Status symbol

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Social status is often associated with clothing and possessions. In this scene from rural 19th-century Chile, the foreman has a horse and high hat, while the inquilino (indebted laborer) does not.

A status symbol is a visible, external symbol of one's social position, an indicator of economic or social status.[1] Many luxury goods are often considered status symbols. Status symbol is also a sociological term – as part of social and sociological symbolic interactionism – relating to how individuals and groups interact and interpret various cultural symbols.[2]

Etymology

The term "status symbol" was first written in English in 1955,[3] but from 1959 with the publication of the bestseller "The Status Seekers" greater distribution. There, journalist Vance Packard describes the social strategy and behavior in the USA.[4]

By region and time

As people aspire to high status, they often seek also its symbols. As with other symbols, status symbols may change in value or meaning over time, and will differ among countries and cultural regions, based on their economy and technology.

Military symbol of excellence
Galero hat, symbol of ecclesiastical status

For example, before the invention of the printing press, possession of a large collection of laboriously hand-copied books was a symbol of wealth and scholarship. In later centuries, books (and literacy) became more common, so a private library became less-rarefied as a status symbol, though a sizable collection still commands respect.[5]

In some past cultures of East Asia,

royal purple (in ancient Rome) were reserved for royalty, with severe penalties for unauthorized display. Another common status symbol of the European medieval past was heraldry
, a display of one's family name and history.

Societal recognition

See also: Achieved status, Status attainment, and Social status

Status symbols also indicate the cultural values of a society or a subculture. For example, in a

tenured position at a prestigious university or research institute are a mark of high status. It has been speculated that the earliest foods to be domesticated were luxury feast foods used to cement one's place as a "rich person".[7]

A

academic rank
and specialty.

In many cultures around the world, diverse

rites of passage may involve granting and display of symbols of a new status. Dress codes
may specify who ought to wear particular kinds or styles of clothing, and when and where specific items of clothing are displayed.

Body modifications

Warrior tattoos

The condition and appearance of one's body can be a status symbol. In times past, when most workers did physical labor outdoors under the sun and often had little food, being pale and fat was a status symbol, indicating wealth and prosperity (through having more than enough food and not having to do manual labor). Now that workers usually do less-physical work indoors and find little time for exercise, being tanned and thin is often a status symbol in modern cultures.

sumo wrestlers
use special exercise and diet to "bulk up" into an impressive appearance.

Ancient Central American

precious stones into their teeth as decoration.[8]

Material possessions

Hunting trophy of an aristocrat

luxury vehicle.[13] A sizeable collection of high-priced artworks or antiques may be displayed, sometimes in multiple seasonally occupied residences located around the world. Privately owned aircraft and luxury yachts are movable status symbols that can be taken from one glamorous location to another; the "jet set" refers to wealthy individuals who travel by private jet and who frequent fashionable resorts.[14]

Personal library of a wealthy American, 1919

Status symbols are also used by persons of much more modest means. In the

China, where a pack of Marlboro could cost one day's salary for some workers, were seen as a status symbol.[15] Mobile phone usage had been considered a status symbol (for example in Turkey in the early 1990s),[16] but is less distinctive today, because of the spread of inexpensive mobile phones. Nonetheless Apple products such as iPod or iPhone are common status symbols among modern teenagers.[17][18]

A common type of modern status symbol is a prestigious

counterfeit goods
or knock-off copies are purchased and displayed by those who do not want to, or are unable to, pay for the genuine item.

See also

References

  1. ISBN 0-205-15550-2
    .
  2. ^ The Three Sociological Paradigms[dead link], from The HCC-Southwest College Archived 2004-08-05 at the Wayback Machine, December 2008.
  3. ^ "status seeking – Search Online Etymology Dictionary". etymonline.com. Retrieved 2023-08-12.
  4. ^ "The status seekers; an exploration of class behavior in America, Longmans, 1959". worldcat.org. Retrieved 2023-08-12.
  5. ^ "Are book collectors real readers, or just cultural snobs? – Aeon Essays". aeon.co. 2016-10-20. Retrieved 2023-08-12.
  6. ^ "Real Men Have Dueling Scars". Stuff You Missed in History Class. 2009-05-04. Retrieved 2017-12-18.
  7. ^ Hayden B 2003. Were luxury foods the first domesticates? Ethnoarchaeological perspectives from Southeast Asia. World Archaeology 34(3)
  8. ^ a b "Maya Culture". Guatemala: Cradle of the Mayan Civilization. authenticmaya.com. Archived from the original on 2012-05-07. Retrieved 2012-04-13.
  9. ISBN 2-88449-028-0
    .
  10. ISBN 1-56024-801-7
    .
  11. ^
    ISBN 978-0-13-270118-1
    . Retrieved 10 September 2013.
  12. ISBN 978-1-4528-8253-6
    . Retrieved 10 September 2013.
  13. ISBN 1-873410-28-X
    .
  14. ^ Merriam-Webster. Jet set. Accessed 2013-10-02.
  15. ^ J Brooks. American cigarettes have become a status symbol in smoke-saturated China. 1995.
  16. ^ Yusuf Ziya Özcan, Abdullah Koçak. Research Note: A Need or a Status Symbol? 2003
  17. ISBN 978-0-620-44310-4
    . Retrieved 10 September 2013.
  18. ISBN 978-1-4759-7167-5
    . Retrieved 10 September 2013.

Further reading
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