Identity

Intersectionality

Empowerment

Misogynoir 

Nonbinary people & women’s movements 

Ascribed Status - a social staus that you didn't choose and is usually given to you from birth

1. Age

A person cannot change their age, making this an ascribed identity marker. While this is ascribed throughout our lives, it also changes. You move through phases of infancy, childhood, adolescence, young adulthood, middle age, and senior years, at a pace that you do not control.

At each age, you may face discrimination and stereotypes that will both hinder and help you. As a young person, you may be seen as cool and full of vitality but also naïve. As an elderly person, you may be seen as wise but also potentially failing cognitively or strength-wise. These are all considerations that could benefit you when going for a job, or that a potential employer might hold against you.

2. Gender

Your gender (male or female) is ascribed by society at birth. However, in the 21st Century, people are increasingly seeing gender to be more fluid than in the past. Progressive societies acknowledge transgenderism where people are born feeling as if they are one gender trapped in the other gender’s body.

3. Race

Your race is a genetically defined feature. It is generally identifiable by your skin color, but also other features such as eye color and jawline. Common races include black, Caucasian, and Asian.

Societies have historically created social hierarchies based on race. For example, in the United States, white Europeans have historically enjoyed privileges while African Americans have historically suffered severe discrimination.

4. Ethnicity

Unlike race, ethnicity is about cultural expressions of people who share common ancestry. For example, people who are Caucasian might come from a range of different ethnic groups ranging from Ireland across to eastern Russia.

Similarly, in Myanmar, there are multiple different ethnic groups within the country that are in consistent and ongoing armed conflict.

Furthermore, you may have been born in the United States but enjoy an ethnic background from anywhere in the world because you continue to practice the traditions of your ethnic origins.

5. Disability

A person doesn’t choose to have a disability. Nevertheless, it is a status marker that can have a negative impact throughout your life.

For example, it could hinder your ability to access public services, jobs, or even go traveling throughout your life. While society has made good gains in ensuring access for people with disabilities, there is still some way to go.

6. Physical Appearance

While people make big efforts to alter their physical appearance (from putting on makeup to getting cosmetic surgery), it is by-and-large an attribute that you don’t have control over.

Unfortunately, physical appearance can lead to status discrimination, such as when people who are overweight are overlooked for customer service jobs because a brand wants to maintain an image of beauty and perfection.

7. Ancestry

You do not choose your ancestry and yet it can dramatically impact your position in the social stratification system.

The most stark example of this is the descendants of slaves. They continue to experience the intergenerational disadvantages that came from their disempowerment and disenfranchisement.

Other examples of ancestry impacting your social position is if you were born into minor royalty or can get a legacy position in an elite school such as Eton in England.

8. Birth Order

There is research showing that your birth order may impact your success in life. Furthermore, in some societies, the first-born son is favored and privileged while the younger children and girls are secondary. This can impact access to education and other opportunities in life.

9. Citizenship At Birth

Your birth citizenship can dramatically affect your life. For example, people born into first-world countries have greater access to public services and enhanced ability to travel unimpeded.

While this is usually an ascribed status, it is also possible to change your citizenship. However, this requires a lot of work. If you become a naturalized citizen, then your citizenship will become an achieved status. Similarly, in some circumstances, you can lose or renounce your citizenship.

10. First Language

People do not choose the first language they learn. Your first language is the language of your parents.

People who speak English tend to have a global advantage because it is the language of business. However, upper middle-class people who don’t speak English as a first language tend to be able to speak multiple languages which could also give them an upper hand.

11. Accent

Associated with first language is the seemingly stubborn identity marker of your accent.

Accents tend to become permanent and unchangeable from about the age of 12. After this age, even if you move overseas and live in a culture with an entirely different accent, you tend to keep your original accent.

This can cause your status to remain fixed for life. For example, even you move from the UK to the USA at the age of 20 and stay there for 30 years, you will still be seen by people you interact with as British, not American.

12. Inherited Title

Sometimes, you might inherit a title. This is most common in old monarchies like the UK. You might inherit the title of Baroness, Duke, Dame, or Earl. These inherited titles can remain with you for your whole life thanks to your royal ancestry.

The United States doesn’t tend to have these titles, but there are less formal titles that one might inherit such as the “son of Rupert Murdoch” or “daughter of the former president” that you cannot shake.

13. Multigenerational Wealth

People can inherit wealth. We might call these people ‘trust fund babies’.

Inherited wealth, also known as old money, is destined for you from birth. This can shape how people treat you as you grow up as well as your opportunities (for example, for elite education).

14. Sexuality

The issue of whether sexuality is a choice or something you are ‘born with’ has been ongoing for decades.

Today, progressive societies increasingly leaning toward embracing the idea that people do not choose their sexuality, based upon the testimony of LGBTQI people.

