Social Status Today

The notion of social status can be opaque, based on a series of seemingly variable, negligible, or even trivial factors, but it can also have real-world importance. Along these lines, various aspects of social life can relate to social status—which can, in turn, have immense significance in critical areas such as health. Among the factors that commonly influence social status whether it be poor, middle, or upper class, one’s family, wealth, possession, and education can play a leading role. Taken on their own, none of these factors deterministically place human beings into any set social category. However, they can add up in ways that have tremendous consequence. As such, social status should be regarded as especially relevant, even if its determinants are at times opaque.

One aspect of human behavior that relates to all four of the aforementioned factors of social status is conspicuous consumption. As a matter of definition, “conspicuous consumption refers to the phenomenon where individuals purchase goods for signaling social status, rather than for its inherent functional value” (Wu et al. 11803). These possessions can be used to suggest that either an individual or an entire family possesses incredible wealth—even if they do not. Similarly, they can be employed as a signal that one has achieved a high level of education, irrespective of reality. It may seem superficial, but simply by purchasing an item one may wish to make a statement about their overall possessions, wealth, family, or education that would speak to high social status.

Even if the notions surrounding social status can be superficial and opaque, they can also have tremendous importance. In this vein, “social status is one of the strongest predictors of human disease risk and mortality” (Snyder-Mackler et al. 1041). In fact, “there exists a well-established link between low perceived social status and poorer health outcomes” (Murray et al. 182). As such, social status can have great significance. Its factors should be closely considered in order to best understand what yields high social status and corresponding real-world benefits.

Works Cited

Murray, Damian R., et al. "Subjective social status and inflammatory gene expression." Health Psychology vol. 38, no. 2, 2019, pp. 182.

Snyder-Mackler, Noah, et al. "Social status alters immune regulation and response to infection in macaques." Science vol. 354, no. 6315, 2016, pp. 1041-1045.

Wu, Yin, et al. "The role of social status and testosterone in human conspicuous consumption." Scientific Reports, vol. 7, no. 1, 2017, pp. 11803.