Status
Status
The term has two sociological uses:
status simply as a position in a social system, such as child or parent.
Or used as a synonym for honor or prestige,
A status is simply a rank or position that one holds in a group.
One occupies the status of son or daughter, playmate, pupil, radical, militant and so on.
Eventually one occupies the statuses of husband, mother bread-winner, cricket fan, and so on,
one has as many statuses as there are groups of which one is a member.
For analytical purposes, statuses are divided into two basic types:
• Ascribed and
• Achieved.
Ascribed Statuses
Ascribed statuses are those which are fixed for an individual at birth.
Ascribed statuses that exist in all societies include those based upon sex, age, race ethnic group and family background.
Similarly, power, prestige, privileges, and obligations always are differentially distributed in societies by the age of the participants.
Achieved Statuses
Achieved statuses are those which the individual acquires during his or her lifetime as a result of the exercise of knowledge, ability, skill and/or perseverance.
Occupation provides an example of status that may be either ascribed or achieved, and which serves to differentiate caste-like societies from modern ones.
|