When did you learn social status existed?

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Apparently, other people view others in term of “superiors” and “inferiors”... but I’m still a bit confused. Can someone explain this to me? Thanks.

I'm 55 and still don't get it.

I still struggle with it myself. Back when I worked, I got in trouble on a not-irregular basis for "back-talking" my supervisor or "undermining her authority". I have very little respect for people who expect others to kowtow to them and accept their demands as divine simply because of a title in front of their name. I worked a two-year stint at Walmart where every one of the supervisors had the intelligence of a sack of bricks. There is nothing more infuriating than being spoken down to and expected to submit to the authority of someone who you know without a doubt has a lower IQ than you. I respond to logic, not emotional epithets, and not arbitrary "corporate titles".

I think this question has come up here before. I don't really get it very well either. It's like another layer of reality (or better, non-reality) that I can't see — like people who think there are demons and angels operating in the world.

I understand hierarchical organizations — but that's not what most people mean when they're talking about "status."

city, internet, novels/films

I don't get it when i don't have anxiety. When i"m anxious though i see everyone else as superior to me.

I would probably have been around ten. I still totally approve of the old fashioned conception of aristocracy whose loss, I think, was one of the greatest tragedies ever to beset the West in modern times. I don't argue for a return to aristocracy, however.

I'm not sure that I've actually learned this at all. Sometimes I seem to know it, most of the time I just forget.

I first heard the term around the age of ten, learned what it means in theory soon after and learned what it means in practice in my late teens... I think.

When people talk about social status, I'm pretty sure they don't talk about the different positions of two people in the same work place, but how other people in society view them as, either because of what they are or because of what they've managed to make people think they are.

Basically, it goes like this: if you have the respect of the group (or the majority of it) around you, your social status among that group is high, no matter what you can or can't do. It's about what the group appreciates and what not. For example, let's say you were a junior highschooler who hung out with the problem kids. You smoke, skip school, swear etc. just like them? They'll like you, your social status among them will be high or at least not below the others in the group. However, if you somehow strayed off to an entirely different group, like a bunch of nerdy good students, you'd be viewed as a failure and your social status among that group would be low. There are always exceptions of course, especially among us autistic people because while we might think we're doing everything "right" to fit in to the group, we might be missing some subtle social cues and missing them will either make us look stupid or like we don't care about that group's rules, which will lower our social status. And of course, these are extreme examples created to make a point. Different people can get along with each other too under the right circumstances.

So basically you can get your social status to become higher (or lower) without any effort by just managing to find the right kind of group to be in.

At age two, I learned that I had to respect my sister's feelings, but she didn't have to reciprocate. In school, I learned about historic, formal divisions and the ongoing struggle against prejudice. Yesterday, I learned that Frank Whittle, the jet aircraft inventor, was sabotaged throughout his life for his humble birth. Britain must have felt quite at home with the Indian caste system.

Few years ago. But it's something that doesn't really counts for me. I'm not a chimp. I think I have always been on top or outside of the hierarchie of chimps. Mostly outside because I don't really like to care about people. But most guys on the street just like and accept me in a way that I don't understand. And the few who dare to mess around with me get their limits teached otherwise they wont stop to cause trouble.
The way that guys on the street are towards me is one of the strangest things to me. Some come to me and tell that they always totally enjoy to see me. Wtf? I don't even know them.
I don't know why I know how to claim the leadership among guys and to get on top of the hierarchy.

If I am to be completely honest, I always viewed people that way naturally, albeit a very egocentric one, more my view than a general social view.

It was in elementary school that I learned that others did too, and it was obvious to me somewhere between the age of 8 and 10 who was high and low in the social pecking order of the class. Kids are easy and clear that way.
It's much harder to tell as an adult, unless someone is acting weird or off. Plus I tend to pay less attention to people these days.

I don’t know what you’re talking about.

I keep getting surprised, when my practical choices turn out to be unfashionable, and pretty much get me ostracised before I even know there's an issue. When I was in High School, I was barely aware of the people who knew who was on the football team, and thought the prom was important.

I think I’ve understood social status since I was a kid but I always laughed at it. A person is a person of value whether they’re a cleaner or an astronaut. But I understand how society labels you based on how your dress or your job title. I’ve been so many different things in my life. And it’s hilarious (and hurtful) how you’re judged from one situation to the next. Example: when I was very young and sat on a board, I wore a suit or corporate clothes and the gossip was that I was a spoilt little rich kid. I’m not, and my clothes were from Target. But I’m well spoken and articulate so I’ll take it. And joke’s on them if I fooled them into thinking I was rich. I grew up in a house where there were holes in the floor, and the electricity was always being cut off because bills weren’t paid on time, but whatever. Now I’m a homeless jobless bum and people treat me differently even though I’m still the same person. Now, if we are talking about the class system, well I understand the divide but I wasn’t really aware of how things worked until I hit my late 20s.

Baleno HK, Abercrombie Fitch, Dolce Gabbana.. the Trilogy