ascribed status

Examples of ascribed status in the following topics:

• Open vs. Closed Stratification Systems

  • In an open class system, people are ranked by achieved status, whereas in a closed class system, people are ranked by ascribed status.
  • Thus, people were ranked by ascribed status.
  • Status based on family background, ethnicity, gender, and religion, which is also known as "ascribed status," is less important.
  • In closed class systems, people tend to be ranked by ascribed status.
  • When ascribed status is used to determine social position, fixed roles develop, such as those of lord and serf in feudal Europe.

• Social Status

  • Alternatively, one can inherit his or her position on the social hierarchy; this is known as ascribed status.
  • An ascribed status can also be defined as one that is fixed for an individual at birth, like sex, race, and socioeconomic background.
  • Social status is most often understood as a melding of the two types of status, with ascribed status influencing achieved status.
  • Admission, therefore, is an achieved status that was heavily influenced by resources made available by the person's ascribed status.
  • It is easy to see how achieved and ascribed statuses accumulate into the social status of an individual.

• Prestige

  • A person can earn prestige by his or her own achievements, which is known as achieved status, or they can be placed in the stratification system by their inherited position, which is called ascribed status.
  • For example, prestige used to be associated with one's family name (ascribed status), but for most people in developed countries, prestige is now generally tied to one's occupation (achieved status).
  • Compare the two types of prestige - achieved and ascribed, and how prestige is related to power, property and social mobility

• Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft

  • Gemeinschaft community involves ascribed status, meaning a fixed status given by birth.
  • Gemeinschaft community involves ascribed status, meaning a fixed status given by birth.
  • Gesellschaft society involves achieved status, or a status reached by education and professional advancement.

• Social Mobility

  • Most commonly, social mobility refers to the change in wealth and social status of individuals or families.
  • This type of society has an open status system, which functions on the basis of achieved status, or status gained through one's own merit.
  • On the other hand, closed status systems are based on ascribed status.
  • Ascribed status is a fixed position a person is born into, not based on their performance.
  • Compare the various types of social mobiliy, the status systems they exist in, and their status between countries and over time.

• Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft

  • Gemeinschaft involves ascribed status, which refers to cases in which an individual is assigned a particular status at birth.
  • Gesellschaft society involves achieved status where people reach their status through their education and work.

• Class Structure in the U.S.

  • This critique is somewhat mitigated by the fact that income is often closely aligned with other indicators of status; for example, those with high incomes likely have substantial education, high status occupations, and powerful social networks.
  • In the above outline of social class, status clearly depends not only on income, but also occupational prestige and educational attainment.
  • In other words, there is inequality in America, with some people attaining higher status and higher standards of living than others.
  • But there is no clear place to draw a line separating one status group from the next.
  • Whether one ascribes to the view that classes are discrete groups or levels along a continuum, it is important to remember that all social classes in the United States, except the upper class, consist of tens of millions of people.

• Minority Groups

  • Sociologist Louis Wirth defined a minority group as "a group of people who, because of their physical or cultural characteristics, are singled out from the others in the society in which they live for differential and unequal treatment, and who therefore regard themselves as objects of collective discrimination. " This definition includes both objective and subjective criteria: membership of a minority group is objectively ascribed by society, based on an individual's physical or behavioral characteristics, such as ethnicity and race or gender and sexuality.
  • It is also subjectively applied by its members, who may use their status as the basis of group identity or solidarity.
  • Minority group status is also categorical in nature: an individual who exhibits the physical or behavioral characteristics of a given minority group will be accorded the status of that group and be subject to the same treatment as other members of that minority group.
  • In this case, while minority status can be conditioned by a clear numerical difference, more significantly it refers to issues of political power.
  • While in most societies the numbers of men and women are roughly equal, the status of women as a oppressed group has led some, such as feminists and other participants in women's rights movements, to identify them as a minority group.

• The Functionalist Perspective

  • Functionalists, in general, identify a number of functions families typically perform: reproduction; socialization; care, protection, and emotional support; assignment of status; and regulation of sexual behavior through the norm of legitimacy.
  • It provides important ascribed statuses such as social class and ethnicity to new members.

• Growing Global Inequality

  • According to social reproduction theory, rich and powerful individuals and institutions perpetuate inequality to protect their high status.
  • Because individuals and institutions at the top of the economic hierarchy benefit from their status, they use their influence to protect their positions.
  • People who ascribe to the cultural belief that the rich are deserving of their wealth are unlikely to challenge economic inequality, so they thereby perpetuate it.