Society and Social Interaction Journal

 

 

Society and Social Interaction

This week it was noted about micro level interactions and how social characteristics such as roles and status impact these interactions.  In this week’s journal, think about the 3 types of status we learned about.  Write a 1-2 page paper on the following prompt. Please make sure to properly cite sources using the APA style guide.

Prompt: Identify an ascribed, achieved, and master status that you hold  1) Explain what each type of status refers to and 2) explain why your examples represent that type of status.  3) Discuss how you think status plays a role in your micro level interactions with others.

 This article should help with the assignmentThere are three major types of statuses in society:Ascribed status: a status assigned by society without regard to the person’s unique talents or characteristics. Usually this assignment takes place at birth.Examples of ascribed status include, but are not limited to, age, gender, race, class. These characteristics are significant mainly because of the social significance they have in our culture. In most cases there is little one can do to change an ascribed status, although we can try to change the traditional constraints that may be associated with them.Achieved status: a status attained through personal effort.Examples include a college student, prisoner, wife, rock star, sports star. Note again, some status are viewed in high regard, while others are viewed in low regard. Our achieved statuses may be heavily influenced by our ascribed statuses.Master status: statuses that overshadow or dominate all other statuses.Master statuses are often people’s primary identities.  Examples include one’s occupation or honorable positions.  Master statuses are reflective of one’s position in society.  Master statuses can also be influenced by ascribed and achieved statuses.  For instance, Malcolm X was told by a teacher in his youth that he would never become a lawyer.  In this example, his ascribed status (being black) was an obstacle to his dream of becoming a lawyer (achieved status), which ultimately contributed to him becoming a civil rights activist (master status).For an overview of status, please watch the following video: