Social status (in my own words) is the idea that a person has a relative social worth in a certain context. For example in a class room a teacher has a high social status and therefore must be listened to. On the other hand, if that same teacher was stopped by the police for speeding, they would not have a relatively low status compared to the police officer and should therefore listen to the police officer.
Basically you are expected to treat some people with more deference than others based upon status signifiers like what role they have and what clothing they are wearing or how they speak or act towards to you.
I guess you could say it is a widely held belief that some people are better or more important than others.
How would you approach explaining that idea to a child? When is age would be too soon? When would it make sense to explain that it is a person’s social status is not always justified (i.e cops, bosses, parents)? Traditionally, I guess they would learn it by trial and error but I don’t necessarily think they would learn the idea that it is often abused to control others in a school setting since authority figures generally don’t want others questioning them.
Do you really need to explain this to a child?
I would only if they ask me, or if I see a clear and worrying behavioral problem. Children should do as teachers say, within reason- if the teacher is abusing their position in any way, I don’t see how knowing social status helps a child. It’s more important they know their rights.
To answer the age part of your question at least, if the child understands what kings and princesses are about (very popular in children’s stories and play pretends, I’m not a royalist) then they are old enough to understand what social status is imo.
I never said that you do. I asked how you could explain it.
I think it would be very helpful to help a kid understand why some behaviors are only okay in certain contexts. IE It’s okay for a parent to yell at a kid but if a kid yells back they get in trouble. If a kid can understand that authority is not always justified, then it can help them by ensuring they don’t blindly follow authority figures when they are wrong or acting maliciously.
Sure, that’s why there is so much talk about fairness, and I mentioned it’s more important they know their rights. It’s easier to explain a child they need to be treated fairly by everyone, and/or that nobody has the right to touch their body if they don’t want to for example, than to go about explaining abuse of authority.
If you are after an ELI5 on social status I’d say it’s more like a ranking of likeability and authority. The more authority you hold, the higher your status, and the same goes for being likeable. If nobody likes you and you have no authority over anyone… or anything, then you are going to be very low in status.
I would simply explain it when they start getting older and can start seeing it. It doesn’t need to be explained immediately.