How is a person's status determined? The concept of social status in sociology

Within the framework of sociological knowledge, the study of the position of the individual in society, i.e., the social position of the individual, which is defined by the concept of “social status of the individual,” is of great importance.

Social status (from the Latin status - position, state) of an individual is the position of a person in society, which he occupies in accordance with his age, gender, origin, profession, marital status.

In sociology, the following types of social statuses of an individual are distinguished.

Social status

Statuses determined by the position of an individual in a group:

Social status is the position of a person in society, which he occupies as a representative of a large social group in relations with other groups;

Personal status is the position of an individual in a small group, depending on how its members evaluate him in accordance with his personal qualities.

Statuses determined by time frames and influence on the life of the individual as a whole:

Basic status determines what is important in a person's life;

Minor status influences the details of a person's behavior.

Statuses acquired or not acquired as a result of free choice:

Prescribed status is a social position that is pre-prescribed to an individual by society, regardless of the individual’s merits;

Mixed status has the features of prescribed and achieved statuses;

The achieved status is acquired as a result of free choice, personal effort and is under the control of the person.

Any person occupies several positions, as he participates in many groups and organizations, and accordingly he is characterized by a status set1.

Status set is the totality of all statuses occupied by a given individual.

There is a certain hierarchy of statuses: intergroup - occurs between status groups; intragroup - takes place between the statuses of individuals within the same group.

The place in the hierarchy of statuses is called status rank. The following types of status ranks are distinguished: high, medium, low.

Contradictions in intergroup and intragroup hierarchies are manifested in a divergence of statuses, which arises under two circumstances:

When an individual has a high status rank in one group and a low one in another;

When the rights and obligations of one status are incompatible with the rights and obligations of another (for example, the status of a deputy is incompatible with the status of a minister).

When characterizing any social status, the following components are distinguished.

Components of social status:

1) Status rights and obligations - determine what the bearer of a given status can do and what he must do.

2) Status range - the established framework within which the status rights and responsibilities of an individual are exercised.

3) Status symbols - external insignia that make it possible to distinguish between bearers of different statuses (military personnel wear a uniform, each estate and class has its own style of clothing and its own attributes).

4) Status image (image) - a set of ideas about how an individual should look and behave in accordance with his status.

5) Status identification - determining the degree of compliance of an individual with his status.

An individual not only has a certain social status, he is constantly evaluated by other people, groups and the society in which he lives. This is expressed in the concepts of “prestige” and “authority”.

Prestige is society’s assessment of the significance of certain positions occupied by individuals.

The prestige of a particular status is formed under the influence of two factors: the real usefulness of the social functions that a person performs and the value system characteristic of a given society.

Some traits that influence a person’s social status are objective in nature, that is, they do not depend on his desires (nationality, gender, origin, etc.). But the main thing that determines the social status, social position, authority and prestige of an individual is education, qualifications and other personal and socially significant qualities.

The significance of social statuses is expressed in the fact that they determine the content and nature of social relations; act as structural elements social organization societies that provide social connections between subjects of social relations.

Society not only forms social statuses, but also creates mechanisms for their reproduction, regulating the distribution of individuals into certain social positions. The relationship between different statuses in the social structure is an essential characteristic of society, its social and political organization.

A person interacts with different people and social groups every day. It rarely happens that he fully interacts only with members of one group, for example a family, but at the same time he can also be a member of a work collective, public organizations, etc. Entering simultaneously into many social groups, he occupies the corresponding position in each of them. position determined by relationships with other members of the group. To analyze the degree of inclusion of an individual in various groups, as well as the positions he occupies in each of them, the concepts of social status and social role are used.

Status (from lat. status- position, condition) - position of a citizen.

Social status usually defined as the position of an individual or group in social system, which has characteristics specific to a given system. Each social status has a certain prestige.

All social statuses can be divided into two main types: those that are prescribed to the individual by society or a group, regardless of his abilities and efforts, and those that the individual achieves through his own efforts.

Variety of statuses

There is a wide range of statuses: prescribed, achieved, mixed, personal, professional, economic, political, demographic, religious and consanguineous, which belong to the variety of basic statuses.

1. Prescribed status - acquired regardless of one’s desires, imposed by society regardless of the conditions and merits of the individual (social origin, place of birth). Within the framework of prescribed statuses, so-called natural statuses are often distinguished - gender, nationality, race.

