Status Fulfillment Through Social Networks

BY DARIO SIPOS
STATUS
FULFILLMENT
THROUGH
SOCIAL
NETWORKS

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STATUS FULFILLMENT THROUGH SOCIAL NETWORKS W E B S I T E : W W W . D A R I O S I P O S . C O M
E M A I L : D A R I O @ D A R I O S I P O S . C O M
Abstract _____________________________ 3
Social differentiation through
Hierarchal Systems _____________________ 3
Drawbacks of Hierarchal System _____ 5
Impact of Social Resources on
Socioeconomic Status ___________________ 6
Meta-analysis for Defining Social Status_____ 7
Social Status in Relation to Personality
traits _____________________________ 9
Socializing through Social Networking
Environment __________________________ 9
Social Capital through Online Social
Network Sites _________________________ 11
Social Well-Being through Social
Networks_____________________________ 12
Impact of Online Social Networking _____ 13
Networking Leading to Career
Development _____________________ 14
Psychosocial processes in relation
to Social Status _____________________ 16
Framework for Social Economic
Status Determination _____________ 18
Social support through Social Networks_____ 20
Drawbacks of Social Networking Sites _____ 21
References _____________________ 22

The essay focuses on the various aspects that determine the
social status of individuals in a social setting. It highlights how
the individuals living in society are categorized intentionally and
unintentionally into different social positions and the negative
side of this system. It focuses on analyzing the different variables
that determine the social status of individuals through empirical
and theoretical studies. Then it describes the impact of social
networking platforms and their influence on the individual's
social status and overall life. It sheds light on the positives and
negatives of social networking using online platforms. The
relationship between social-economic status and social
networking has been analyzed through various studies which
show that the quality and the extent of social networks
determine the social status of individuals living in different
social settings.
S O C I A L D I F F E R E N T I A T I O N
T H R O U G H H I E R A R C H A L S Y S T E M S
Social relations in organizations are shaped by hierarchies that are
influenced by a number of practices in the organization and the culture.
Various psychological and sociological factors play a role in creating
differentiation among organizational hierarchies. Power and status are
considered to be the differentiating factors of the hierarchal system of
the organization. Power can be associated as the control at different
levels of the hierarchy, while status tells how much an individual is
valued in the organization and how the individual is perceived to be at
any specific level of the hierarchy.
Unequal distribution of resources and different positions at the levels of
the hierarchy shape the system. There are different forms in which
hierarchies exist and play their role in the formation of social relations.
This system can be minimized by taking certain measures to reduce
differentiation while it is inevitable that such a system does not exist. A
study on the hierarchal system in the field of management showed that
it has almost faded and is not given much importance; however, the
Abstract
STATUS
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rigid organizational structures play a major role in shaping the
organization's functions and practices (Dulebohn, 2005).
Hierarchal differentiation among different groups plays a major role in
shaping social relations. The aim of the hierarchal system is to ensure
smooth coordination among the members of the organization and to
motivate the employees to work harder to achieve a better status in the
hierarchy. Formation of hierarchies can be observed at an individual
group level, organization level, and societal level where individuals are
categorized in a particular order and are assigned different positions,
which shows that there is differentiation created in them through higher
and lower levels position.
Another important factor that shapes the hierarchal system is the
dimensions upon which the individuals are considered eligible to be
placed at a certain level. Hierarchal systems in different settings and
contexts can be differentiated depending on the dimensions that form
them.
Hierarchal systems can be either formal or informal. The formal systems
can be observed in the organizational settings while the informal
hierarchies develop unconsciously while working or interacting within
groups. Formal hierarchies tend to be more centralized and rigid, and
since they play an important role in shaping the organizational structure
and its overall functioning so introducing any change in the hierarchal
system can incur costs for the organization.
On the other hand, informal hierarchies develop among groups when
social interactions occur among them, and there is a non-verbal
behavior that develops the hierarchy. For example, if we consider the
dimension of social resources, then the individual with more resources
(like knowledge) tends to dominate the group, which happens very
subtly. The concept of formal and informal hierarchies shows that
individuals are a part of hierarchies while working in an organizational
environment and even in their informal social interactions.
The order and coordination achieved through hierarchal systems make
it appealing if we view it from a psychological point of view. In order to
prosper and sustain in the highly competitive world, the hierarchal
systems make significant contributions (Heider, 1982).
STATUS
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The two important dimensions that play an important role in creating
hierarchal differentiation in developing a hierarchal system include
status and power. Initially, the dimensions of the hierarchal systems
were based on attention and influence to define the social status
individually, which created unnecessary complications. These
dimensions could not lead to a consistent way of defining the social
status and had some drawbacks so the concept of hierarchies was
clarified by considering the dimensions of social status and power, and
results were drawn that provided a better understanding of the concept
of hierarchies.
The belief system that forms hierarchies is based on social dominance
and the system development theories, which explain the attitudes and
beliefs. The predictions upon which these theories are based are the
same, while the approaches adopted by them to describe the high and
low ranking are different. Although status and power seem to be good
measures in defining the hierarchal system, it does not account for the
external factors that can impact the system, which leads to
inconsistencies in defining the system (Magee, 2008).
D R A W B A C K S O F H I E R A R C H A L
S Y S T E M
Some of the inconsistencies in the system were highlighted by (Frank,
1985) when he considered the local and global status relatively. In his
study, it was found that if we consider employment opportunities for an
individual, then status can be chosen by itself if options are available.
For example, a local job opportunity might offer a higher status, while a
global job opportunity may offer low status but high chances of growth.
So in such kinds of scenarios, the individual can trade-off among the
options and attain the status of choice. Considering the external factors,
there are inconsistencies that arise in the social hierarchy systems, so
the question arises that whether social status is assigned to individuals
or they have a choice in attaining the status of their choice.
Within the organizations, it can be observed that status and power are
provided to an individual at their level in the hierarchy while the
consideration of holistic picture shows that there are points where an
individual has an option to choose the status they want. This shows that
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social hierarchies can be viewed from a number of different aspects and
can provide different frameworks for determining the social status of an
individual.
Considering networks as social resources and finding its relation with
the socioeconomic status, it was found that there is a positive
relationship between the two. The argument on social networks was
build that considers the networks to be a means for streamlining the
information flow and enables linkages with influential people as well as
unlocks the various opportunities through connections. The range and
composition of the networks are critical factors that play a significant
role in defining social networks as social resources. The information
about an individual or group and the access to it is described in terms of
range, while composition describes the locality where the individuals or
group resides.
Using the factors of range and composition, a study was conducted to
find the relation between social resources and social relations. The data
was collected from the stratified sample, and the number of
respondents selected for this purpose was from 50 localities, and each
had about 1050 samples of individuals through a multistage probability
sampling technique. Through various questions, their information about
their contacts was collected from them.
The results drawn from the study showed the socioeconomic status of
an individual was positively related to composition and range
characteristics. The factors of income and education were used as
determinants of socioeconomic status and were correlated with
network complexity, diversity, and size. A positive relation was found
between these variables. The conclusion that can be drawn from this is
that social resources can be determined by measuring the network
strength through variables associated with range and composition
(Campbell, 1986).
I M P A C T O F S O C I A L R E S O U R C E S
O N S O C I O E C O N O M I C S T A T U S
STATUS
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In developmental psychology, the process of human development is
described by how an individual makes efforts to attain stability and
independence in life, along with maintaining good social relations with
the people. The fulfillment of goals and attaining high socioeconomic
status determine the success of an individual (Erikson, 1959).
The results revealed by a number of studies show that social status and
social networks have a positive relationship with social well-being.
However, there has been a little inconsistency in different works due to
the differences in methodologies and consideration of the variables
chosen for particular samples.
The socio-economic status of an individual can be defined by the level
of education, occupational status, and income. These elements are also
related to the social well-being of individuals, which leads to the result
that the higher the socio-economic status of an individual, the higher
would be the social well-being. This conclusion was drawn after
conducting empirical analysis and theoretical analysis that the
individuals with more accomplishments, better living conditions, and
good job appraisals scored high on social wellbeing.
Considering the factor of social wellbeing and its relation with the social
network, it was found that at some places, the networks played a
supportive role while at the others they were creating stress in the
individual's life.
A lot of debate about the quality and the number of social relations can
be found in the literature. Some interesting findings show that the
factor of quality interaction is more valuable for older people than the
number of actors in the network. While opposite results were observed
in some other studies where the number of individuals in the social
network mattered more.
A deeper analysis of the impact of social networks on the social
wellbeing of the individual showed that networks having quality
relationships with positive individuals resulted in higher social
M E T A - A N A L Y S I S F O R D E F I N I N G
S O C I A L S T A T U S
STATUS
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wellbeing. While the relationships with low-quality networks or negative
people adversely affected the individual's social wellbeing. Thus these
results showed that the quality of social relations within the social
network can have an impact on individual social wellbeing (Pinquart,
2000).
The debate of the above results was validated by testing it by the meta-
analysis procedure that was presented by (Rosenthal, 1994) which
provided a framework to integrate the statistical findings.
The five-step process that was followed for the validation of hypotheses
includes:
• Transformation of correlations using Fischer's r to z transformation;
• The calculation of mean weighted by sample size followed by
conversion of mean effect sizes into an actual metric of product-
moment relations;
• Calculation of significance the mean effect size had and normal z
distribution computation by taking the sum of weighted z values and
dividing it by square root of sample size;
• Conducting the chi-square analysis to check homogeneity and
heterogeneity;
• Analysis of the hypotheses and the conclusion of results.
The findings presented by the meta-analysis showed that higher social
well bring was found in the sample of older people who had a good
economic status, strong social network, and competence. When gender
was considered in relation to social wellbeing, it was found that men
with high socioeconomic status had more social wellbeing than women,
while it was found the women had more social wellbeing than men when
they had a good social network.
With respect to the age of individuals, the young-old people considered
socioeconomic status an important factor for their social wellbeing.
However, through this study, it was found that variability in the sample
or changes in the measures had an impact on the overall conclusions. So
the results hold true in the case of specific samples as mentioned and
on testing of the particular variables.
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Achieving a respectable status in society is considered to be one of the
important aims in one's life, which is a result of the social networks that
are developed through the social life of an individual. The social status
of an individual can be determined by the respect that an individual
gains in the social group or through the influence that an individual has
which gains attention towards a person. Through research, it has been
found the individual's emotions, social wellbeing, and social cognition
are influenced by the status in society.
One important thing to consider about status is that in some cases, it's
not measured by the individual itself, it is dedicated to the person by
the group or social network that the individual has through their
judgment and analysis of the person's position. So in order to
understand how people perceive someone to have high or low status,
we need to understand how people consider certain factors and, on
their basis, assign status to someone. Taking this factor into
consideration, an experiment was conducted on individuals in which
they were supposed to give peer reviews. The aim of the study was to
understand how the personality traits of an individual have an impact
on their social status. It was found that status differentiation among
individuals was created due to their attractiveness and personality traits
(Anderson, 2001).
S O C I A L S T A T U S I N R E L A T I O N T O
P E R S O N A L I T Y T R A I T S
S O C I A L I Z I N G T H R O U G H S O C I A L
N E T W O R K I N G E N V I R O N M E N T
Social media plays an important role in shaping an individual's social
network and socializing. Social networking sites like Facebook have
played an important role in building social networks, and it is found
more popular among youngsters. A web survey conducted on college
students revealed that their reasons for joining Facebook groups were
to have entertainment, developing a social network, attain a good social
status and get information through their online interactions. Slight
changes in the results of the survey were observed with the changes in
demographic factors like the year in school, home town, and gender
(Valenzuela, 2008).
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Among other Facebook features, the Facebook group feature plays an
important role in defining social interactions and social networks. This
group feature provides access to a number of people and sharing of
information very conveniently, and it seems to be an important source
of social networking. The Facebook groups provide access to a number
of people and enable information access, which might not be possible
otherwise. This increases the engagement and social involvement of
people in the groups.
Social networking sites play a major role in building social contacts,
fulfill social needs, and create community bonding. Other features like a
personal messaging feature of Facebook usually enable one on one
communication and didn't enable much involvement of individuals.
