168 notes to pages 6–10
and Shi 2015 ; Moav and Neeman 2012 ; Valente 2009 ; Alvarez- Cuadrado 2007 ;
Tian and Yang 2009 ; Arrow and Dasgupta 2009 ; Eaton and Eswaran 2005 ; Chang,
Cheng, and Shieh 2012 ; Winkelmann 2012.
- For discussion of related concepts such as honor, respect, status, esteem,
and face, see Larson, Paul, and Wolhforth 2013 ; Wolf 2011 ; O’Neill 1999 ; Lebow
2008 ; McGinn 1971. - A discussion of the different definitions and conceptualizations of power in
international relations is beyond the scope of this volume. For a useful review, see
Barnett and Duvall 2005 b. - For a similar discussion, see Singer and Small 1966 , 238.
- Parsons similarly sees prestige as operating between the objective and the
subjective (Parsons 1970 ). - Larson, Paul, and Wohlforth ( 2013 ) prefer the term status to prestige be-
cause they see it as a more neutral term. Status is usually understood as denoting
the ordinal position of different actors in the social hierarchy. Wolf ( 2011 , 115 ),
on the other hand, argues that the approbative dimension of prestige makes it the
most important form of esteem in politics: “Enjoying prestige means being widely
accredited with having achieved valuable political ends or with having special abil-
ities for achieving such ends.” In practice, both terms are so tightly connected that
it is difficult to separate them analytically. I therefore use these terms interchange-
ably throughout this volume. - See Marshall 1953 , 45 ; Davis and Moore 1945 ; Hope 1982.
- I do not use the term international society in order not to conflate the cur-
rent argument with the English School. While authors of the English School have
analyzed international social hierarchy, the role of prestige is largely unexplored
in their theorizing. See Bull and Watson 1984 ; Watson 1992 ; Buzan 1993. For an
overview and a typology of social readings of power in international relations, see
Barnett and Duvall 2005 a, 2005 b. - An analogy from the world of tennis may be helpful: professional tennis
players earn ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) points for every match
they win. The total number of points (the equivalent of prestige in this analogy)
determines the ranking of the players (the equivalent of status). - Positional goods were first defined by Fred Hirsch ( 1976 ). See also James
- It is important to note that while Lake ( 2009 ) explores the distributive im-
plications of hierarchy, his analysis is notably asocial. For Lake, the dynamics of
hierarchical relationships are not necessarily wrapped in questions of status and
prestige. Indeed, the term prestige appears only once in his book, as part of a quote
of Gilpin’s work. - Pyszczynski, Greenberg, and Solomon ( 1997 ) argue that high self- esteem
serves as a tool for reducing anxiety, and it is the reduction of anxiety and fear
that motivates human behavior. If indeed esteem is correlated with lower levels of