Status Symbols

When I taught college, one of the larger assignments in English 102 was the ethnography, which was a study of a subculture. The students had to choose a discrete, identifiable group (skate park rats, Campus Christians, the Red Hat Society, Saturday morning hackey sack players, competitive kite flyers, whatever) and study their culture. What were their rituals, customs, modes of dress, slang, expectations, etc? What sorts of things do they find funny? What kinds of behaviors are considered admirable or uncool? Are there initiation rites one has to go through to belong to the group? Do they have a geographic territory? Are there leaders and followers? How can you tell?

The students had a couple of weeks to observe, take field notes, and then boil it all down to a 7-10 page paper. It was always one of my favorite assignments because even though I'd usually get a load of uninspired stuff, there would always be one or two really interesting papers each semester that would teach me something entirely new and I loved that.

Anyway, one of the questions students were to consider was "What are some of your group's status symbols?" The things we place value on reveal a lot about us, I think. I've always been a big believer in the idea that we make time for what's important, we find money for the things we really want, and "you will always gravitate toward that which you secretly most love."

So, as I was thinking about this on the drive to work the other morning, I tried to list some of the status symbols I remember being important at different times in my life:

When I was on my mission, it was all about the shiny shoes, the right tie, and starched shirts. If you served as an AP or if you baptized 5 or more people in a month, you got to pick a tie out of the President's personal collection. Missionaries would pull out their "Prez tie" to show off to others.



Where I work, it's all about cell phones - the newest, the thinnest, the loudest ring tone, the fanciest built-in camera, the best videos saved, etc.

In junior high, it was all about the T & C Surf Design t-shirts. They were something like 25 bucks a piece and this was in 1986. (That's a lot for a t-shirt, isn't it?) The rich kids who lived on the hill had them, not many other people did. They were right up there with Guess jeans and Benneton shirts and Swatch watches.



In my ward, it seems to be all about big ol' SUVs and big ol' houses - at least in the Canton part. One family in our ward actually has a library in their house complete with the rolling shelf ladder.



In high school, it was things like rodeo belt buckles, big Ford trucks, and ski trips.

In the comic book world (at least when I was involved in it), it was first edition first issues. I have the original Dark Knight four issue miniseries by Frank Miller but they're all second and third editions and, therefore, not worth as much monetarily or culturally.



In grad school, it was all about publication - especially in journals that people have actually heard of. When Maura Payne got a poem accepted to the Beloit Poetry Journal (which, believe it or not, is a journal people have heard of - poetry people anyway), the rest of us pretty much greened right up with envy.

Anyway, I think stuff like that is interesting. What about you, my loyal 5 readers? Any status symbols you can think of?