status symbol

The term "status symbol" was first written in English in 1955,{{cite web|access-date=2023-08-12|language=en|title=status seeking – Search Online Etymology Dictionary|url=https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=status+seeking|website=etymonline.com}} but from 1959 with the publication of the bestseller "The Status Seekers" greater distribution. There, journalist Vance Packard describes the social strategy and behavior in the USA.{{cite web|access-date=2023-08-12|title=The status seekers; an exploration of class behavior in America, Longmans, 1959|url=https://www.worldcat.org/de/title/2125250|website=worldcat.org}}

As people aspire to high status, they often seek also its symbols. As with other symbols, status symbols may change in value or meaning over time, and will differ among countries and cultural regions, based on their economy and technology.

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For example, before the invention of the printing press, possession of a large collection of laboriously hand-copied books was a symbol of wealth and scholarship. In later centuries, books (and literacy) became more common, so a private library became less-rarefied as a status symbol, though a sizable collection still commands respect.{{cite web|access-date=2023-08-12|date=2016-10-20|language=en|title=Are book collectors real readers, or just cultural snobs? – Aeon Essays|url=https://aeon.co/essays/are-book-collectors-real-readers-or-just-cultural-snobs|website=aeon.co}}

In some past cultures of East Asia, pearls and jade were major status symbols, reserved exclusively for royalty. Similar legal exclusions applied to the toga and its variants in ancient Rome, and to cotton in the Aztec Empire. Special colors, such as imperial yellow (in China) or royal purple (in ancient Rome) were reserved for royalty, with severe penalties for unauthorized display. Another common status symbol of the European medieval past was heraldry, a display of one's family name and history.

{{See also|Achieved status|Status attainment|Social status}}

Status symbols also indicate the cultural values of a society or a subculture. For example, in a commercial society, having money or wealth and things that can be bought by wealth, such as cars, houses, or fine clothing, are considered status symbols. Where warriors are respected, a scar can represent honor or courage.{{Cite news|url=https://www.missedinhistory.com/blogs/real-men-have-dueling-scars.htm|title=Real Men Have Dueling Scars|date=2009-05-04|work=Stuff You Missed in History Class|access-date=2017-12-18|language=en}} Among intellectuals being able to think in an intelligent and educated way is an important status symbol regardless of material possessions. In academic circles, a long list of publications and a securely tenured position at a prestigious university or research institute are a mark of high status. It has been speculated that the earliest foods to be domesticated were luxury feast foods used to cement one's place as a "rich person".Hayden B 2003. Were luxury foods the first domesticates? Ethnoarchaeological perspectives from Southeast Asia. World Archaeology 34(3)

A uniform symbolizes membership in an organization, and may display additional insignia of rank, specialty, tenure and other details of the wearer's status within the organization. A state may confer decorations, medals or badges that can show that the wearer has heroic or official status. Elaborate color-coded academic regalia is often worn during commencement ceremonies, indicating academic rank and specialty.

In many cultures around the world, diverse visual markers of marital status are widely used. Coming of age rituals and other rites of passage may involve granting and display of symbols of a new status. Dress codes may specify who ought to wear particular kinds or styles of clothing, and when and where specific items of clothing are displayed.

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The condition and appearance of one's body can be a status symbol. In times past, when most workers did physical labor outdoors under the sun and often had little food, being pale and fat was a status symbol, indicating wealth and prosperity (through having more than enough food and not having to do manual labor). Now that workers usually do less-physical work indoors and find little time for exercise, being tanned and thin is often a status symbol in modern cultures.

Dieting to reduce excess body fat is widely practiced in Western society, while some traditional societies still value obesity as a sign of prosperity. Development of muscles through exercise, previously disdained as a stigma of doing heavy manual labor, is now valued as a sign of personal achievement. Some groups, such as extreme bodybuilders and sumo wrestlers use special exercise and diet to "bulk up" into an impressive appearance.

Ancient Central American Maya cultures artificially induced crosseyedness and flattened the foreheads of high-born infants as a permanent, lifetime sign of noble status.{{cite web|title=Maya Culture|url=http://www.authenticmaya.com/maya_culture.htm|work=Guatemala: Cradle of the Mayan Civilization|publisher=authenticmaya.com|access-date=2012-04-13|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120507011502/http://www.authenticmaya.com/maya_culture.htm|archive-date=2012-05-07}} The Mayans also filed their teeth to sharp points to look fierce, or inset precious stones into their teeth as decoration.

The ownership of luxury residences in exclusive locations has historically been considered one of the ultimate status symbols worldwide. Among the most coveted and recognized destinations globally are Portofino, a renowned location on the Italian Riviera, characterized by prestigious properties overlooking one of Europe's most exclusive natural harbors; Lierna, offering a privileged view of Lake Como, historically associated with high aristocracy and international economic elites; and Monte Carlo, in the Principality of Monaco, a key hub for finance, luxury, and global high society.