15. Caste

Being born into a caste is an old tradition from India. Within the Indian caste system, there are four broad caste groups:

Brahmins – Teachers and intellectuals

Kshatriyas – Warriors and rulers

Vaishyas – Traders

Shudras – Menial jobs

Your assigned profession in life used to depend on the caste you were born into. Furthermore, people from lower castes (e.g. those that destined you for menial work) were widely discriminated against to the extent that they were considered ‘untouchables’.

Movement between the castes and marriage to people from other castes was also traditionally frowned upon.

Today, discrimination between castes remains among many people.

16. Postcode At Birth

The place where you were born is not up to you but can have a big impact on your life.

For example, in many countries, your postcode influences where you can go to public school. Similarly, it may influence the sort of healthcare you have access to.

This also relates to being a ‘city kid’ or a ‘rural kid’ who might have a lot more access to outdoor play which can help with spontaneous physical development.

Thus, while your parents may be able to make a choice about where within a city or country you are born, you personally did not.

17. Hair

While not the most important factor that might impact your status within the social hierarchy, your hair is an example of ascribed status.

This is one ascribed status that you cannot change but also changes through life. For example, you might become a bald man at age 25 without any choice of your own. Suddenly, you find that as part of your identity that you cannot change (and something that could impact your status in social situations, such as when dating).

18. Social Class

People tend to be born into a social class. This doesn’t just mean wealth (e.g being born into poverty) but also a class-based culture.

For example, working-class people often tend to associate with other working-class people, share a common way of speaking, and live in the same neighborhoods.

By contrast, being born into the upper class will mean you have access to better schools, more learning resources, and more elite clubs.

As a child, you tend not to choose which social class you belong to. However, when you’re older, you may be able to move across class boundaries, so this one fits in the gray area between ascribed and achieved. As a student, it might be a good idea not to use this as a clear ascribed status example.

19. Genetic Predispositions

We are often predisposed to certain physical traits due to our genes. A person may be predisposed to a certain chronic illness, for example.

Similarly, you may have a certain genetic predisposition to being particularly muscular, tall, thin, short, or fat. Each of these predispositions may lead to stereotyping throughout your life or limit life chances (e.g. not being allowed into the military due to flat feet).

20. Religion

Like social class, religion is partially ascribed and partially achieved. We usually start with an ascribed religion (e.g. being baptised at birth) and raised within your family’s religious traditions.

We are introduced to and socialized with people within our family’s religious groupings and obtain that religious identity with minimal personal choice.

When we reach adulthood, we may change religions, lose faith, or continue the religion of our family. Thus, into adulthood, this one becomes a choice and is therefore closer to an attained rather than ascribed status in adulthood.

21. Culture

Like religion, we’re usually born into a culture that we cannot choose. As we get older, we can choose to reject the culture, but many dispositions of the culture stay with us for life.

That’s because a culture becomes normalized within us. For example, some cultures teach their children in unique ways (e.g. the place-based learning that occurs in Aboriginal Australian culture) that can influence how someone learns and thinks for the rest of their lives.

22. Surname

In some towns, sharing a surname with people who have been disgraced can be a big problem.

While you may not personally have any reason to be seen as being a disgrace, if two of your uncles went to prison and your cousins are poorly behaved at the local school, this might work against you. People may stereotype you.

By contrast, if you’re the younger brother or sister of an intelligent person or a star athlete, people might see you as also having great potential.

23. Eye Color

Eye color very rarely impacts your destiny. It is not an identifying feature that tends to garner much discrimination. The rare exception might be people with stunning eyes. In these cases, they might be considered beautiful and gain certain advantages from this.

Achieved Status - a status someone has earned or chosen rather than one they have been born with

1. Rewards And Honors

One of the most formal ways to achieve a higher status is to get a reward or certificate that actually states the status that you have achieved.

An example is to receive a medal for an athletic achievement. Similarly, excellent painters might receive an award for their artwork or excellent writers might become a “New York Times Bestseller”. All of these rewards show that you have earned a position as being elite in your craft.

2. University Degrees

A university degree isn’t just about learning something. It is also a social status example that can be your key to getting a good job, or at least an interview for the job.

There is even a hierarchy of degrees. Common types of degrees you can get include:

Bachelors Degree: 42% of the population

Masters Degree: 8% of the population

PhD: 1% of the population

3. Profession

 All jobs in our society have a certain degree of status attached to them. At the top of the hierarchy are usually career paths like lawyers, doctors, scientists, and engineers.

The most prestigious occupations can command high pay rates as well as the respect of your peers.

We often see blue-collar jobs as having low status and white-collar jobs as having high status. Examples of blue-collar jobs include plumbing and carpentry while examples of white-collar jobs include accounting and investment banking.

Some jobs, like teachers, firefighters, nurses, and police officers, have a degree of status in society but don’t obtain the high pay rates of others. This mismatch between pay and prestige is an example of what’s called status inconsistency.

4. Group And Organization Membership

We generally choose to be a member of an organization, so we think of it as achieved status.

