Table of Contents
Definition of Status Symbol
(noun) A visible and material example of an individual’s status, typically used to display their wealth or power.
Examples of Status Symbol
- An expensive and limited edition car.
- Reserved parking spot.
Status Symbol Pronunciation
Syllabification: stat·us sym·bol
Audio Pronunciation
Phonetic Spelling
- American English – /stAY-tuhs sIm-buhl/
- British English – /stAY-tuhs sIm-buhl/
International Phonetic Alphabet
- American English – /ˈstætəs ˈsɪmbəl/
- British English – /ˈsteɪtəs ˈsɪmbəl/
Usage Notes
- Plural: status symbols
- Status symbols are related to conspicuous consumption.
- Veblen goods are status symbols, these products that are in demand primarily because of their high price and serve as markers of status. Examples of Veblen goods include designer handbags, jewelry, and luxury cars.
Related Quotation
- “Concern with identity means taking seriously the importance of fashion in gentrification: gentrifiers and suburbanites are members of different status groups, using housing as status symbols to define and claim membership of those groups. Displacees are just as concerned with the maintenance of their identity, but do not have access to the same amount of resources as gentrifiers. Because the solution to the gentrifiers‘ identity crisis takes place at the expense of the displacee, gentrification takes on a synecdochal quality: the concerns expressed in struggles over gentrification exemplify the general concern with identity in conditions of modernity, which should be understood as the subjective experience of everyday life within a capitalist mode of production. The context within which these struggles over status take place is nonetheless class-constituted and class laden. Gentrification and the struggles it engenders should be interpreted as a form of hegemonic practice. Ultimately, it is this that makes gentrification ‘gentrification‘” (Redfern 2003:2351).
Additional Information
Related Terms
- achieved status
- ascribed status
- master status
- status
- status consistency
- status declassing
- status lender
- status offense
- status quo
- wealth
Reference
Redfern, P. A. 2003. “What Makes Gentrification ‘Gentrification’?” Urban Studies 40(12):2351–66. doi:10.1080/0042098032000136101.
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Cite the Definition of Status Symbol
ASA – American Sociological Association (5th edition)
Bell, Kenton, ed. 2013. “status symbol.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Retrieved April 25, 2024 (https://sociologydictionary.org/status-symbol/).
APA – American Psychological Association (6th edition)
status symbol. (2013). In K. Bell (Ed.), Open education sociology dictionary. Retrieved from https://sociologydictionary.org/status-symbol/
Chicago/Turabian: Author-Date – Chicago Manual of Style (16th edition)
Bell, Kenton, ed. 2013. “status symbol.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Accessed April 25, 2024. https://sociologydictionary.org/status-symbol/.
MLA – Modern Language Association (7th edition)
“status symbol.” Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Ed. Kenton Bell. 2013. Web. 25 Apr. 2024. <https://sociologydictionary.org/status-symbol/>.