City social standing is inferred from displayed symbols rather than enacted duties

Evidence

The urbanite may frequently rely upon appearance rather than reputation: status may be temporarily appropriated by the “correct” display and manipulation of symbols, while in the small town it is more permanently manifested by the direct enactment of rights and duties. The bestowal of status in the city is often an inference from symbolism to social position; in the small town the bestowal of status proceeds from the evaluation of rights and duties appropriate to social position, and the relevant symbolism is basically symptomatic. — Lyn H. Lofland, World of Strangers_ Order and Action in…, 148

Categorization

Category: Contrarian or Surprising Claims

• XREF: Counterbalances Simmel’s blasé attitude and Cole’s observing self — the cost of urban symbol-reading is that identity becomes performable and thus both flexible and precarious.
• STORYSTEM: A character who successfully passes as someone else merely by costuming and demeanor in a preindustrial city — identity theft through symbol manipulation before any modern surveillance.

Related

• Urban status is inferred from symbols while small-town status is enacted (similarity 0.90)