POL208Y1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Conspicuous Consumption, Falklands War, Social Fact
Document Summary
Just because there is no world governor does not mean an absence of order: there are different logics behind the ordering of hierarchical power; therefore, there are different ways. Our understanding of status concerns elements such as: collective beliefs about an actor"s ranking on valued attributes. High status could be equated to one"s/a nation"s social value, intelligence, power, etc: identity. A country"s status in the world will shape their identity in time: standing and memberships, relative to others, that status is collective, subjective and relative. Being one of the p5" of the security council, membership in the. Generally speaking, we know who is on top, in the middle and on the bottom. Status (particularly high status) is scarce; not everyone has it: those who do have high status tend to preserve it for themselves. !1: those without status try hard to be associated with those with high status.
