Social Honour

Though social status is reckoned as a central dimension of social stratification, its conceptualization and operationalization are demanding given the polysemic use of the term. This chapter locates the conceptual roots of social status with Weber’s canonical distinction between class and status. Social status processes are salient in the most ordinary events of social life. They are at the basis of the legitimization of the social order and at the root of its contestations, while also providing ground for the social closure of social groups. Status is indeed a central issue for social stratification, as a mechanism at the foundation of inequalities but also as a dimension of these inequalities. Two empirical avenues for deepening our understanding of status processes are suggested: status inconsistencies and differences in status processes according to class, caste, race and gender. The study of social status thus calls for mixed methodological approaches in order to fully grasp its different strands.