However, the group feature plays an important role in bringing people
together by providing discussion platforms, meetings, and events. A
close association was found between joining groups and the satisfaction
of social as well as personal needs. It was found that the engagement
within the communities strengthened by connecting well with each
other. One of the factors that are important to understand is the thing
that drives the need for having a social connection through social
networking sites.
The motivation among the college students that brought them closer to
each other and made them join Facebook groups was the similarity in
their interests. The social interests of people, as well as their
satisfaction, were found to be important factors in making them use
social networking sites. Also, the impact of demographics in relation to
the user's interests was also studied that revealed that the school-going
students were keener to have information about the activities occurring
on campus as well as outside the premises of the campus. Some of the
reasons that kept them engaged with the Facebook groups include the
pressure by their peers and they want to keep up with the trends
through the updates from the groups on Facebook. The study revealed
that students with more satisfaction in life and social trust participated
more in social groups (Park, 2009).
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Facebook is considered one of the popular social networking sites that
helps in forming and maintaining social capital. Social networking sites
not only help in maintaining social networks but also give a chance to
interact with new people and form linkages with them. Facebook
profiles provide individuals a chance to represent themselves so that
their friends can view them and know about them. It is one of the
frequently used social networking sites, therefore, is of major interests
for the researchers as it enables them to have a better track of the
individual's trends and the way individual in interacting with others
which is a very effective way to determine the social networking of an
individual.
An important factor that has been highlighted by one of the studies is
that weather the social relations built online do prove as an offline
social network or not. When this was tested on a sample college
student, it was found that a significant number of their social capital
was a result of their social network (Hampton, 2002).
Social capital can be explained in terms of the social resources that an
individual develops with time, which can be attained through the social
networks that develop through different channels. The relationship of
an individual within the social networks defines the level of social
capital an individual possesses. A number of positive impacts of social
capital were found through research that showed the good social
relations resulted in wellbeing and better health of individuals, the
financial markets function improved, and the crime rate was also
lowered due to strengthened relations.
Lack of social capital among individuals is one of the reasons for
creating social disorder and disturbance in the communities leading to
decreased participation in the communities due to the lack of interest
among the individuals. More commitment can be ensured within the
community as well as the participation of individuals to make collective
efforts for the betterment of the community if the social capital is
increased. Generally, it has been proven that social capital has more
positive effects as compared to negative effects. It builds strong
S O C I A L C A P I T A L T H R O U G H
O N L I N E S O C I A L N E T W O R K S I T E S
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communication and trust among the individuals that can result in the
exchange of capital like information and opportunities with each other.
Through various studies on social capital, researchers have found that
psychological wellbeing is closely related to social capital. Individuals
with good social capital seem to have more self-esteem and
contentment towards life. Along with emotional support and sharing of
useful information, it has been found that social capital can also result
in building a change of perspective among individuals through social
interactions on various platforms. However, the strength and value of
social relations are what matters the most to have maximum benefit
from the social capital. It is also really very important to maintain social
capital by using platforms that are easily available and can enable
access to others within the social circle.
One of the important resources that can be useful in maintaining social
relations is the internet. However, there are some points where it can
have negative results if not managed properly. It has been found that it
reduces the face to face interactions, which can lead to the weakening
of social ties. There has been some criticism from this perspective as
well; according to it, the role of online interaction plays an important
role in supplementing in-person interactions. Social ties are believed to
be maintained more easily and cheaply through the use of social
networking sites rather than in-person interactions. The use of internet
technologies has enabled individuals to maintain their social
interactions. This makes it possible for them to form new networks
while maintaining the previous ones. Abandoning the previous social
ties for the sake of forming new ones can result in loss of social capital,
therefore, the use of social networking sites like Facebook can be an
important source for maintaining the previous relations, strengthening
the existing one and forming new social networks (Ellison, 2007).