2. Acquired (achieved) - positions that a person achieves himself (teacher, professor, etc.).

3. General status - the status of a person, his rights and obligations, the status of a citizen. General statuses are, as it were, the foundation of a person’s status position.

In addition to them, there are a huge number of episodic, non-main statuses. These are the statuses of a pedestrian, passer-by, patient, witness, participant in a demonstration, strike or crowd, reader, listener, television viewer, etc. As a rule, these are temporary states. The rights and obligations of holders of such statuses are often not registered in any way. They are generally difficult to detect, say, in a passerby. But they exist, although they influence not the main, but the secondary traits of behavior, thinking and feeling. So, the status of a professor determines a lot in life this person. What about his temporary status as a passerby or a patient? Of course not.

So, a person has basic (determining his life activity) and non-basic (affecting the details of behavior) statuses. The first are significantly different from the second.

In addition, integral and personal statuses of a person are distinguished. Integral status - determines the style or way of life of a person, his circle of acquaintances and manner of behavior. The most used, aggregate, integrative indicator of a status position is profession.

Personal status is the position that a person occupies in a small or primary group (depending on how he is assessed by his individual qualities).

Behind each status - permanent or temporary, basic or non-basic - there is a special social group or social category. Catholics, conservatives, engineers (main statuses) form real groups. For example, patients, pedestrians (non-primary statuses) form nominal groups or statistical categories. As a rule, holders of non-main statuses do not coordinate their behavior with each other in any way and do not interact.

People have many statuses and belong to many social groups, whose prestige in society is not the same: businessmen are valued higher than plumbers or general workers; men have more social “weight” than women; belonging to a titular ethnic group in a state is not the same as belonging to a national minority, etc.

Over time in public opinion is developed, transmitted, supported, but, as a rule, no documents record a hierarchy of statuses and social groups, where some are valued and respected more than others.

A place in such an invisible hierarchy is called rank, which can be high, medium or low. Hierarchy can exist between groups within the same society (intergroup) and between individuals within the same group (intragroup). And a person’s place in them is also expressed by the term “rank”.

The discrepancy between statuses causes a contradiction in the intergroup and intragroup hierarchy, which arises under two circumstances:

1. when an individual occupies a high rank in one group, and a low one in the second;

2. when the rights and obligations of one person's status conflict with or interfere with the rights and obligations of another.

A highly paid official (high professional rank) will most likely also have a high family rank as a person who provides material wealth for the family. But it does not automatically follow from this that he will have high ranks in other groups - among friends, relatives, colleagues.

Although statuses do not enter into social relations directly, but only indirectly (through their bearers), they mainly determine the content and nature of social relations.

A person looks at the world and treats other people in accordance with his status. The poor despise the rich, and the rich disdain the poor. Dog owners do not understand people who love cleanliness and order on their lawns. A professional investigator, although unconsciously, divides people into potential criminals, law-abiding and witnesses. A Russian is more likely to show solidarity with a Russian than with a Jew or Tatar, and vice versa.

Political, religious, demographic, economic, professional statuses of a person determine the intensity, duration, direction and content of social relations of people.

Each person occupies a certain place in the group hierarchy. This place is called social status. Even if the society is informal and, it would seem, does not have a clear structure and hierarchy, the members of this society still have different “weight”, authority, attractiveness, level of power, etc. Differences in status play an important role in the organization of interpersonal relationships and in the existence of the group.

This concept in social psychology close to such categories as authority, prestige, role, but it does not coincide with them in meaning and has significant differences. Social status is the position that a person occupies in society. It is, on the one hand, determined by his personal qualities, on the other, by the functions that the individual performs in the group.

Social status as a reflection of a person’s individual and personal characteristics

The main factor determining a person's position in the group hierarchy is his attractiveness to others. It is not associated with external, superficial features, but with those qualities that determine the level of usefulness of the individual for the group. Thus, a kind and sympathetic person may have a low social status because he is too timid and lacking initiative or lazy and likes to shift responsibility to others. And on the contrary, an individual’s self-confidence, activity, and interest in the affairs of the group increases his status.

In different societies, status may depend on different qualities. For example, in professional teams, specialized knowledge and skills are of paramount importance. In informal communities of teenagers - self-confidence, courage and loyalty to the group; in the family - the ability to care for others, willingness to support, etc.

