Social position

Social position is the position of an individual in a given society and culture. A given position (for example, the occupation of priest) may belong to many individuals. Social position influences social status. Social position is the position of an individual in a given society and culture. A given position (for example, the occupation of priest) may belong to many individuals. Social position influences social status. Social positions an individual may hold fall into the categories of occupation (medical doctor, academic lecturer), profession (member of associations and organisations), family (parent, sibling, etc.), hobby (member of various clubs and organisations), among others. An individual is likely to create a personal hierarchy of such positions, where one will be a central position while the rest are peripheral positions. Social positions are visible if they require an individual to wear a uniform or some other kind of identifying mark. Often individual clothes or other attributes will advertise what social position one has at the moment. Non-visible social positions are called hidden. A position that is deemed the most important to a given individual is called central, others are peripheral. If a sequence of positions is required to obtain a given position, it can be defined as a career, and a change of position in this context is a promotion or demotion. Some social positions may make it easier for a given person to obtain others; in other cases, some positions may be restricted to individuals meeting specific criteria. Social position together with social role determines an individual's place in the social environment and social organisation. A group of social positions will create a social class and a social circle. A social conflict caused by interference between social positions is called a position conflict. The sociological term for social position is a way of identifying a person's position within the social hierarchy in a society. Subjective social position refers to an individual's perceived social position in a social hierarchy. According to Kristina Lindemann the individual objective characteristics like education, occupation and income are related with the subjective social position. In addition, the culture and society that a person lives and grows in, heavily impacts an individual’s subjective social position. 'An individual's subjective social position status depends not only on the objective characteristics but also on how people experience society, the way they perceive their position in comparison with others,and what they imagine their position would be in the future.' Lindemann divides objective characteristics into two groups, ascribed and achieved characteristics. Ascribed characteristics are things like age, gender, and ethnicity. Achieved characteristics are things like the education level, occupation, or income. Studies have indicated a significant relevance of these characteristics to an individual’s subjective social position. On the other hand, some theories expect that objective characteristics do not have influence on subjective social position. The reference group theory mentioned by Lindemann in her essay states that people see the world as an enlarged version of their reference group. People base their social position upon the people around them. Typically people’s family, friends, and co-workers are usually very similar, and in general, most people see themselves as average and unexceptional. The status maximizing process also mentioned by Lindemann means that subjective social position reflects also person prospects and hopes for future societal attainment. Lindemann’s empirical study focuses on Estonian society. Age is considered an impactful characteristic on people when identifying with their social position in Estonia. Young people give higher estimation to their social position, which is a tendency also found in other Eastern European countries. Gender and ethnicity, are also considerable characteristics in identifying social position. In general, the subjective social position of men and women is not significantly different in western countries. Ethnicity impacts social position differently from country to country. More importantly the influence of ethnicity is closely related to the extent ethnic minorities are accepted by the overall society.