S O C I A L W E L L - B E I N G T H R O U G H
S O C I A L N E T W O R K S
Direct communication through Facebook with friends has been found to
be an important determinant of increasing the self-esteem of an
individual and reducing the loneliness among the individuals due to
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better connection. Distant relationships can be conveniently maintained
through social networks. Although on the one hand, the interactions on
Facebook prove to an important source to reduce loneliness. On the
other hand, it has also been found that the reverse effect on social
interactions on social networking sites can be depression among
individuals if the relationships are not healthy. Depression can also be
observed among individuals due to low-quality content and if they are
not connecting well with friends. Researchers also define these hurdles
as noise that acts as a barrier between the individuals to interact with
each other (Burke, 2010) .
I M P A C T O F O N L I N E S O C I A L
N E T W O R K I N G
Networking through on social sites is one of the increasingly used to
maintain virtual connections that individuals form to maintain their
personal and professional connections. Depression was found to be
present in individuals that are deeply indulged in socialization through
online platforms. Also, it was found that usage over a longer period of
time can dissociate them from the occupational environment. The
quality of the social networks proved to be an important determinant of
whether the individual would face depression or not. Quality social
relationships resulted in less depression among individuals as
compared to those who had poor quality social relations.
Along with the quality of relationships or interactions, the frequency or
the time spent on Facebook also determined the level of depression
among the individuals. Social comparisons resulting from efficient
social connections also resulted in depression among the individuals,
which was found to have various detrimental effects on the wellbeing of
the individuals (Gallo, 2003).
The results of social networking can not only be categorized as negative
only because, at some points, they have a positive impact also, so
generalizing it totally would not be correct. In some cases, social
networking has also been found to manage depression, so risk factors
should be navigated to get more benefits from online social networks.
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There has been some variability in the results due to the diversity of
online social platforms available to the users.
These diverse social media platforms make it a bit complex to analyze
their role in bringing a positive or negative impact on the life of users. In
the case of some social media platforms, it has been found that they
positively influence the social network and individual needs of the
users, while for others, it has been found that their use has a negative
impact on the individual's wellbeing.
Various studies have been conducted by varying different variables like
type of social network platform being used, quality of relationship
among the individuals, and the time spent by each user on the social
networking sites. Due to varying factors, it has been found that under
some circumstances, the correlation was positive while in others, it was
negative. Considering social platform as the means of strengthening
social networks, it has been proven through empirical and theoretical
analysis that it plays a strengthening role in attaining social capital;
however, its influence on the individual can be either positive or
negative both (Baker, 2016).
Career development in academia was studied in relation to social
networking, and to conduct the study on a sample of Malaysian women
working in academia was selected. The relation between career mobility
and the role of social networking was studied.
Social networking plays an important role if individual aims to succeed
in a career. However, the quality of social relations is very important;
otherwise, the consequences can be reversed. So knowing the right
people and building and maintaining connections with them is what
shapes a quality social network. While working in an organization, a
quality network can also be a source of professional development as
well as power within the organization. While working in academia, it is
very important to keep up with the literature, which requires a lot of
effort and is a challenging task to do, so to keep up with these things
N E T W O R K I N G L E A D I N G T O
C A R E E R D E V E L O P M E N T
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and stay updated, social networking plays an important role.
Connecting with scholars around the world can be a very important
source of their career development as well as social capital (Brass,
1992), (Maack, 1993).
The improved communication among academic institutions due to
globalization has resulted in improved access to information, which has
become an important source of forming broad social networks.
Academic growth and success are possible through active global and
local social networks. The three-fold dimensions of the operations in
academia, which include research, teaching, and offering services for
the institute, make it quite a challenging job for them, and along with
the improved communication globally and locally, they have to focus on
developing quality social networks as well.
The theories that have been used to describe career development and
its relation to social networking include the human capital theory and
social capital theory. The aim of these theories is to describe the factors
and ways through which an individual can gain success in a career. To
get a positive response and power in an organization through efficiency
and effectiveness, it is important to invest in human capital. Social
capital is a good way to attain a quality social network through which
individuals can have individual as well as shared benefits due to
improved communication and coordination.
To succeed upwards in the organizational hierarchy, social networks,
along with efforts, are important elements.
Quality networks can be built in academia if the right people who
belong to your field and area of study are the ones you connect with.
Individuals working in academia need to make sure that they stay
updated with the new innovations and development by exploring
research works so that they can upgrade their course content
accordingly. Updated content for the course material is an important
source to keep the students engaged, so they would be able to relate
well with the course content (Ismail, 2007).
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(Ethier, 2003) presented the idea of a network in terms of a map that has
different units interconnected with each other either in one direction or
in a bi-directional way to form interconnections between the units.
According to his view, this kind of representation can be a way to
analyze an individual's social capital and to figure out what are the
possessions of an individual placed in different positions of the network.
He believed that a good social network can be a good way to attain
resources from the individuals residing in the social network.
Professional networking in academia is about forming connections as
well as interaction with scholars of the same field or related fields. It can
be a very effective way to progress as it enables the creation of shared
value for both parties. In academia, if an individual manages to form
social connections globally, then there is a high chance of
collaborations, recognition, and support from professionals in the form
of mentoring.
Networking in the professional world is not only about initiating
contacts, but it also demands maintaining the relationships by
reciprocating a good attitude. The concept presented by the human and
social capital theory emphasizes the same point. Therefore, it can be
said that career development in academia is highly dependent on
forming quality networks to attain a higher status.
P S Y C H O S O C I A L P R O C E S S E S I N
R E L A T I O N T O S O C I A L S T A T U S
The social status of an individual is found to have a close relationship
with health, and through studies, a direct link between the two variables
has been proved, which means individuals with high socioeconomic
status can enjoy good health as compared to the ones with low socio-
economic status. The extent up to which it can possibly have an impact
on health is where the gap in the study lies because there have been
variations in the individuals in this respect. For short periods of time,
the impact of the socio-economic status on the heal of the individual is
not that detrimental, however, if it prolongs, then over the years, there
is a chance that the impact on the health can be negative. The impact of
socio-economic status on health does not seem to be very obvious, but
it has indirect effects on the health of the individuals (McEwen, 1998).
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The social position of an individual can be described in terms of various
aspects like income, occupation, health, education, etc. and it seems
that each of the factors interchangeably has an impact on each other.
The relationship of all these variables is more or less the same when
tested on samples of different populations.
There are a number of diseases that are reported among the people who
are struggling to have a respectable social status in society.
Socioeconomic status does not prove to be the direct cause of such
diseases but an indirect factor that leads to such diseases. This happens
because individuals who suffer from socioeconomic status face stress
and challenges from the external environment and the impact of the
reactivity of all that stress results be one of the causes of diseases.
The socioeconomic resources of an individual also play an important
role in determining the individual's lifestyle, and the challenges faced.
Those with low resources tend to struggle with their life while the ones
who have enough social resources face fewer challenges. So the external
environment for individuals with good socioeconomic status proves to
be of help, but in the case of the individuals who have low
socioeconomic status, it becomes a hard struggle for them to survive in
an environment with challenges.
The external environment of an individual has an impact on the
psychological processes of an individual, which has a very direct impact
on the biological functioning of individuals. There is another stage that
lies between the psychological processes and the detrimental health
impacts on the individuals, which is the changes in the behavior of the
individuals. As already mentioned that the health of the individual is
affected if low socioeconomic status or struggle to have social capital is
prolonged over a period of time, so during the period when the
individual faces challenges there are changes in the behavior of an
individual that first start to develop before the damage to health occurs
(Adler, 2003).
To cope up with the psychological and health issues of the individuals
facing the issues and challenges due to socio-economic status, it is
important to understand that the basic psychological needs of the
individuals.
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The psychological needs of an individual can be studied through
different dimensions like cultural, interpersonal, and institutional
contexts. Self-determination theory considers relatedness, competence,
and autonomy as the theory necessary factors that that play an
important role to fulfill the psychological needs of the individuals. It has
all been found that these three factors have a positive impact on the
health of individuals. Few health issues are reported among individuals
who have high levels of competence, autonomy, and relatedness.