Status and social roles

An individual's role behavior plays an important role in the formation of social status. is a function of a person in a group, which includes a set of role behaviors, responsibilities and human rights. A role is not a status, although it can influence it. And different roles may occupy different places in the group hierarchy. But at the same time, people playing the same roles in a group have different statuses. For example, students in a class, children in large family, office employees have one role, but different statuses.

However, the formation of social status is influenced by how a person performs his functions, that is, plays the role assigned to him in the group. Therefore, it often happens that in an informal group hierarchy the boss has a lower status than one of his subordinates.

Social status and authority

Authority in psychology is understood as the level of influence a person has on other members of the group. Authority can be formal and depend on the individual’s position. For example, a boss always has formal authority and has levers of power and control, which are also of a formal nature. He can give or deprive a bonus, assign a vacation at a time convenient or inconvenient for a subordinate, demote or promote him in position, etc.

Informal authority is associated with status, with the position that an individual occupies in the group hierarchy. High-status individuals often have greater authority and real power than officially appointed officials. Because their right to power and control is based on the respect and support of other group members.

Types of social statuses

The same person can have different statuses not only because he is a member of different groups, but also because there are several types of statuses determined on the basis of different factors.

Different types of positions in a group hierarchy

There are many different approaches to classifying social statuses. This is often related, for example, to the goals of a particular socio-psychological study or to a specific group. The types of positions in the hierarchical structure of a group indicated here are not the only ones, but they are generally recognized.

• A given status is associated with characteristics independent of a person, but inherent to him: gender, age, nationality, etc. As a rule, the characteristics that form this type of status are of fundamental importance in the existence of a group, in a joint one, or are associated with traditions.
• Personal status is determined by a person’s individual characteristics: areas, abilities, knowledge and skills, and. This type of status has higher value in a small group and largely determines a person’s place in the system of interpersonal relationships.
• An ascribed status is a person’s position given from the outside, practically independent of his conscious efforts. This type includes, for example, the statuses of a teenager, mother-in-law, mother-in-law, son-in-law, pensioner, etc. The prescribed status is very close to the corresponding social role and can change over time.
• Achieved status is a position in the group hierarchy that a person has achieved through effort or luck.

There is one more type of social status that deserves special attention.

Sociometric statuses

One of the most popular techniques in social psychology is sociometry. This technique, authored by American psychologist Ya. Moreno, allows you to build a hierarchical structure of the group and determine the status of its members.

The peculiarity of sociometric status is that it is based on the level of attractiveness of an individual to all other members of the group. By analyzing mutual preferences or choices, we can distinguish several positions in the group hierarchy:

• Sociometric stars are members of a group who have received maximum amount elections. Although stars have considerable authority in society, most often they are not - a good leader cannot be liked by everyone, since he often applies social sanctions. Those who occupy the top positions in the attractiveness rating in their group may not have the qualities of a leader - sufficient firmness, etc.
• Preferred or high-status are those people who have received a large number of elections, but less than the stars. They are quite popular in the group, their position is stable, and the leader usually counts on their support.
• Low status - group members who received 1-2 choices. In general, they may be satisfied with their situation, because they either have at least one, but devoted friend, or because they are part of a closed microgroup. But in group life they do not enjoy authority and often hardly participate in it.
• Isolated are subjects who were not chosen by anyone. Moreover, they did not receive not only positive, but also negative elections. It’s as if they don’t exist at all, they are not noticed in the group. And this position is the most difficult from the point of view of emotional assessment. Being isolated is worse than being rejected or neglected.
• Neglected are people who are rejected by the majority of group members or have received many negative choices. Most often, the reason for their position is personal qualities and their own negativism. Often the neglected themselves provoke a negative reaction from the group so as not to be isolated.

Clarification of sociometric statuses is useful for understanding relationships in a group, but it does not fully reveal the position of each person in the system of group activity. And yet, sociometric statuses are associated with personal qualities, are stable and have a strong influence on her behavior in society. This explains the popularity of Ya. Moreno’s technique.

Man does not exist outside of society. We interact with other people and enter into various relationships with them. To indicate a person’s position among his own kind and the characteristics of an individual’s behavior in certain situations, scientists introduced the concepts of “social status” and “social role.”

