Social status is related to how much your influence has on others. From this lens, one can see why the untenured Yale professor is unwilling to move to an unkn

Social status is related to how much your influence has on others. From this lens, one can see why the untenured Yale professor is unwilling to move to an unknown university even though there is more money and security: the people you attract to work with you and invitations to fancy events are better by maximising prestige. This point of view also explains why people are willing to take lower pay in exchange for higher prestige.