While determining the relation of need fulfillment with socioeconomic
status and health, it was found that the need of individuals varies. The
individuals positioned at the low level of the social hierarchy might have
fewer needs as compared to the ones who are at the higher levels of
hierarchy. So the need of individuals cannot be generalized in a social
setting. Health was negatively impacted in the case of the individuals at
the lower levels of the hierarchy with low income (Di Domenico, 2014).
F R A M E W O R K F O R S O C I A L E C O N O M I C
S T A T U S D E T E R M I N A T I O N
The social status of individuals has been measured using different
frameworks that considered different variables to explain the level of
the social status of an individual within a social network. For
sociologists, it has always been a challenge to determine and define the
social status of individuals. Many methodologies and frameworks have
been devised by them to describe the social status of an individual in a
particular social setting. However, the has been no consensus on any of
the methodologies adopted for the purpose of defining the social status.
To come up with a framework, an index method was developed that
considered certain variables that could define the social status of
individuals. The factors included residence area, occupation, and
education. And to analyze these factors a sample of an urbanized area of
New Haven was taken into consideration for collecting some data. The
correlation between the variables by drawn by linking them with the
socio-economic status of the individual. The results showed that
residence area had a very little impact on the socioeconomic status of
an individual while occupation and education played a significant role
in determining the social status of individuals according to the results of
the study.
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So the factor of the area of residence was dropped while developing the
framework to calculate the social status of the individual. As a result of
this study, the 2-factor index was developed that considered the factors
of occupation and education important for defining the status of an
individual within s particular social setting (Haug, 1973).
However, this 2-factor index system could not hold for long and the
need for revision aroused when different social and cultural settings
were studied. The revisions resulted in the development of the 4-factor
index system for the determination of the social status of the individuals
that considered 4 determining factors of the social status of an
individual. This system considered social status to be a multi-
dimensional concept. The assumptions upon which this system was
devised include: there is an inequality in our social settings that creates
differentiation among the individuals, personal relationships and the
occupation of an individual resulting from the years at school plays a
primary role in the status determination and the combination of
different factors can be a source of finding the social standing of the
individual.
The 4 factors that this system considers to define the social status of the
individual include occupation, education, sex, and marital status.
Education can be gained by individuals at different levels in the
different stages of life and plays an important role in shaping the
individual's life journey. The outcome of the education can be described
in terms of the individual's occupation. The efforts that result from the
years spent while getting education result in an occupation that may be
unstable during the initial years of the career while it is expected to
mature and gain stability with years of struggle. The sex of the
individual also defines the role of an individual in a particular social and
cultural setting so it also acts as a determinant of social status. Lastly,
marital status also plays an important factor while analyzing the social
status of an individual. It basically defines the relationship that exists
between the two genders in any geographical setting. It is considered an
important factor as it describes how the individuals of a family
contribute and make efforts for their survival. Basically, the financial
system of the house is shaped by how different members of the house
make efforts and contribute towards the expenses and investments
(Hollingshead, 1975).
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This 4 index system provides further categories for each of the factors
and studies individuals' settings on a deeper level on this scale to see
their respective position in the society as compared to the others.
Scores are assigned to each of the extended factors and are then
summed up to find the total score of an individual which is used to
define the individual's social status within a particular social setting.
The score analysis of individuals can be used to define the different
hierarchal positions that informally develop in society due to variations
in the 4 factors mentioned by the system. The individuals that lie on the
base of the hierarchy can be assigned a low score, which means lie
social status, and for the ones with higher scores, the top position of the
hierarchy can be given to the ones with the high scores on the index. In
this way, this system can prove to be a helpful source for the
determination of social status (Hollingshead, 1975).
S O C I A L S U P P O R T T H R O U G H
S O C I A L N E T W O R K S
Poverty creates the differentiation among the individual living in a
social setting and influences the life of individuals negatively due to
deprivation from the basic as well as the social resources. The academic
performance of the students that lacked the basic resources and needs
was found to be low as compared to the other students. Racial and
ethnic minorities face major challenges due to the lack of the social
resources that they are provided with for their survival.
