Free Essay About Social Status

Social status is one of the elements that are applied in defining people in most societies. It can be described as the rank or position that an individual or group of people in the society. Social status is described from two main perspectives: achieved status, and ascribed status. Achieved status is a status that an individual earn, whereas ascribed status is inherited, and is based on family background, ethnic group, race, or sex. In addition to ascribed and achieved statuses, individuals can also be ranked in terms of master status, which is an individual’s position that is the core with regard to how he/she runs if life. The focus of this paper is to discuss my social status, based on the above mentioned categories of social status.
A number of ascribed statuses are applicable in my case. To begin with, one of my ascribed statuses can be described based race. Based on race, I can be described as belong to the white people. My status can also be described based on the economic conditions of my family, especially my parents. In this case, I belong to an economically stable middle class family because my parents. My parents earn a significant amount of income, through employment and family small family business. On the same note, I can also be described as being part of the working class family, because my parents are working under the formal employment. From the description of ascribed status, it is imperative to note that these are statuses that are given to individuals involuntarily, and they have no control over them.
On the other hand, one of my achieved statuses is being an undergraduate student. It is an achieved status because I have worked hard all through from the lower levels of education up to where I am today. Without hard work I could not be an undergraduate student today. My other achieved status is being an athlete. I liked athletics ever since I was a young child, and I became interested and motivated to participate in athletics. It is important to note that achieved status is taken voluntarily because an individual takes it willing rather than being imposed on them. Besides, the achieved status is a clear indication of who we really are, because such status is earned, or that we work for.
A master status is yet another status under which individual can be described. This is a social position that appears to be among the crucial positions held by an individual. It not only identifies, but also influences the behavior and roles of an individual. Especially, the master status is based on the occupation of an individual. In my case, my master status is a student. Therefore, the student status dictates how I behave as well as my roles. For instance, being a student, I must attend classes and do assignments because that is the main obligations of being a student.
My status, based on the above mentioned categories are different from that of my parents or grandparents. For instance, under the achieved status category, one of their statuses is being parents or grandparents. Besides, they have been married for a long time now. Furthermore, my parents are employed as well as operate their own businesses. On the other hand, my grandparents are no longer working, having retired a number of years ago. The master status of my parents is being employed. All these are different in my scenario in various ways. For instance, whereas my parents have been married for each other and have children, I am yet to be involved in any kind of married lifestyle. Furthermore, whereas coming from a family of working parents is my ascribed status, it is an achieved status, and perhaps a master status, in the case of my parents.
Undoubtedly, family, work, as well as other activities hold the same personal identification status for me in the same way they did for my parents. For instance, my grandparents were working at one given point when my parents were young; therefore, they were ranked as coming from the working families. Besides, they were also students at one given point; hence enjoyed the status of being a student, the same position I am currently enjoying. This indicates that as time goes by, our status in the society keeps on changing over time. Whereas some ascribed statuses remain intact, the achieved and master status keep on changing from time to time because they are voluntarily attained rather than being imposed on us.
Perhaps, my grandparents experienced different conflicts or strain than what we are facing today. For example, during their era education had not advanced as the way it has over the past few years. Therefore, what they learnt and the way they were taught is quite different from what we learn and how we are taught. Furthermore, advancement of technology has brought about major differences in terms of achieved statuses than in the past. In the contemporary society, our achievements largely depend on how we relate and embrace modern technology. For example, the employed people had to physically be at the workplace during working hours. However, through the use of the internet and other forms of advanced technology, people can work away from their workplace in the same manner they could have worked by being present at their working places. With the help of sites such as skype, an individual can govern and control other people away from the worlplace. All these indicate how technology and modern lifestyle have come to re-define our achieved, ascribed, and master statuses in the society.
The man difference that I have noticed in the social status of my parents and grandparents and my current social status is that economic conditions is a major factor in the way people are socially classified. As people’s economic status change, so is their social status within the society. In addition, economic status acts as a base of the other status that people are either assigned involuntary or attain in the course of their lifetime. It is also evident that the master statuses keep on changing, depending on the efforts of individuals towards achieving what they desire in life.
I expect various statuses for my life in the future. Particularly, I hope to realize more achieved statuses, because these are the statuses that I can easily change depending on how much effort I put towards attaining my goals and objectives. It is my great desire that I would join the working class once I am through with my education. Particularly, I have a great desire of being part of the most influential sociologist, working together with other sociologists towards improving our society in every way possible. Undoubtedly, the key to this dream is working hard in my education, because competition for job opportunities is ever increasing from time to time. Furthermore, like everybody else, I have a desire of joining the upper class, or at least improve on the benchmark that my parents has set for us as their kids, through attaining economic independence. Starting a family is another status that I would like to attain in the future. It is a dream for every person to get a life partner and perhaps at some point get children and settle down as a family.
In conclusion, social status can be described from two major perspectives: achieved status, and ascribed status. The achieved status is voluntary and people have control over it. It depends on the efforts and determination of realizing the various achieved statuses. Some of the achieved statuses include being married, a father or mother to somebody, and being employed. On the other hand, ascribed status is the position that an individual takes because of his/her family background. Therefore, it is a status that is taken involuntary by an individual; and this category of social status includes being part of a rich family, ethnic group, race, or sex. Furthermore, there is also a master status, which does not only identify, but also influence the behavior and roles of an individual.