Conventions only confer status when performed publicly as signs

Evidence

Conventions explain how status pushes us into following certain arbitrary behaviors. But to gain status for such acts, we can’t follow conventions in private: we must perform them in front of others. Conventions are always more than the core action. They also act as signs. — W. David Marx, Status and Culture, 188

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to Lofland’s World of Strangers material on appearance as signaling; status only realizes through observable performance. — connects to: Absences of conventions themselves act as status signals — W. David Marx, Status and Culture: How Our Desire for…, 203; Single status symbols fail to impress unless they match surrounding context. — W. David Marx, Status and Culture: How Our Desire for…, 255; Disclosed advertising tags became status symbols rather than deterrents — W. David Marx, Blank Space: A Cultural History of the…, 559 (+4 more)

Broader Connections

• Disclosed advertising tags became status symbols rather than deterrents #exemplifies (0.85) — W. David Marx, Blank Space, 559
• Norms of honor only bind when violations are publicly observable #corroborates (0.85) — Russell Hardin, Trust and Trustworthiness, 272
• Declaring a post as sponsored made it a status symbol rather than a liability #exemplifies (0.85) — W. David Marx, Blank Space, 559
• Status symbols fail when outsiders own them and display is not genuine behavioral residue. #qualifies (0.80) — W. David Marx, Blank Space, 734
• Single status symbols fail to impress unless they match surrounding context. #qualifies (0.78) — W. David Marx, Status and Culture, 255
• Raw events only gain meaning through socially coded translation into signs #expands (0.78) — Hall, Stuart, Essential Essays, Volume 1, 921
• Absences of conventions themselves act as status signals #complicates (0.75) — W. David Marx, Status and Culture, 203