Support within a social setting defines the behavior of other people that
lie within the social network. It could be both: personal as well as
professional social network of the individual. The support from the
people within the social network of the individuals plays an important
role in the life of the individual in coping up with life challenges, the
support could be in the form of financial, informational, or emotional
form. It can play an important role in tackling life problems. The sources
of getting support in a social network include the people who are linked
with the individual at a personal and professional level so it can be
family members, friends, colleagues, etc. (Lemerise, 1997).
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Students having low support in academic matters were found to show
poor academic performance as compared to the students that got more
support and attention. To have a good academic performance, social
support plays an important role, while if it is not provided to an
individual at a personal and professional level, then the consequences
can have a direct impact on the grades of an individual. So the results
drawn from the study showed that social support and poverty are
factors that can have an influence on the academic performance of the
individual. Low socioeconomic status is faced by those who have low
social support and those who face poverty. Student's performance can
be impacted by these factors resulting in low socioeconomic status. This
is one of the attention-grabbing relations for the psychologists that
work for student therapy and also for the counselors who work hard to
figure out how the student performance can be improved and good
academic results can be obtained (Malecki, 2006).
D R A W B A C K S O F S O C I A L
N E T W O R K I N G S I T E S
Although social networking using social networking sites proves to be a
convenient way to gain social resources in these current times. It can
help an individual to build a social network in a short period of time due
to better access and easy communication. Also, it has been found
through various studies that the quality social networks developed on
social networking prove to be an important source of status attainment
by an individual. However, the long-term impact of the improper use of
different social networking sites can also have a negative impact on the
individual's life. The addiction that an individual develops with time can
result in many disadvantages that can adversely impact the individual.
The relationship and behaviors of the users of social media can be
impacted negatively if they totally rely on their online social networks.
Social networking platforms can very efficiently connect people living
locally as well as globally through virtual communication. The online
networking platforms define the individual's interest as also the
activities. The profile feature contains a lot of personal and professional
information that the individual reveals.
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The privacy of an individual can be affected if the socializing platform
uses it against the individual or is in case hacked by any individual.
Through various studies, it has been seen that it is easier to shape the
interests of teenagers through social media because they are immature.
In the case of adults, employers mostly require data in an online form to
maintain their database. For professionals, it is really important to be
careful about what activities they have on their social media platforms
because, up to some extent, it has an impact on their career mobility if
any inappropriate information is revealed from their side. The privacy
concerns of individuals on social media act as a threat to networking on
online platforms (Mooney, 2009).
The use of social networking sites above the normal limit can be very
dangerous for the physical and mental health of individuals. Those
individuals who totally rely on online social networks and no face-to-
face interactions suffer due to health issues so excess use over an
extended period of time has negative consequences. People find it
easier to connect and communicate virtually, so they try to save their
time through online networking, ignoring the impact on their health.
The productivity of the individual is reported to decline if they work for
long periods on online platforms. Addiction disorder has also been
reported among individuals who are highly reliant on social media for
their entertainment.
The excessive use of social networking platforms and information
sharing over them has been proved to be an important source for
cybercriminals. Fake profiles over these platforms have impacted the
relationships of many people. All these negative outcomes of the
excessive use of social networking sites are what individuals should be
aware of if they aim to attain a respectable social status through social
networking (Das, 2011).
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Magee, J.C. and Galinsky, A.D., 2008. 8 social hierarchy: The
self‐reinforcing nature of power and status. Academy of Management
annals, 2(1), pp.351-398.
Campbell, K.E., Marsden, P.V. and Hurlbert, J.S., 1986. Social resources
and socioeconomic status. Social networks, 8(1), pp.97-117.
Anderson, C., John, O.P., Keltner, D. and Kring, A.M., 2001. Who attains
social status? Effects of personality and physical attractiveness in social
groups. Journal of personality and social psychology, 81(1), p.116.
Pinquart, M. and Sörensen, S., 2000. Influences of socioeconomic status,
social network, and competence on subjective wellbeing in later life: a
meta-analysis. Psychology and aging, 15(2), p.187.
Rosenthal, R., Cooper, H. and Hedges, L., 1994. Parametric measures of
effect size. The handbook of research synthesis, 621(2), pp.231-244.
Frank, R.H., 1985. Choosing the right pond: Human behavior and the
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Status Fulfillment Through Social Networks

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