Statuses are of two types: Ascribed and Achieved.
Ascribed Status
An ascribed status is an assigned status. It is given by the society, or the social group, without regard for any particular or unique abilities or qualities of an individual. This is also called status by birth. Our gender, nationality, parentage, race or caste, religion, and even our age are ascribed statuses, in the sense that we have not chosen them; they came by birth. Of course, some of these statuses can be changed. For example, our nationality can be changed by seeking nationality of another country–which makes us a ‘naturalized citizen’. When British India was partitioned into two nation-states upon attaining independence from colonial rule, people residing in the areas that went to Pakistan automatically became nationals of the new-found State, losing their Indian nationality; and the Indian nationals became aliens in the land that was previously part of India.
Similarly, religion is changeable through conversion or proselytization. Now modern medicine has also made it possible to change one’s gender!
Characteristics that have a biological base are generally unchangeable, and are thus ascribed and given ‘social’ and ‘cultural’ meaning. Even a condition such as epilepsy in a person has been culturally defined in some societies as visitation of a ‘spirit’ or a ‘deity’, and the epileptic patient derives an ascriptive status from that condition.
We must also note that a similar ascriptive status may have different meanings in different societies. A woman in a matrilineal society and a woman in a patrilineal society carry the same ascriptive status associated with gender, but the rights and privileges attached with this status vary in the two systems and even in different matrilineal and patrilineal societies. In Hindu society, for example, a woman is compared to a ‘Devi’–a goddess. Amongst the Hindu, during the Navratri period–nine days of fasting observed both by males and females—young virgins are worshipped. In Nepal, a Hindu girl-child is chosen and kept in a temple where she is worshipped as a living goddess. Devotees visit the temple to pay obeisance to her.
The long history of protests in South Africa against Apartheid and social movements in India to safeguard the interests of the Dalits (Scheduled Caste and other Backward Class people) and the Scheduled Tribes are examples of efforts to erase distinctions based on ascriptive status. However, it is also interesting to note that as a consequence of positive discrimination favouring such groups, the people belonging to them have opted for the retention of that status. Also other ascriptive groups who had succeeded in ascending the hierarchical ladder are being prompted to return to their original ‘status’ or even claim a lower status–thus preferring to maintain the ascriptive status.
Achieved Status
An achieved status, by definition, is the reflection of a person‘s achievement. A person has to earn that status; it is not just given on the basis of one’s pedigree. In other words, it is not dynastic or hereditary. All the statuses in the public domain are thus acquired by a person-that is, through achievement, not by birth-that is, through ascription. When any public status is ascribed, such as that of a king, it is an ascribed status, and is not available to any-one else; but a revolt against the throne may result in installing the leader of the coup as the new king; but again, it becomes an ascribed status for his heir-apparent.
Even the marital status of a person is an achieved status. Through marriage a person becomes a husband or a wife, and achieves ‘in-law’ statuses (son-in-law, brother-in-law, or daughter-in-law, sister-in-law) all at once, which are technically called affinal relations. Similarly, a person becomes a student, a hosteller, an employee, a club member, member of a student body: All these are achieved statuses.
Every person has a combination of ascribed and achieved statuses. Depending upon the situation of interaction, any of these statuses gets primacy. Even in situations where a person’s achieved status is needed, the ascribed status of a person may be brought into the picture to reinforce or weaken the position of the person. Complaints of nepotism in government departments are an example of this. Where two candidates, for example, have an equal achieved status (in terms of qualifications or marks obtained in an examination) required for eligibility for ‘interview’, a candidate might be chosen on the basis of his/her ascribed status as an additional criterion. The reservation criterion in government jobs for persons of SC or ST status is a case in point. Similarly, a child of a dignitary (ascribed status) may be given special treatment in an official transaction-he may be allowed to jump the queue, say in a hospital, or in a theatre.
Meira Kumar Lok Sabha Speaker
In political circles in India, the debate regarding democracy versus dynasty can sociologically be seen as a conflict between ascribed and achieved status. In the 15th Lok Sabha (House of People in the Indian Parliament), a lady Speaker was chosen for the first time. Commenting on this, Sagarika Ghose, a journalist, wrote the following in The Hindustan Times of 10 June 2009:
The speeches made by the PM and other ministers during the election of Meira Kumar as Speaker were telling. We were not told about the qualities of Kumar or her unique suitability for the post of custodian of the Lok Sabha. Only Kumar‘s virtuesas a ‘Dalit‘. ‘Ddaughter of Jagjivan Ram’ and a ‘woman’ were extolled, as if birth and background were sufficient justifications for such a crucial constitutional office …. Perhaps the greatest bad mark against this good government is vanshavaad (dynastic) politics it presides over. A record number of sons and daughters of politicians have been elected in 2009 and many are part of the government (emphasis added).
Figure 7.6 Status-set of Individual ‘A’ and Associated Role Sets
In the above text, read ascribed status for ‘virtues’ and ‘vanshavaad (dynastic)’, and achieved status for ‘qualities’ and ‘suitability’. The author is hinting at the precedence given to ascribed status over achieved status in the a democratic polity of India.12 Even Meira Kumar herself acknowledged this fact in an interview given to The Times of India (15 June 2009, New Delhi edition). This is what she said: ‘ours is a “janmapradhan” (read: giving precedence to ascription) and not “karmapradhan” (read: giving precedence to achievement) society. All achievements (emphasis added)—character, learning, sacrifice—are incomplete till your caste (that is, ascribed status) is revealed.’ This is a good example of the usefulness of the concepts of ascribed and achieved status.
Figure 7.7 Ascribed Status and Achieved Status
Leave a Reply