I probably hang out with mostly similar-status people, but there’s got to be a lot of context I’m missing, because I can think of a number of decision questions that don’t depend on the answer to “well, is this person I’m with higher status than me?”
I think it depends on the reading. If you read it in a sort of snooty dismissive voice, yes, certainly. But if you read it in a genuinely perplexed kind of voice, it mostly sounds confused.
I was pretty confused by “every situation” because I can definitely think of some situations where status considerations factor only negligibly into your decision process. For example: you are out with some people and notice your shoe is untied. Do you tie it? Uhh. Does it really matter if your friends are higher or lower status? Maybe if they can’t afford shoes or something, but otherwise, not really. I think?
It seems like by “status” you mean status within society at large, mainly economic status, while I think most people here are thinking about status within your own social group.
So if you stop to tie your shoe and you have high status within your social group, your friends will stop and wait for you; if you have low status, they won’t. (You display your assessment of your own status by asking “Hey, wait up, I have to tie my shoe” or by not asking.) There are finer gradations depending on how quickly you tie your shoe: you might hurry to avoid slowing down your friends, which I’m sure has various implications.
I’m not saying you should care about any of this; but it certainly could be an issue. If it’s not an issue, that could mean one of two things: either you’re so high-status you don’t even notice these things, or you’re not in high school any more :)
Oh, that’s interesting. I guess I do think about stuff like that but I don’t … usually frame it as a status question. I just think about it in terms of what the people I’m around have a problem with. Like if they seem annoyed that I’m tying my shoes all the time, I try not to do it? Or whether I like the people enough to do stuff for them, for example.
Actually, you made me think of a really good example of this and it goes back to the earlier question of whether we should ask people things. I have a bad habit of walking off and not responding during IM conversations! I mostly do it because IM is that sort of casual medium where you can be doing a bunch of other things at the same time. I think most people I talk to don’t really care but when people tell me that they’re bothered by it, I make an effort to let them know if I’m not gonna respond for a while. But I guess some people might be interpreting it as a status move and therefore not letting me know it bothers them? So maybe the people that I figure are also not responding because they’re busy are actually deliberately not responding to also signal status? Oops.
That’s a high-status thing to say :)
I probably hang out with mostly similar-status people, but there’s got to be a lot of context I’m missing, because I can think of a number of decision questions that don’t depend on the answer to “well, is this person I’m with higher status than me?”
I just said it because it was funny.
I think I am bad at knowing which comment to reply to. ^_^
To the point of being banal and transparent.
I think it depends on the reading. If you read it in a sort of snooty dismissive voice, yes, certainly. But if you read it in a genuinely perplexed kind of voice, it mostly sounds confused.
That’s why I put the confused-face!
I was pretty confused by “every situation” because I can definitely think of some situations where status considerations factor only negligibly into your decision process. For example: you are out with some people and notice your shoe is untied. Do you tie it? Uhh. Does it really matter if your friends are higher or lower status? Maybe if they can’t afford shoes or something, but otherwise, not really. I think?
It seems like by “status” you mean status within society at large, mainly economic status, while I think most people here are thinking about status within your own social group.
So if you stop to tie your shoe and you have high status within your social group, your friends will stop and wait for you; if you have low status, they won’t. (You display your assessment of your own status by asking “Hey, wait up, I have to tie my shoe” or by not asking.) There are finer gradations depending on how quickly you tie your shoe: you might hurry to avoid slowing down your friends, which I’m sure has various implications.
I’m not saying you should care about any of this; but it certainly could be an issue. If it’s not an issue, that could mean one of two things: either you’re so high-status you don’t even notice these things, or you’re not in high school any more :)
Oh, that’s interesting. I guess I do think about stuff like that but I don’t … usually frame it as a status question. I just think about it in terms of what the people I’m around have a problem with. Like if they seem annoyed that I’m tying my shoes all the time, I try not to do it? Or whether I like the people enough to do stuff for them, for example.
Actually, you made me think of a really good example of this and it goes back to the earlier question of whether we should ask people things. I have a bad habit of walking off and not responding during IM conversations! I mostly do it because IM is that sort of casual medium where you can be doing a bunch of other things at the same time. I think most people I talk to don’t really care but when people tell me that they’re bothered by it, I make an effort to let them know if I’m not gonna respond for a while. But I guess some people might be interpreting it as a status move and therefore not letting me know it bothers them? So maybe the people that I figure are also not responding because they’re busy are actually deliberately not responding to also signal status? Oops.