These residences, in addition to providing a high level of privacy and security, serve as genuine symbols of power and prestige, often linked to noble dynasties, prominent entrepreneurs, financial leaders, and influential figures on the international stage. The value of such properties is not merely determined by their strategic location or architectural features but, more importantly, by their function as instruments of social representation and status assertion, as access to them is often restricted even for those with immense wealth.

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Luxury goods are often perceived as status symbols. Examples may include a mansion or penthouse apartment,{{Cite book |last=Winter |first=Ian C. |title=The Radical Home Owner |year=1995 |isbn=2-88449-028-0 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |page=47}} a trophy wife,{{Cite book |title=Classism and Feminist Therapy: Counting Costs |last=Hill |first=Marcia |author2=Esther D. Rothblum |publisher=Haworth Press |year=1996 |isbn=1-56024-801-7 |page=79}} haute couture fashionable clothes, jewellery,{{cite book|author=Rebecca Ross Russell|title=Gender and Jewelry: A Feminist Analysis|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Wx11yQK3J3QC&pg=PA89|access-date=10 September 2013|date=5 June 2010|publisher=Rebecca Ross Russell|isbn=978-1-4528-8253-6|page=89}} or a luxury vehicle.{{Cite book |title=Doing Business in China: The Last Great Market |last=Murray |first=Geoffrey |publisher=China Library |year=1994 |isbn=1-873410-28-X}} A sizeable collection of high-priced artworks or antiques may be displayed, sometimes in multiple seasonally occupied residences located around the world. Privately owned aircraft and luxury yachts are movable status symbols that can be taken from one glamorous location to another; the "jet set" refers to wealthy individuals who travel by private jet and who frequent fashionable resorts.Merriam-Webster. [http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/jet%20set Jet set]. Accessed 2013-10-02.

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Status symbols are also used by persons of much more modest means. In the Soviet Union before the fall of the Berlin Wall, possession of American-style blue jeans or rock music recordings (even pirated or bootlegged copies) was an important status symbol among rebellious teenagers. In the 1990s, foreign cigarettes in China, where a pack of Marlboro could cost one day's salary for some workers, were seen as a status symbol.J Brooks. [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1337922/ American cigarettes have become a status symbol in smoke-saturated China.] 1995. Mobile phone usage had been considered a status symbol (for example in Turkey in the early 1990s),Yusuf Ziya Özcan, Abdullah Koçak. [http://ejc.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/18/2/241 Research Note: A Need or a Status Symbol?] 2003 but is less distinctive today, because of the spread of inexpensive mobile phones. Nonetheless Apple products such as iPhone are common status symbols among modern teenagers.{{cite book|author=Alexander Greyling|title=Face your brand! The visual language of branding explained|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mWa_Z7B-nnoC&pg=PA94|access-date=10 September 2013|publisher=Alex Greyling|isbn=978-0-620-44310-4|page=94}}{{cite book|author=Said Baaghil|title=Glamour Globals: Trends Over Brands|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0QHfxZO5AGkC&pg=PA50|access-date=10 September 2013|date=9 January 2013|publisher=iUniverse|isbn=978-1-4759-7167-5|page=50|author-link=Said Baaghil}}

A common type of modern status symbol is a prestigious luxury branded item, whether apparel or other type of a good.{{cite book|author1=Donna D. Heckler|author2=Brian D. Till|title=The Truth About Creating Brands People Love|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6DhNprFiz6UC&pg=PA23|access-date=10 September 2013|date=10 October 2008|publisher=FT Press|isbn=978-0-13-270118-1|page=23}} The brand name or logo is often prominently displayed, or featured as a graphic design element of decoration. Certain brands are so highly valued that cheap counterfeit goods or knock-off copies are purchased and displayed by those who do not want to, or are unable to, pay for the genuine item.

{{Portal|Society|Psychology}}

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• Badge of shame
• Belongingness
• Conspicuous consumption
• Fashion accessory
• Identity performance
• Narcissistic supply
• Occupational prestige
• Positional good
• Relative deprivation
• Social stratification
• Veblen good

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{{Reflist|30em}}

• Vance Oakley Packard: The status seekers: an exploration of class behaviour in Amerika. Harmondsworth, Pelican books, 1963. {{OCLC|762112945}}
• Samuel I. Hayakawa: Symbol, status, and personality. New York, Harcourt, Brace & World, 1963. ISBN 9780156876117
• Pierre Bourdieu: Distinction: a social critique of the judgement of taste. London/New York, Routledge, 1984. ISBN 9780674212800

{{Narcissism}}

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Category:Social status

Category:Narcissism