Many exclusive clubs will have statuses associated with them, such as Mensa (for geniuses) or exclusive fraternities and sororities.

Being in one of those clubs can grant you greater access to job opportunities, influential people, or other perks. Thus, many people will work very hard to get access to an exclusive club that can help them to demonstrate their status to others.

5. Skills Learned Through Practice

Most things in life require you to practice for many hours, days, months, or even years before you are truly proficient at them.

An example is a skateboarding trick. To be able to do the trick every time you try, you need to become very familiar with the movement until you have perfected it. That requires a lot of time on the board.

Similarly, you can’t expect to ride a bike the first time you pick one up. These are skills that require persistence and effort to acquire.

6. Life Choices

Anything you freely choose in life can come under the banner of ‘achieved status’. If you are congratulated for your decision to start a business, take a risk on an investment, or start an eco-friendly farm, you can accept those congratulations as recognition of your achieved status.

7. Friendships

While we can’t choose our parents and siblings, we can choose our friends. When you become friends with a famous person, your social status might go up. Similarly, if you are a widely popular person with many friends, people’s perceptions of you might rise.

8. Self-Made Wealth

People who have inherited wealth might be born with an assigned status of being wealthy. But if you are a self-made rich person like JK Rowling, then this success will give you an achieved status. In society, the fact you achieved or earned the wealth will be more highly regarded than if you inherited it.

9. Your Spouse

You will be judged for the person you choose to marry. If your friends and family don’t like your spouse, your status may decline. By contrast, if your friends like your spouse, your status might increase in their eyes.

In more traditional cultures, marrying ‘up’ on the social hierarchy is something very important to people looking to increase the wealth and power of their family.

10. Having A Child

In traditional cultures, having a child is seen as a sign of success (especially for women). Women without children were seen as having failed. While we’ve moved on from that mentality, still today, people might be more inclined to vote for a politician that without.

11. An Earned Title

 An earned title might include “Doctor”, “Professor”, “Sir” (for knighthoods in the UK), “Chancellor”, “Reverend”, or “Imam”. These titles are assigned to people who are believed to have earned them through study, hard work, services to community, or profession.

12. Religious Affiliation

Your affiliation with a religious group could earn you a degree of prestige or open doors for you. For example, if you were Catholic during the Spanish inquisition, you would be privileged while others would be outcast.

While some of us may be born into a religion, by adulthood, our religion is a choice. A status that starts off as given but becomes chosen is called a fluid ascription.

13. Military Rank

In a structured organization like the military, a person’s earned status can be very explicit. This is the case in the military.

Examples of military ranks include:

Private: A low rank

Sargeant: A higher rank

General: A very high rank

The ranking hierarchy in the military isn’t just about prestige. It also impacts who is in charge, who needs to be saluted, and who can tell who what to do!

14. Fitness

You can also attain status in terms of your physical abilities and looks. While we might be born with a certain look that’s hard to change, we can go to the gym to get six pack abs or practice running in order to be able to do a marathon.

15. Sporting Achievements

A sporting achievement might be winning a competition or even a gold medal. In some sports, like tennis, you can also judge your achievements through your rank in your country or even the world.

Similarly, in golf, you can judge your sporting abilities by working on your handicap.

16. Rising Social Class Status

Traditionally, society didn’t allow for much movement between social classes. People were born into a social class and died in the same social class. But today, increased social mobility allows people to move from poor working-class up to upper middle-class and higher.

17. Honor Student

Students who are at the top of their class are often honored with awards and titles to signify their success. An example of this is students who graduate summa cum laude from their college degree. This means to graduate “with highest distinction”.

18. Material Possessions

The things we own are signals to others about or tastes and fashion sense. Owning a sports car or mansion is a sign to others that you are successful in life. While we often see these as achieved status symbols, it all depends on how you got those possessions that matters.

19. Residency And Second Citizenship

While nearly everyone is born with a citizenship that cannot be taken from them, many millions of people obtain a second citizenship. Often, they have to jump through a lot of hoops (such as living in a place for a certain amount of time). By the time they get that second passport, they see it as a status symbol showing thet have earned their legitimacy in a country.

20. Access To Exclusive Consumer Products And Services

Many brands have embraced the idea that people love to be seen as having high earned status. To take advantage of this, they use scarcity and exclusivity to entice people to buy. For example, only some people are able to access elite types of credit cards or access to exclusive airport lounges. 

21. Clothing

The clothes you wear are status symbols. Those who wear fashionable clothing are showing that they have achieved something: an eye for fashion and a good grasp of the current social mileaux.

22. Volunteerism

People who are known in their communities as volunteers become highly respected. They earn this respect through their hard work for people in need.

23. Multilingualism

Being able to speak multiple languages is looked upon with awe by many monolingual people. Those who manage to learn multiple languages (especially in adulthood) are seen as having achieved a certain prestige due to their ability to achieve something that most of us cannot.