Status
The concept of status is closely associated with the concept of role, in two specific ways:
Firstly, when we talk about "a
status" we are referring to a particular position (in society) that is related to the
role(s) we play. Every role we play has a status
of some sort and we can note examples such as employer / employee,
mother / daughter, single-parent, widower
and so forth to illustrate this basic idea.
Secondly, however, the concept of "social status" has a slightly different meaning and it can be broadly defined as:
"The level of respect or prestige we are expected to give to a person playing a particular role"
In this sense, therefore, the concept of social status involves the idea of making judgements about people when they are playing certain roles and, by extension, it involves the idea that it is possible to measure status differences in some way (usually by constructing some form of status hierarchy, whereby different roles are ranked as being of higher or lower status according to their different positions).
Status is important in any society and the way we feel about our status in relation to others will affect the way we behave in certain situations. We can, for example, talk about the associated concept of status anxiety - a situation in which we are unsure about our social status. In addition, we can talk about the idea of status frustration - a situation that occurs when we feel we are denied a level of respect (status) that we have a right to expect.
In addition to being related to the concept of role play, social status is also closely related to the concept of power - in basic terms, the ability to get people to do things, regardless of their ability to resist. This relationship between social status and power also involves the use, in most if not all, societies of status symbols.
One final idea to note in this context is that, just as social roles can be achieved or ascribed, so too can status be achieved or ascribed.