Status, titles or positions that people hold in a society helps to form the basis of social interaction; it enables society to interact and function in the most appropriate way. Status can be any title one holds: father, boy, thief, black, student, doctor, pastor and many more. Status can be negative or positive, for example a thief and a doctor are both status. One can have more than a status, set of status; at least everyone has more than one status, for instance a girl can be a student and a thief but there is the most recognized one, master status. If a girl is a thief, and a student, she is viewed as a thief most than a student: most people would say: she is a thief rather than, she is a student.
Status helps a society interact. The more status of a person or a group of people is known, the easier it is to interact with the person. Status helps one realize his/her and other people’s role, values, and morals in a society which in turn leads society in the most appropriate way to interact. For example if I meet a stranger, I’d not realize that he or she is a thief or pastor but at least I’d realize the stranger’s gender and I’ll be in a position to approximate his/her age; whether he/she is old, young or a child. All these status will lead me on how to interact with the person. I may choose to talk to the person and try to know her better. But if I realize that the person is a serial killer, I will decide to stay away. The status, serial killer tells me what the person’s capable of.
In short, status plays an important part in a society. A society cannot function without status because it consists of people or groups of people with different status who are expected to play certain roles in certain ways. As every person or groups of people play their role, they interact with each other with respect to their statuses. Therefore status enables a society to interact and relate.
Good discussion of status. What makes a status high in one society, but low in another?
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