#  Weatherhead Research Cluster on Comparative Inequality and Inclusion 

 



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   ![Comparative Inequality and Inclusion cluster affiliates.](/sites/g/files/omnuum8891/files/styles/hwp_1_1__720x720_scale/public/wcfia/files/wrccii-group-700px.jpg?itok=U1xoIKYw) 

 

## How Status Drives Inequality

In early April, the [Weatherhead Research Cluster on Comparative Inequality and Inclusion](/weatherhead-clusters/comparative-inequality-and-inclusion "Weatherhead Research Cluster on Comparative Inequality and Inclusion") (CII) brought together seven scholars for a workshop on the construct of status as a type of inequality. This innovative approach to studying inequality teases out status from other factors such as wealth, ethnicity, class, and gender. Participants presented original research ranging from perceptions of status inside the workplace, how performance review methods affect compensation, the status given to men for their financial expertise within wealthy families, and how notions of status are reinforced, or changed, through institutional and political messaging, and more.

The participants’ papers were published in a double issue of *RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences* titled, “[Status: What It Is and Why It Matters for Inequality](https://www.rsfjournal.org/content/8/6).”

Status is all around us and cannot be avoided, and it’s not based solely on merit. Defined as a form of inequality based on esteem, respect, and honor, it is accorded to individuals and groups, and it plays a role in the uneven distribution of resources. Status is accorded not only by the shared views of others, but also by the ways in which the environment, institutions, and history shape our view of ourselves.

But status does not have to be fixed. Scholars gave examples of actions and policies that can dismantle status beliefs. For example, if lunch is free for everyone in public schools, that removes the stigma associated with disadvantaged schoolchildren. In the workplace, a narrative job review versus a quantitative job review can actually reduce inequality in bonus distribution by eliminating the rigid numerical ranking system, thus mitigating the status associated with getting a particular score. Further findings show that, in the context of developing countries, if you change the composition of the local bureaucracy, making it reflective of the status of its constituents, it improves access to and use of public goods that might have been fully enjoyed by only higher caste or status.

The group agreed on the need for further investigation into the question of how status is conveyed and also the long-term consequences of status-based inequality on well-being.

This event was followed by a session of the Weatherhead Spotlight, where three members of the CII cluster presented their complementary research on growing precarity in Europe with presenters Elena Ayala-Hurtado (graduate student in sociology), Lorenza Antonucci, and Gianluca Busilachi (both visiting scholars at the Center for European Studies). Their work is illustrative of the overarching focus of the cluster, which was created in 2017 and has hosted more than 100 scholars from various continents, more than sixty of whom are active in the network. Members research various types of stigma (including those experienced by refugees, immigrants, LGBTQ groups, and members of ethnoracial minority communities), as well as cultural and social processes of inclusion. The cluster is led by Michèle Lamont, former Weatherhead Center director and Robert I. Goldman Professor of European Studies and professor of sociology and African and Africa American studies. Her new book, [*Seeing Others: How Recognition Works and How It Can Heal a Divided World*](https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Seeing-Others/Michele-Lamont/9781982153786), will be published in early September 2023.

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Affiliates of the Weatherhead Research Cluster on Comparative Inequality and Inclusion gathered for a workshop, held on April 7, 2023, to commemorate the recent publication of *RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences* titled, “Status: What It Is and Why It Matters for Inequality.” *Credit: Michelle Nicholasen*



 



 

 See also:- [ Centerpiece: Spring 2023 ](/newsletter-issues/centerpiece-spring-2023)