Understanding Status as a Social Resource

Within the framework of social resource theory (Foa 1971 ; Foa and Foa 1974 ; Foa et al. 1993 ) , status is a symbolic, particularistic resource. That is, compared to currency or concrete goods, status is relatively intangible, as its possession is typically re fl ected symbolically (e.g., personal possessions, conversational norms, skin color) by the values a society assigns. Status is also particularistic: Whereas universalistic resources such as money hold the same objective value regardless of their source, receiving status from some people (e.g., a respected group member) carries different meanings than when it comes from others (e.g., a disrespected group member) (Huo and Tyler 2001 ; Tyler et al. 1998 ) . These properties of status serve to make it a highly multifaceted, complex social resource. Status is both dif fi cult to quantify and may be manifested in many forms, and yet such information is conveyed in speci fi c, socially constructed ways. Using the framework provided by social resource theory, this chapter aims to arrive at a more comprehensive understanding of status as a social resource. To do so, we attempt to “zoom in” on status by examining it as a resource that, just like the six primary resources within social resource theory, varies along (1) symbolic versus concrete and (2) universalistic versus particularistic continuums. When viewed through this lens, status can be broken down into four subtypes (see Fig. 8.1 ) that shed light on how people within a given social context “use” status in their experience and what it means to allocate or withhold status from others. Status resources can be understood as ranging from symbolic, nonverbal behaviors (e.g., politeness, respect) to concrete, observable social markers (e.g., insignia on a uniform). At the same time, some forms of status can, at least in theory, be distributed universally (e.g., basic human dignity), whereas other forms of status are delivered with careful attention to who is receiving it (e.g., the treatment afforded to the president of a nation or to a prisoner on death row). When viewed together, these two continuums impart a coherent and testable theoretical framework for understanding status. After describing each quadrant in the taxonomy in more detail, we turn our attention to what we term “status transactions” – that is, when one form of status is exchanged for another – and, based on the insights developed from the taxonomy, we offer some novel predictions about how people are likely to react to violations in status transactions. We do so by presenting an empirical example of the utility of using social resource theory to gain a deeper understanding of status as an exchangeable social resource. Finally, we discuss Understanding Status as a Social Resource