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It follows that the path has to be either risky, or difficult to comprehend. Risky and difficult to comprehend are two forms of "barriers to entry". Another is
by rgbrenner 6y ago
It follows that the path has to be either risky, or difficult to comprehend.
Risky and difficult to comprehend are two forms of "barriers to entry". Another is who you know. One of the most obvious that you left out is: cost.
People buying their way into Harvard et al will obtain high status. People becoming a doctor will obtain high status. It's just that those things cost a 200k+. The price alone closes off that route to most people.
Risky and difficult are the routes to high status that less fortunate people MUST take, because the barriers for less risky routes are impossible to overcome by most people.
The important part you're highlighting is true: status requires barriers to limit the number of people that can acquire that status... it's just more broad than you've acknowledged.
- teachrdan 6y agoPeople within these verticals create their own micro-hierarchies. Surgeons see themselves as above pediatricians; heart and brain surgeons see themselves as above other surgeons. Among Ivy Leaguers, those who come from old families (with old money) join clubs that are closed to students who are poor, non-white, immigrant, etc. To me, it's a huge positive signal when a group has a culture that actively embraces new people and finds way to identify and celebrate what's cool about them, rather than just the opposite. I personally found student coops at my college to be one such culture.