About social status

The social status of an individual is not only a person’s place in the system of social relations, but also the rights and responsibilities dictated by his position. Thus, the status of a doctor gives the right to diagnose and treat patients, but at the same time obliges the doctor to observe labor discipline and conscientiously perform his work.

The concept of social status was first proposed by the American anthropologist R. Linton. The scientist made a great contribution to the study of the problems of personality and its interaction with other members of society.

There are statuses in an enterprise, in a family, in a political party, kindergarten, school, university, in a word, wherever organized group people are engaged in socially significant activities and group members have certain relationships with each other.

A person is in several statuses at the same time. For example, a middle-aged man acts as a son, father, husband, engineer at a factory, member of a sports club, holder of an academic degree, author scientific publications, a patient in a clinic, etc. The number of statuses depends on the connections and relationships into which a person enters.

There are several classifications of statuses:

1. Personal and social. A person occupies a personal status in a family or other small group in accordance with the assessment of his personal qualities. Social status (examples: teacher, worker, manager) is determined by the actions performed by the individual for society.
2. Main and episodic. Primary status is associated with the main functions in a person's life. Most often, the main statuses are family man and worker. Episodic are associated with a moment in time during which a citizen performs certain actions: a pedestrian, a reader in a library, a course student, a theater viewer, etc.
3. Prescribed, achieved and mixed. The prescribed status does not depend on the desires and capabilities of the individual, as it is given at birth (nationality, place of birth, class). What is achieved is acquired as a result of the efforts made (level of education, profession, achievements in science, art, sports). Mixed combines the features of the prescribed and achieved statuses (a person who has received a disability).
4. Socio-economic status is determined by the amount of income received and the position that an individual occupies in accordance with his well-being.

The set of all available statuses is called a status set.

Hierarchy

Society constantly evaluates the significance of this or that status and, on the basis of this, builds a hierarchy of positions.

Assessments depend on the benefits of the business in which a person is engaged, and on the system of values ​​​​accepted in the culture. Prestigious social status (examples: businessman, director) is highly appreciated. At the top of the hierarchy is the general status, which determines not only a person’s life, but also the position of people close to him (president, patriarch, academician).

If some statuses are unreasonably low, while others, on the contrary, are excessively high, then they speak of a violation of status balance. The trend towards its loss threatens the normal functioning of society.

The hierarchy of statuses can also be subjective. A person himself determines what is more important to him, in what status he feels better, what benefits he derives from being in one position or another.

Social status cannot be something unchanging, since people's lives are not static. The movement of a person from one social group to another is called social mobility, which is divided into vertical and horizontal.

Vertical mobility is spoken of when the social status of an individual increases or decreases (a worker becomes an engineer, a department head becomes an ordinary employee, etc.). With horizontal mobility, a person maintains his position, but changes his profession (to one of equal status), place of residence (becomes an emigrant).

Intergenerational and intragenerational mobility are also distinguished. The first determines how much children have increased or decreased their status in relation to the status of their parents, and the second determines how successful the social career of representatives of one generation is (types of social status are taken into account).

The channels of social mobility are school, family, church, army, public organizations and political parties. Education is a social elevator that helps a person achieve the desired status.

A high social status acquired by an individual or a decrease in it indicates individual mobility. If the status of a certain community of people changes (for example, as a result of a revolution), then group mobility takes place.

Social roles

While in one status or another, a person performs actions, communicates with other people, that is, plays a role. Social status and social role are closely interrelated, but differ from each other. Status is position, and role is socially expected behavior determined by status. If a doctor is rude and swears, and a teacher abuses alcohol, then this does not correspond to the status he holds.

The term “role” was borrowed from theater to emphasize the stereotypical behavior of people of similar social groups. A person cannot do as he wants. The behavior of an individual is determined by the rules and norms characteristic of a particular social group and society as a whole.

Unlike status, a role is dynamic and closely related to a person’s character traits and moral attitudes. Sometimes role behavior is adhered to only in public, as if putting on a mask. But it also happens that the mask fuses with its wearer, and the person ceases to distinguish between himself and his role. Depending on the situation, this state of affairs has both positive and negative consequences.

Social status and social role are two sides of the same coin.

Diversity of social roles

Since there are many people in the world and each person is an individual, it is unlikely that there will be two identical roles. Some role models require emotional restraint and self-control (lawyer, surgeon, funeral director), while for other roles (actor, teacher, mother, grandmother) emotions are very much in demand.

