Social status locates an individual in his/her society. However, we occupy a large number of social statuses each of which locate us in society in different ways.
To make matters even more complicated, we rely on social status to help us determine social class divisions.
But what happens when the social status and social class distinctions become blurred and confused?
This is the notion behind the concept of status inconsistency and the subject of this week’s discussion forum.
Martin Shkreli, the so-called “Pharma Bro,” earned a fortune but also became the most reviled man in America when he raised the price of the lifesaving drug daraprim by 5,000%.
Shkreli is an example of “status inconsistency” discussed in the text (pp. 236-237) and the video lecture.
Offer at least two other examples of status inconsistency not mentioned in the text. What do you believe these examples reveal about social class?