Achieved and Ascribed status AHSS 1130 Harshpreet Batra University of Guelph-Humber The general thought about an individual’s status suggests wealth, fame, and influence in the society.
However, sociologists describe status in terms that are more distinct, they use status to define the range of socially defined positions in a society. Social status can also be defined as the rank that is held by an individual, with associated rights and lifestyle in a societal hierarchy based upon reputation (Suleman ; Cunningham, 2015). A person can hold a number of statuses at the same time, like a person can occupy the status of a son, a manager of a company and a citizen of a country all at the same time. Statuses can be divided into two types, mainly achieved status and ascribed status, depending on the process of acquisition. According to Linton (1969), ascribed status were assigned to individual without reference to their innate differences or abilities and achieved status were the statuses that required special qualities and were open to individual achievements Societies assign ascribed status to an individual without considering exceptional talents of the subject person of interest (Schaefer ; Haaland, 2017). An assignment like this often occurs at birth, suggesting that that ascribed status is independent of one’s effort.
Ascribed status are involuntary statuses, meaning that it is not in the persons choice to occupy this status, like being born in a particular family or being born as a female or male. Whereas, achieved status depends on an individual’s capabilities and hard work. Thus, achieved and ascribed statuses are of great importance in building a united and an established society that is development oriented. The report will confer to professional athletics and law practice as the main aspects of achieved status while on the other hand, gender and economic status will be aspects of the ascribed status section.Firstly, achieved statuses are merit-based (Bales, 2017). This suggests aptitudes, undertakings, and capacities of individuals that enables them to achieve the places of accomplished statuses. The general public gives consideration and respect to people who work hard to achieve high positions in the society, as they understand the struggles and efforts that they put in acquiring such positions.
These individuals also prove to be a living example that through hard work and determination one can change his status from being poor to being financially established. People who achieve a high ranked status have a responsibility to focus on their practice to ensure their performance and maintain their status. Taking an example of an athlete, early morning exercises, daily field practice and a good health are very important for him to stay in the game. To become a successful athlete, the persons economic or social background does not matter, what matters is his hard work and determination towards the game. Besides, that an athlete also takes training under different instructors to get a better hold of the game and learn more about the sport through experienced people. Usain St Leo Bolt, a Jamaican Olympic athlete, holding world records in different games is a living example of achieved status, that a persons ethnic or racial background does not stop a person to achieve in life.
Apart from working hard he took training under his coach Glen Miller to increase his skills and today he is one of the best athletes of the world. When we as audience look at him, we see him as a great athlete and not by his ascribed status, stating that it is in the persons hand to change his master status. Furthermore, when we look at professions apart from sports like legal advisors, it is observed that they don’t just have a duty towards their clients, but they have a responsibility towards the society itself. To become a successful lawyer, it is essential to have the required degree and experience in the subject. However, applicable qualities like good communication skills, judgement power and analytical skills are also important to achieve in this field. This reflects that a persons familial, social or economic status have no role to play in determining the success of an individual in his field, what matters his talents and resilience towards his goal. In specific occurrences, a famous advocate can likewise have athletic abilities.
Such circumstances would empower the subject to be capable enough to meet all requirements for holding numerous statuses at the same time. Significant experts and different partners can create appropriate skilled frameworks that would allow the multitalented expert to use his or her potential from all fronts. Overall, such an expert would need to work harder than ordinary to drive his or her accomplish statuses to fulfillment. This phenomenon would help in enhancing the economy of the influenced country forward. In addition, the circumstance would breed a country of dedicated natives with the responsibility to accomplish high outcomes. Moreover, ages to come would discover inspiration in the soul of their ancestors, empowering them to fly their banners significantly higher in the worldwide field.In spite of the range of skills one possesses, they have to clinch to a commitment so that their skills succeed in transforming the society to the best state (Kaplan, 2017).
The individuals have to deliver on their duty based on the expected societal codes of conduct. This point relies on the fact that the public attaches certain presumed professional rights to the subject positions. People must do something to enable them to acquire achieved statuses (Schaefer & Haaland, 2017). For example, one would need to go to school and learn a skill to develop.
