwired to care about status. For thousands of years, a man’s status was closely connected to his access to resources, and thus to his very survival. Even though our status isn’t directly related to our staying alive anymore, our concern about our position relative to others remains hardwired. While the status drive may not be as strong a pull as that towards things like food and sex, it’s of the same kind. Thus, deciding you’re going to simply not care about status and that it’s not important and/or doesn’t even exist, is like deciding you’re going to completely ignore your sexuality.
Status gains and losses result in very real physiological effects that, while they can be quelled using your capacity for higher thinking, cannot be entirely extinguished. A refusal to acknowledge these feelings, an inability to recognize them for what they are, and a failure to proactively manage them, can result in psychological stress, anxiety, and malaise greater than that of just dealing with status directly and maturely. Just as you have to recognize yourself as a sexual being, you’ve got to acknowledge that you’re a status-seeking creature. From there you can take your feelings — whether sexual or status-related — and manage them in an intentional and healthy way.
Status is crucial for mental and physical health. Status gains increase feel-good hormones and neurotransmitters like testosterone, serotonin, and dopamine, making us feel on top of the world.
Status defeats, on the other hand, elevate one’s stress hormones and suppress cognition, the immune system, and even fertility.
Prolonged periods of feeling like you’re low status can thus lead to illness and depression. If your serotonin remains diminished for a long enough time, you’ll also become angry and may even feel the urge to violently lash out at others.
Feeling recognized and valued by other people is thus hardly a vain desire, but truly essential to both your mental and physical health.
Men have cared about status for thousands of years. When people say real men don’t care what anyone else thinks of them, they often think they’re reciting some kind of eternal maxim of manliness. Yet they are unwittingly parroting an idea that only emerged in force with the counterculture movement 50 years ago. For the hippies, being indifferent to the opinions of others was less a call to be a groundbreaking iconoclast, than an excuse for narcissism and self-indulgence — permission to throw out the old rules of morality and do whatever one wanted without shame. Indifference to status thus resulted in the dismantling of traditional values — many of which, ironically enough, those who proclaim that “real men don’t care what anyone else thinks about them” often believe in.
For thousands of years up until this very recent blip in history, men very much cared about what (certain) people thought of them, and everything about the essential nature of manhood grew out of that concern for winning honor.
Not caring about what your equals think of you is a recipe for narcissism and mediocrity; when you’re the sole judge of yourself, you tend to be quite lenient and flattering in your assessment. Listening to the feedback of those you respect keeps you honest, accountable, and motivated to strive higher and do better. Iron sharpens iron.
When people say they don’t care about status, what they’re usually saying is that the value or behavior someone else deems important, isn’t important to them personally. And it’s fine to feel that someone else’s weighing scale doesn’t apply to you — some people have some terrible metrics for what makes someone high or low status. But that’s a different argument than saying a “real man doesn’t care what anyone else thinks of him.” A man shouldn’t care what everyone thinks, but he should care about the opinions of those he respects.
Status = competition, and competition breeds excellence. Status is really just another word for competition, and competition pushes us to be our best. Certainly, status competitions have the potential for turning into pointless pissing contests, but they also lead to real accomplishments and progress. The Space Race was nothing more than a status contest between the US and the USSR, and it put a man on the moon.
In theory, it’s easy to think that you should ideally compete only against yourself — striving to be the very best you. But studies have shown that people simply can’t push themselves as hard when trying to beat themselves, as they can when they’re competing against someone else; an external competitor helps you find another gear.
Status = value. It’s true that people can gain status from things that are merely superficial, like a perfectly symmetrical face, or buying a Beamer. But a lot of the things that confer status grow out of qualities and actions that offer real value to others. A sense of humor, a creative mind, the ability to give just the right advice or explain things clearly, and a reputation for integrity and courage can confer status in many circles. Skill in fixing things, making music, and inventing innovative products brings status too. When people say they don’t care about status, they’re saying they don’t care if they enhance the lives of friends, family, and their community — something every man should be striving to do.
Status attracts people. Just as you have an ingrained desire to seek status, others do too, and part of that drive is to connect with high status people. Remember, status isn’t just about looks or wealth, so this isn’t a purely superficial attraction. Men and women alike want to befriend and partner with a guy who brings all kinds of valuable things to the table, whether that’s intelligence, wit, loyalty, or skill; everyone wants high status people on their team. Thus, cultivating status makes it much easier to make friends, find romantic partners, and build a rich social network.
Status leads to greater power and influence. Because high status individuals attract people and attention and have a large social network, they’re in a position to be much more persuasive and influential than low status individuals. They often get put in leadership positions as well, widening their sphere of influence even further.
With influence and position comes power, and while modern people, especially men, have been bred to feel ashamed of wanting power, it’s something one should be unafraid to earnestly and unabashedly seek. Not only does power feel awesome (really, it’s okay to admit this), it’s how you get in a position to change things in the world and alter the course of human events. Yes, power allows people to change things for the worse, but it also provides the opportunity to transform things for the better.
The thing about people who claim not to care about status is that they almost invariably live small, narrow, circumscribed lives. They don’t make many incursions into the wider world, and thus don’t get much feedback — negative or positive — from other people. In turn, they don’t much influence anyone else either. Indeed, those who profess indifference to status often come into this stance after trying and failing to achieve status themselves. To soothe the cognitive dissonance they feel in falling short, they decide that status isn’t important anyway, and they really don’t care about not having it. By feeling like they’re “above” status, they also excuse themselves from any further attempts to make something of themselves — thus avoiding the risk of future failures.
But while it’s easy to be indifferent to status when you’re not “in the arena” – anyone who wants to make a mark on the world will have to be tuned into status, understanding how to increase it, use it to their advantage, and manage its defeats.
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