Status symbol

Social status is often associated with clothing and possessions. In this scene from rural 19th-century Chile, the foreman has a horse and high hat, while the inquilino (indebted laborer) does not.

A status symbol is a visible, external symbol of one's social position, an indicator of economic or social status.[1] Many luxury goods are often considered status symbols. Status symbol is also a sociological term – as part of social and sociological symbolic interactionism – relating to how individuals and groups interact and interpret various cultural symbols.[2]

  1. ^ Cherrington, David J. (1994). Organizational Behavior. Allyn and Bacon. p. 384. ISBN 0-205-15550-2.
  2. ^ The Three Sociological Paradigms[dead link‍], from The HCC-Southwest College Archived 2004-08-05 at the Wayback Machine, December 2008.