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Course: MCAT > Unit 12
Lesson 5: Social interactions- Social interactions questions 1
- Status
- Role strain and role conflict
- Primary and secondary groups
- Ethnocentrism and cultural relativism in group and out group
- Dramaturgical approach
- Impression management
- Aggression
- Harlow monkey experiments
- Altruism
- Discrimination individual vs institutional
- Prejudice vs discrimination
- Prejudice and discrimination based on race, ethnicity, power, social class, and prestige
- Organizations and bureaucratization
- Characteristics of an ideal bureaucracy
- Social support
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Status
Statuses are social positions that affect our interactions. We hold multiple statuses, like son, student, or friend, each influencing how we interact. Statuses can be equal, superior, or inferior. Some statuses, called ascribed, are given at birth and unchangeable. Others, called achieved, are earned through effort and choice.
Created by James Howick.
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Would it really be achieved status if the world champion happens to have extremely good genes? He probably didn't work that hard as other professionals in the field, but because of having the best genes, it helps him to be at the best at the sport.(2 votes)
He still had to work hard for it. Although there is a genetic factor achieved status means that he worked, it doesn't specify an amount. On the flip side a monarch could be loved for how he is the most qualified person to run a country but his ruling status would still be ascribed because it was given to him by birth.(6 votes)
so would status and roles be the same thing?(1 vote)
Actually there is a distinction. A status is the actual position itself, and a role is the set of values, beliefs, and behaviors that go along with the role. So, to use the example in the video, Olympic athlete is a status, whereas training every day, eating a strict diet, believing in dedication and hard work, etc. are part of the role.(6 votes)
What category would you put a status like economic status under? People are born into poverty but they can work to change that, so where would you classify those statuses?(1 vote)
well you were primarily born into it so that would be primary, then when you work out of it that would be an achieved status(2 votes)
- Let's say suddenly some financial disaster hit me, or maybe I'm just super lazy and don't care about my well-being Would the status of being homeless in both of these situations be an achieved status, even though I didn't exactly work hard to earn them?(1 vote)
Achievements are based on becoming successful due to some effort of some kind, so the situations you posed wouldn't really apply since success through effort is not a disaster or caused by laziness.(1 vote)
can you explain Master Status and how to distinguish it from these statuses?(1 vote)- Is there any conflict when a status between two people changes, and how would that be represented? For example, if a previous student got hired as a professor at their same university and is now a peer of their professor, or if a friend received a promotion and is now your boss?(1 vote)
Video transcript
- Status is a social position in society. And different statuses that people hold affect their interactions with others, so each individual has
many different statuses. So people would interact
differently when they're in the son or daughter status, as opposed to when they're
in the student status with professors, or even when they're in the friend status with their peers. So statuses affect the type
of interactions we have, and in some situations, people are equal. So, if we look at this situation here, and this is you, and this is your friend, this would be a situation
where you are equals, and this is really where
you would feel comfortable negotiating and talking things out. So if you were roommates, and you had to commute to school, you could say, "Hey, I will drive today,
but you drive tommorrow." That sort of thing. So that's when this guy right here is in the friend status. Now, in other situations, people interact with others who hold superior,
or inferior statuses, so now, if this is you down here, and you are interacting with a professor, the professor would be superior to you, so you would sort of be submissive. You would be open to
hearing what they have to say first, and you wouldn't
be so quick to negotiate with them because the
student has to be respectful. And in another situation,
if you're the student, maybe now you're over here, and you're the president
of an organization. So when you're the president, you have sort of control and superiority over your members, and the members will
sort of submit to you, and now look to you for leadership, and they will have to respect you moreso. So that's the difference here. So we see you can be an equal, or you can be superior, or you could even be inferior, just depending on the status you hold. So, some situations people have no control over the statuses they hold, and these are called ascribe statuses. And the ascribe statuses
are really just given to you at birth, and they don't
change during your lifetime. So an example would be if you were born into a royal family,
and you were immediately given the status of a
prince or a princess, that would be an ascribed status. Now, that is very different from the other type of status that we see, and that's called achieved status. An achieved status is, you can think of it as it's earned through your own effort, and it's your decision and your choice. So an example would be
this guy right here, if he went and he sacrificed everything, and he was home-schooled his whole life just to try and get a shot
at making the Olympic team, and he works very hard, and
he makes the Olympic team, that's an achieved status, because he chose to do that, and he worked very
hard, and it was earned, the keyword there being earned.