Consider the role of status in just about all human interactions.
It begins at a primal level–every species cares about access to food and resources. We share a prehistoric history of status based on strength. But civilization is about awarding status on something other than violence.
So there is the status that comes from being the breadwinner, the hunter, the matriarch.
Or the status that comes with age and experience.
We award status to spiritual leaders, peacemakers and selfless warriors.
And to beauty.
Status might be passed down through families. It could be formalized with Dukes and Empresses and other peerages (an ironic term, of course).
Lately, only in the last few hundred years, have we awarded status based on commerce. That people with access to money get a better seat, and the benefit of the doubt. And celebrity, a status that’s not possible without some sort of media to create that celebrity.
Like most things associated with media or with money, these two accelerated very quickly. Being famous for having a lot of money is a double sort of status, a benefit of the doubt based on sometimes unexamined foundations.
Not only are people trained to seek status, we’re driven to repeat the yearning we feel even after it’s acquired. The reason that more than enough isn’t enough for many is that status and the search for status can be infinite.
The adjudication of status roles is a critical role for anyone who works in culture or even in commerce. We award status without thinking about it, when awarding it is actually a critical part of our work and our future.
Awarding status isn’t new. It’s that we’ve forgotten we’re doing it, and why. Every interaction is a small negotiation about who matters more in this moment. Understanding that doesn’t make the system fair, but it does give us a choice about whether to reinforce it or to build something else.