Some roles drive a person into rigid boundaries ( job descriptions, statutes, etc.), others have no framework (parents are fully responsible for the behavior of their children).

The performance of roles is closely related to motives, which are also different. Everything is determined by social status in society and personal motives. An official is concerned with promotion, a financier is concerned with profit, and a scientist is concerned with the search for truth.

Role set

A role set is understood as a set of roles characteristic of a particular status. Thus, a doctor of science is in the role of a researcher, teacher, mentor, supervisor, consultant, etc. Each role implies its own ways of communicating with others. The same teacher behaves differently with colleagues, students, and the rector of the university.

The concept of “role set” describes the whole variety of social roles inherent in a particular status. No role is strictly assigned to its bearer. For example, one of the spouses remains unemployed and for some time (and perhaps forever) loses the roles of colleague, subordinate, manager, and becomes a housewife (householder).

In many families, social roles are symmetrical: both husband and wife equally act as breadwinners, masters of the house and educators of children. In such a situation, it is important to adhere to the golden mean: excessive passion for one role (company director, businesswoman) leads to a lack of energy and time for others (father, mother).

Role Expectations

The difference between social roles and mental states and personality traits is that roles represent a certain historically developed standard of behavior. There are requirements for the bearer of a particular role. Thus, a child must certainly be obedient, a schoolboy or student must study well, a worker must observe labor discipline, etc. Social status and social role oblige one to act one way and not another. The system of requirements is also called expectations.

Role expectations act as an intermediate link between status and role. Only behavior that corresponds to status is considered role-playing. If a teacher, instead of giving a lecture on higher mathematics, starts singing with a guitar, then students will be surprised, because they expect other behavioral reactions from an assistant professor or professor.

Role expectations consist of actions and qualities. Taking care of the child, playing with him, putting the baby to bed, the mother performs actions, and kindness, responsiveness, empathy, and moderate severity contribute to the successful implementation of actions.

Compliance with the role being performed is important not only to others, but also to the person himself. A subordinate strives to earn the respect of his superior and receives moral satisfaction from a high assessment of the results of his work. The athlete trains hard to set a record. The writer is working on a bestseller. A person’s social status obliges him to be at his best. If an individual's expectations do not meet the expectations of others, then internal and external conflicts arise.

Role conflict

Contradictions between role holders arise either due to inconsistency with expectations, or due to the fact that one role completely excludes another. The young man more or less successfully plays the roles of son and friend. But the guy's friends invite him to a disco, and his parents demand that he stay at home. The emergency doctor's child falls ill, and the doctors are urgently called to the hospital because it happened disaster. The husband wants to go to the dacha to help his parents, and the wife books a trip to the sea to improve the health of the children.

Resolving role conflicts is not an easy task. Participants in the confrontation have to decide which role is more important, but in most cases compromises are more appropriate. The teenager returns from the party early, the doctor leaves his child with his mother, grandmother or nanny, and the spouses negotiate the timing of participation in dacha work and travel time for the whole family.

Sometimes the solution to the conflict is leaving the role: changing jobs, going to university, getting a divorce. Most often, a person understands that he has outgrown this or that role or that it has become a burden to him. A change in roles is inevitable as the child grows and develops: infant, toddler, preschooler, student primary classes, teenager, youth, adult. The transition to a new age level is ensured by internal and external contradictions.

Socialization

From birth, a person learns the norms, patterns of behavior and cultural values ​​characteristic of a particular society. This is how socialization occurs and the individual’s social status is acquired. Without socialization, a person cannot become a full-fledged individual. Socialization is influenced by means mass media, cultural traditions of the people, social institutions(family, school, work teams, public associations etc.).

Purposeful socialization occurs as a result of training and upbringing, but the efforts of parents and teachers are adjusted by the street, the economic and political situation in the country, television, the Internet and other factors.

The further development of society depends on the effectiveness of socialization. Children grow up and occupy the status of their parents, taking on certain roles. If the family and the state did not pay enough attention to the education of the younger generation, then public life degradation and stagnation set in.

Members of society coordinate their behavior with certain standards. These may be prescribed norms (laws, regulations, rules) or unspoken expectations. Any non-compliance with standards is considered a deviation, or deviation. Examples of deviation are drug addiction, prostitution, alcoholism, pedophilia, etc. Deviation can be individual, when one person deviates from the norm, and group (informal groups).

