What role does status play in influencing peoples behaviors and how they view themselves and others?

Question

I am speaking of North America in particular but views from other countries would also be enlightening. Does it play a part in today's violence,gangs,in the choices that we make in our lifestyles? Have we become a society all about status? I was viewing a program on PBS that discussed this I thought it was valid. Thank you for taking the time to read this, have a wonderful day.

Serious answers only please and thank you!


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Maybe I should rephrase that into several questions. What role if any does status play in today's society and does it influence our behavior? Does it affect our views of ourselves in relation to others? Examples and explainations?

Answer 1

That must have been interesting PBS Show, and not having seen it makes answering your question difficult. There is another concept which enters the picture, so wondering if they talked about pecking order. With gangs people constantly have to prove there pecking order or place in gang. This leads to large amount of random violence. Another concepts is identity. Many join gangs to to obtain some identity. To be part of the gang would dictate lifestyle one must lead. In my opinion this is superficial status. To be your own moral self and not to need gangs for fast identity fix leads to best kind of status, and one where you don't have to kill someone for pair of sneakers.

Answer 2

I think status plays a big part in how you behave, but not necessarily how you view yourself. A poor person may be perfectly happy with themselves and their lives, while a rich person will find nothing but faults in themselves. Your status definitely affects how you spend money and your value of material objects, but not so much your personality.