(ifyoucanreadthisthenurtooclose)

One key element of any society is its collection of statuses - the positions that individuals within the society occupy. When most of us hear the word status, we tend to associate it with rank or prestige. But here we're talking about a status as any socially defined position a person can occupy: cook, daughter, anthropologist, husband, computer nerd, electrician, Facebook friend, shoplifter, and so on.