naming, prestige and status mobility

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Scope Note

General statements covering several aspects of individual differentiation: names and naming, status mobility, and prestige. The term "status" is here used to connote the position occupied by an individual in any repetitive social relationship. Societies tend to rank certain statuses as higher and lower, and within a status to rank the roles of different individuals in terms of how adequately they measure up to the cultural expectations for that status. The "prestige" of any individual reflects both the level of the various statuses that person occupies and the social estimate of that person’s roles in each. Some statuses are ascribed and not achievable, being gained either automatically or not at all. Individuals can enhance their prestige through their own efforts only by improving the performance of their roles or by moving into achievable statuses of higher social standing. Mobility can also be downward.

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