User talk:Mea425

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Social Order:

Status Groups are composed of groups of people who share a common rank in society. For instance, college students would be in a different status grpup than businessmen. Your status group is the group of people with which you identify and by which society views you. Teachers would be viewed differently than prostitutes and therefore are set apart by their job, which is also their social group.

"The mode of distribution of social 'status' among typical groups of members of a community will be called the social order." (From Max Weber & Walter Garrison Runciman’s Max Weber: Selections in Translation, p43)

"'Classes' are properly at home in the economic order, 'status groups' in the social order..." (From Max Weber & Walter Garrison Runciman’s Max Weber: Selections in Translation, p55)

Status Groups and Social Order

"Status groups" can be based on a person's characteristics such as race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, religion, region, occupation, physical attractiveness, gender, education, age, ect. They are defined as "a subculture having a rather specific rank (or status) within the stratification system. That is, societies tend to include a hierarchy of status groups, some enjoying high ranking and some low." (Sociology: Tenth Edition by Rodney Stark, 114) One example of this hierarchy is the prestige of a school teacher compared to that of a garbage man.

A certain lifestye usually distinguishes the members of different status groups. For example, around the holidays a Jewish family may celebrate Hannukkah while a Christian family may celebrate Christmas. Other cultural differences such as language and cultural rituals identify members of different status groups.

Inside of a status group there are more, smaller groups. For instance, one can belong to a status group based on one's race and a social class based on financial ranking. This may cause strife for the individual in this situation when he or she feels they must choose to side with either thier status group or their social class. For example a wealthy African American man who feels he has to take a side on an issue on which poor African Americans from the wealthy white Americans are divided. Does he stay within his class or within his status group?