Socialization occurs as a result of two interrelated processes: internalization and social adaptation. A person adapts to social conditions, masters the rules of the game, which are mandatory for all members of society. Over time, norms, values, attitudes, ideas about what is good and what is bad become part of the inner world of the individual.

People are socialized throughout their lives, and at each age stage, statuses are acquired and lost, new roles are learned, conflicts arise and are resolved. This is how personality development occurs.

The essence and content of social status

Definition 1

Social status is the position that an individual occupies in the social environment, in relation to other citizens of society.

Social status is characterized by mobility. This manifests itself in its role aspect. At the same time, the content and meaning of social status is a stable process.

The essence and content of social status is reflected by the following features:

1. A social system of relationships in which a specific social subject is succinctly included.
2. The location of the social subject in society, distinctive features this place, its characteristics and the specifics of education.

Social life activity involves the functioning of individuals and social associations that enter into a system of interaction and construction social contacts, depending on their location and role in society, social status. This reflects the content of a person's social status.

Social status and social environment contribute to the formation and development of personal interests, social relationships, between an individual and the social environment in which he develops and functions, the formation of labor and living conditions, maintaining health and developing leisure activities.

Social status determines a person’s position in the social environment, which is reflected in the formation of relations of equality and inequality. In essence, social status develops social inequality. It entails the development of relations of cooperation and struggle in society. If the interests of various subjects turn out to be identical, then cooperative relationships begin to develop. And, on the contrary, if interests turn out to be completely different, then relations of struggle begin to develop.

Social status is focused on comparing the positions of individuals in society. Thus, the location of each person in the hierarchical structure of society is reflected. If the social status occupied by a person places him at a higher level, then he turns out to be capable of changing society, influencing social development. In addition, he has certain privileges of this society and occupies a special place in it.

Signs of social status

The social position of an individual, his social status is determined by the existing system of social relations that characterize the place of the subject included in a given social structure. Such relationships in the course of practical joint activities people are installed on long time and are objective in nature.

When determining social status, a multidimensional approach is most often used, which allows taking into account the whole variety of characteristics:

• natural characteristics (age, gender); ethnic relations;
• a set of rights and obligations;
• place in the hierarchy of political relations;
• relations between individuals in the system of social division of labor;
• economic criterion (property, financial situation, income level, family and living conditions, lifestyle, education, profession, qualifications);
• distribution relations;
• consumption relations;
• prestige is an assessment by a social group or society of the social significance of the positions occupied by people, etc.

Different sociologists use their own combination of criteria to determine the status of social groups of the population; therefore, groupings of individuals can occur in different ways. Often social status is determined by the social functions performed by an individual when interacting with other people. Social status is divided by education, skills and abilities.

An important indicator of social status in modern society are signs such as:

• scope of power,
• level of income and education,
• prestige of the profession in the field of municipal and public administration.

In sociology Western countries A socio-economic index is popular, which includes measured characteristics: quality of education, income level, prestige of the profession. Socio-demographic characteristics The social status of an individual is established taking into account objective socio-demographic indicators, including: age, nationality, gender, education, material conditions, occupation, Family status, social status, specialty, social roles, permanent residence, citizenship.

Components of social status

The components characterizing social status include:

• status rights and obligations - determine what a status holder can and should do;
• status range - the designated framework within which status rights and obligations are realized;
• status image - a set of ideas about the proper appearance and behavior of the status holder;
• status symbols - certain external insignia that make it possible to distinguish between holders of different statuses; status identification - determining the degree of compliance of an individual with a status.

Signs of certain types of social status

There are a large number of different statuses, each of which has its own characteristic features:

1. The main status determines the individual’s lifestyle; others identify him in accordance with his status;
2. The prescribed status is characterized by gender, age, race and nationality.
3. The achieved status is described by the following criteria: level of education, qualifications, professional achievements, title, position, career, successful in socially marriage, etc. M. Weber identified three main indicators: power, prestige, wealth.
4. Social-administrative status is determined by a set of rights and responsibilities.
5. Personal status is characterized by individual qualities and properties.
6. Mixed social statuses are distinguished by the characteristics of both prescribed and achieved statuses, but achieved as a result of a confluence of certain circumstances.