Establishing work relations and inventing new things is another way of acquiring achieved statuses. The points mentioned above are for efforts taken by people in tracking for professional goals. Therefore, it is important to urge for dedication as well as a commitment by various professionals in the different fields since this can help to breed competent experts with such required achieved statuses.Despite the fact that the achieved statuses mainly depend on training and exertion put by the expert, an individual’s ascribed status also plays an important role. For instance, risks that a male would consider seeking after a profession in childcare administrations are lower than if he or she was a female in a similar society.
Most partners get a kick out of the chance to relate to VIPs, who regularly are experts in a high social position in the public. Along these lines, such experts tend to bring into the attention of individuals to seek after their own fantasies in responsibility and assurance to attain.An ascribed status is the status which is not in the control of the onlooker. This infers that ascribed statuses are allotted to individuals with no thought on the characteristics and effort made by the portrayed people. Sex and age are one of the examples of credited status as they come normally during childbirth.
While people may be born with certain characteristics, these characteristics are significant mainly because of the social meanings they have in a given culture ( Haaland, Grekful ; Schaefer, 2017) An ascribed status usually does not have similar social meaning in a society, in a study Gary Hung (1988) confirmed that respect for the old people is an important norm of China, whereas in North America the term old man is seen as more of an insult then as a sign of seniority and wisdom.This paper talks about sexual orientation and financial statuses as a representation of the credited status to give understanding with respect to the subject. Such statuses reflect the role of human being in a subordinate gathering inside the public under examination. A person’s sex is a very important physiological fact as it is determined during the time of birth and remains fixed throughout life. This difference of gender is considered as the base of ascribing status to an individual. In our society gender roles are assigned, which tell both men and women how they are expected to dress, act or speak based on their gender. For example, women are expected to dress elegantly and be polite whereas, men are expected to be fierce, aggressive and strong. However these social differences are not same in all societies, for example the Tchambuli people, women are the head of the families and the bread earner , they take the major decisions of the family whereas men do the household work and take care of the children.
Societal norms regarding humankind and gender difference influence understanding on ascribed status in the subject society (Fiske, Cuddy, Glick, & Xu, 2018). Since people do not have to do anything to earn ascribed status, it is privilege and respect accorded to that social unit where the subject beholder belongs. Both males and females have a requirement to embrace their social duty for them to encourage a sense of responsibility. The society has different expectations for both males and females. This means that every person must understand their social niche and act in a way that promotes the dignity of the given social class. Moreover, the society respect attached to the ascribed status is likely to increase because the people will feel appreciated for their support and responsibility. Nonetheless, if a victimized gender succeeds in disapproving the societal belief on then, it would be an achievement in earning the respect of the society.
This would challenge the notion of an ascribed status of the affected populace, which will then attain an achieved status. Furthermore, children who are born in rich families often get the same respect and privileges that are earned by their ancestors. The treatment that the children will receive from the society will be according to the status of their family, and they have to put very little effort in order to maintain their status. To the contrary, children from poor parents would inherit their family poverty and will be forced to behave according to their status in the society.
According to a research, when the accomplishments of 17,000 people born in the same week were tracked and it was found that family, social and institutional connections were the best predictors of success rather than the abilities shown through the cognitive tests (Perry, 2015). This shows that there are many poor children who are willing to study but their economic background does not allow them to break their cycle of poverty and also that the society has little attention or no regard to such children since they are seen as those having limited contribution to the growth and development of the society.Despite the difference between the statuses, social roles also play an important aspect to ensure the stability in the society. One of the important components of social structure are societal roles, as they enable the members of the society to anticipate their contemporaries’ behaviors and their own actions appropriately. This trend would help in ensuring the people to understand and appreciate the need to foster productive relationships with each other in the society. The society would then be able to establish functional social structures that promote growth and development beyond only one or two lifetimes. The critical analysis shows that cultural norms and societal laws are fundamental determinants of status.
The society attaches certain contracts to both the achieved and ascribed statuses. For example, the statuses of parenthood, profession, and gender have bonds besides the presumed rights accorded to them by the society. Everyone must deliver on the obligations of their respective statuses to help in enhancing cohesion and stability in the society (Cantle, 2018). To summarize, individuals obtain accomplished status through exertion while the public delegates credited status to people without respects to gifts or reward of the general population under thought.
Regardless of the distinction featured above, both accomplished and credited statuses are vital for building a durable and stable society that is excited about advancement. ReferencesBales, R. (2017). Social interaction systems: Theory and measurement. Routledge. Retrieved from https://www.taylorfrancis.
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