My preferred definition for status is “the ability to control (or influence) the group”,
That is a great measure of status but at as a definition it is just wrong. While strongly correlated these two concepts are not the same. I can think of ways to influence a group while still having low status. And I can think of situations in which it is better to stay low status even though group influence is still desirable.
Examples that are not necessarily practical but which unambiguously demonstrate that the two concepts are different:
Sabotage media sources (which can be either in group or out of group) that do not support whatever policy you prefer.
Poison people.
Plant bombs.
Essentially anything that can kill or influence the behavior of other people without being traceable to you.
Advanced techniques of influence that maximise the desirable alteration of the brain state of others without raising your state. (Optimal use of priming and suggestion, etc.)
Be the example. If five people are littering that encourages other people to do it. If one person is littering and getting visibly punished socially for it that is an extremely strong way to discourage other people from littering. (Has been studied. Reference probably in Cialdini.)
Pay prostitutes. (In general, pay people to do stuff when to do so lowers status.)
Make (apparent) attempts to influence the group. If you do so when you have low status then other people (typically those from the middle of the pack) will take the excuse to crush you and in so doing demonstrate their dominance. This can be used to exploit the influence of others but actually lowers your status.
There are examples that are much less extreme than the above (which means less useful as definitive demonstration). I will say that I routinely sacrifice dominance in order to win. Most people focus more on dominance than winning. This can be exploited. This winning is obviously integrally tied up with influence.
Conclusion: Make a post on the ability to influence the group and perhaps show how it relates (both ways) to status. But definitely do not waste the insights you would be expressing in the post by premising them on a false definition.
It’s also common, if low status people attempt to influence a group, for their ideas to not be heard until the idea is picked up by a higher status person. The low status person never gets credit, but has influenced the group.
I was in a pagan group for a while which met at somewhat irregular times and places. A high status person in the group would call people to tell them about when and where.
I later found out that one of the reasons the group eventually dissolved was that the low status person who’d been reminding the high status person to do the phone calls had moved out of the area.
I don’t know how common that sort of thing is, but it wouldn’t surprise me if it’s an important but almost invisible feature of how things work.
I don’t know how common that sort of thing is, but it wouldn’t surprise me if it’s an important but almost invisible feature of how things work.
I suspect extremely high. Social dominance independent of domain knowledge and competence is common and in a subset of such cases the group still functions.
On reflection, I think your original insight is basically correct, but acquires explanatory capacity only when supplemented with what I’m going to call a theory of conversions.
I’ve actually been aware of “power conversions” for several years (the topic is discussed in Jerry Weinberg’s Becoming a Technical Leader), but I only thought to apply that to that frustratingly elusive “status” notion tonight as I was turning in. (And had to get up to take some notes; so much for a good night’s sleep.) Something went click; the two seem to be a very nice fit, and to make sense of a whole bunch of things that were previously perplexing to me. It has interesting implications, for instance it suggests that “raising your status” is meaningless. It neatly incorporates Vladimir’s observations of “godshatteriness”. I could go on.
Would you be interested in collaborating on a top-level post on this idea? My plan would be to send you a draft of the core ideas and some implications, have you turn a critical eye on it, and if it still stands after that, incorporate your own take on it.
It’s also common, if low status people attempt to influence a group, for their ideas to not be heard until the idea is picked up by a higher status person. The low status person never gets credit, but has influenced the group.
I was in a pagan group for a while which met at somewhat irregular times and places. A high status person in the group would call people to tell them about when and where.
I later found out that one of the reasons the group eventually dissolved was that the low status person who’d been reminding the high status person to do the phone calls had moved out of the area.
I don’t know how common that sort of thing is, but it wouldn’t surprise me if it’s an important but almost invisible feature of how things work.
That is a great measure of status but at as a definition it is just wrong. While strongly correlated these two concepts are not the same. I can think of ways to influence a group while still having low status. And I can think of situations in which it is better to stay low status even though group influence is still desirable.
Examples that are not necessarily practical but which unambiguously demonstrate that the two concepts are different:
Sabotage media sources (which can be either in group or out of group) that do not support whatever policy you prefer.
Poison people.
Plant bombs.
Essentially anything that can kill or influence the behavior of other people without being traceable to you.
Advanced techniques of influence that maximise the desirable alteration of the brain state of others without raising your state. (Optimal use of priming and suggestion, etc.)
Be the example. If five people are littering that encourages other people to do it. If one person is littering and getting visibly punished socially for it that is an extremely strong way to discourage other people from littering. (Has been studied. Reference probably in Cialdini.)
Pay prostitutes. (In general, pay people to do stuff when to do so lowers status.)
Make (apparent) attempts to influence the group. If you do so when you have low status then other people (typically those from the middle of the pack) will take the excuse to crush you and in so doing demonstrate their dominance. This can be used to exploit the influence of others but actually lowers your status.
There are examples that are much less extreme than the above (which means less useful as definitive demonstration). I will say that I routinely sacrifice dominance in order to win. Most people focus more on dominance than winning. This can be exploited. This winning is obviously integrally tied up with influence.
Conclusion: Make a post on the ability to influence the group and perhaps show how it relates (both ways) to status. But definitely do not waste the insights you would be expressing in the post by premising them on a false definition.
It’s also common, if low status people attempt to influence a group, for their ideas to not be heard until the idea is picked up by a higher status person. The low status person never gets credit, but has influenced the group.
I was in a pagan group for a while which met at somewhat irregular times and places. A high status person in the group would call people to tell them about when and where.
I later found out that one of the reasons the group eventually dissolved was that the low status person who’d been reminding the high status person to do the phone calls had moved out of the area.
I don’t know how common that sort of thing is, but it wouldn’t surprise me if it’s an important but almost invisible feature of how things work.
I suspect extremely high. Social dominance independent of domain knowledge and competence is common and in a subset of such cases the group still functions.
Thank you; these are good examples. You and the other commenters are right, my definition was inadequate. I need to think about it some more.
On reflection, I think your original insight is basically correct, but acquires explanatory capacity only when supplemented with what I’m going to call a theory of conversions.
I’ve actually been aware of “power conversions” for several years (the topic is discussed in Jerry Weinberg’s Becoming a Technical Leader), but I only thought to apply that to that frustratingly elusive “status” notion tonight as I was turning in. (And had to get up to take some notes; so much for a good night’s sleep.) Something went click; the two seem to be a very nice fit, and to make sense of a whole bunch of things that were previously perplexing to me. It has interesting implications, for instance it suggests that “raising your status” is meaningless. It neatly incorporates Vladimir’s observations of “godshatteriness”. I could go on.
Would you be interested in collaborating on a top-level post on this idea? My plan would be to send you a draft of the core ideas and some implications, have you turn a critical eye on it, and if it still stands after that, incorporate your own take on it.
I’d love to. :)
It’s also common, if low status people attempt to influence a group, for their ideas to not be heard until the idea is picked up by a higher status person. The low status person never gets credit, but has influenced the group.
I was in a pagan group for a while which met at somewhat irregular times and places. A high status person in the group would call people to tell them about when and where.
I later found out that one of the reasons the group eventually dissolved was that the low status person who’d been reminding the high status person to do the phone calls had moved out of the area.
I don’t know how common that sort of thing is, but it wouldn’t surprise me if it’s an important but almost invisible feature of how things work.