2.Status. Social prestige is what other people think
of you. If class is based on your relationship to
production,statusis based on your relationship
to consumption: your lifestyle. People see what
you have and how you live and make judgments
about how much wealth and power you have.
This results in people often buying higher-priced
luxury goods—status symbols—even if they
have a hard time paying for them.
People with higher class positions tend to
enjoy higher status, but not necessarily: In the
United States, college professors enjoy high status,
but (unfortunately) they don’t make much money,
compared to other high-status professions.
Accountants have a relatively low status, but they
tend to command high salaries. High and low sta-
tus differs from society to society and changes over
time. (Table 7.1) Status does not pass from gener-
ation to generation automatically, like wealth, but
it can still be transmitted. Upper-class parents
teach their children the social skills expected of
people with high status, perhaps an appreciation
for classical music or modern art, and send them
to exclusive schools and colleges where they can prepare for high-status lives. Mean-
while lower-middle-class and working-class parents teach their children the skills
necessary for lives of somewhat lower expectations.
3.Power.Poweris the ability to do what you want to do. This may mean a certain
amount of control over your own working situation. People in higher class or
status positions can set their own hours, disregard punching time clocks, and work
to their own rhythm.
SOCIAL CLASS 211Prestige Means Not Having to
Deal with PeopleInThe System of Professions: An Essay on the Division
of Expert Labor(1988), sociologist Andrew Abbott no-
ticed an interesting workplace phenomenon: the more
prestigious the job, the less contact with real, live
human beings.
When you go to the doctor’s office, a receptionist (low pres-
tige) greets you, asks you to fill out some forms, and creates a
file for you. Then a nurse (medium prestige) records your weight,
temperature, and blood pressure in the file that the reception-
ist prepared and informs the doctor that you’re there. Finally, a
doctor (high prestige) swoops in, examines you briefly, and gives
directions to the nurse, who completes your treatment. On yourway out, the receptionist talks to you again to take your pay-
ment and set up the next appointment. You’ve spent about 60
percent of the visit with the receptionist, 35 percent with the
nurse, and 5 percent with the doctor.
When you walk into a fast-food restaurant for lunch, the per-
son who takes your order (low prestige) will probably take a thou-
sand other orders that day. If you are dissatisfied with your order,
you will go to the manager (medium prestige), who determines
the work schedules, checks on the supplies, and handles com-
plaints, but never takes orders from customers. Meanwhile, some-
where far away in a glass-and-steel tower, the CEO (high prestige)
makes high-level policy decisions and never sees a customer.
We can find so many examples that it seems almost a work-
place rule: the higher your prestige, the less you actually have
to deal with people.Sociologyand ourWorld
TABLE 7.1
Occupational Prestige: 27 Year Trend
1977 2006 CHANGES SINCE
BASE: ALL ADULTS % % 1977 %Doctor 61 58 –3
Nurse NA 55 NA
Scientist 66 54 –12
Teacher 29 52 +23
Police Officer NA 43 NA
Priest/Minister/Clergyman 41 40 –1
Engineer 34 34 0
Athlete 26 23 –3
Lawyer 36 21 –15
Entertainer 18 18 0
Accountant NA 17 NA
Banker 17 17 0
Journalist 17 16 –1
Business executive 18 11 –7Note:Prestige is rated on a scale from 100 (most prestigious) to 0 (least prestigious).
Source:Adapted from Introduction to Sociology, 6th ed.,by Thompson and Hickey, p. 204.