Hi Pelly,

There's a 1991 film that stars Harrison Ford and Annette Bening,
directed by Mike Nichols, where Harrison Ford stars as a big-shot
cold-hearted lawyer who gets shot during a supermarket robbery.
It's a modern day parable of greed and redemption and crafted with
generous helpings of sentimenatliy. Ford survives a shooting only to find he can't remember anything.

If you can get hold of a copy on DVD - its well worth a look.
It's called, "Regarding Henry." And was part of a series of the more
intelligent films made by Mike Nichols.

Status can be a two edged sword.

In my last job before retirement I was GM, & CEO of a small group of companies. We had manufacturing, marketing, & instillation arms in a couple of different product areas.

My business card had only the name of the parent company & my name, with nothing else on it. I often found I was undertaking a task where it was preferable to be a technician, or service man. Being a CEO would have been detrimental in many dealings.

When I was motor racing however status was very important.

Most young drivers harbour an ambition, if only in their dreams, to become F1 world champion. To even dream of this you must first find out how good you are, then prove it.

First you must be able to attract enough sponsor ship to run your own competitive car in a lower class. Then you must gain enough status to be offered a drive in a competitive car, in a top class. You must also say the right things at the right times, not one of my great strengths

Luckily back then, the top international drivers came to Oz for the Tasman series every year, so we could test ourselves against them, without a big move to Europe.

Having found I was perhaps a bit old, & not quiet fast enough, it was something of a relief to sail out to the Pacific islands as a Yachty bum, & minor Mr fix it, where no status was required.

Status is a crockaboloney. It's given to people for all the wrong reasons.

A doctor cures you of an illness so is given high status in the community, his cleaner not so much; but his cleaner prevents you from getting ill in the first place!

A politician is given status for... Well I have to think about that one!

Movie stars are given status, but years ago they were just jesters performing for the king/queen of the time and beheaded for not entertaining.
We all know how to entertain ourselves do we not?

Too me we're all equal, for one can not achieve status without the other! Which is more important? Or are people we consider high status just full of self importance, self given status?

Pelly,

Good thread topic.

Status has many guises, and it does seem to pervade our lives as an some sort of social support. I'm fascinated by the modern middle-class penchant for conspicuous consumption....when you think about it, much of what is stacked up around us in a material sense is nothing but a symbol of status. Material wealth has always provided a comparative measure.

But service can also have the same effect. Picture a scene where you have a small league of women who perhaps help run a parish church and hall. Now imagine all the bun fights that have taken place in history for status amongst the members in such a group, Who will organise the raffle, the flowers in the church, deck the hall for the annual fundraiser, etc....the Hyacinth Buckets of this world abound - again a middle-class aspiration, and a deliberate grab for status.

The real aristocracy never usually had to clamour for status (except perhaps among their peers) because status was just assumed to exist.

But I think you'd be here all day and night if you tried to take into account the myriad forms of status seeking amongst humans....which probably pervades every facet of life.

Raw Mustard
Those lesser valued roles are often underrated (or perhaps others overrated). Bob Ellis speaks of this in his writings as well.

Poirot
You always put things so well. It fascinates me too this obsession with accumulating stuff in the pursuit of status or self esteem. As you ponder, this can be taken to a much smaller level - to competing with others on many fronts not only material such as dear Hyacinth's candlelight suppers. I often wonder if this seeking of status is more to do with a misguided understanding of human nature. The belief that status will necessarily lead to acceptance and friendship. Friendship by nature is not superficial. As you say we could be here all day thinking about the ways in which status is sought or what it is. I realised after penning this topic it was much more complicated than first thought.

Lexi
I have seen that film and it is a good example (albeit Hollywoodised) of someone re-evaluating their life. Hopefully for most it does not take a bullet in the head. :)

I think it is, because people have been seeking status in pretty much every era in human history. Even in supposed communist regimes, where everyone was supposed to be equal, people sought status and having a higher party position and things like that would get you far.

I mean, we seek out stuff like fancy hotels: http://www.groupon.com.au/sites/www.groupon.com.au/lp/lp/069/groupon.php/ and designer shoes: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manolo_Blahnik/]designer shoes now, but in the past it could be more land, healthier cows, better connections....anything really.