No one can opt out of making status claims, since absences signal too

Evidence

Besides signals and cues, there is an important third category of information used in status appraisals: significant absences. Appraisers also look for what is missing. An absence can be a refusal to participate in a convention, or participation in a different one from what is expected. In societies where businessmen wear neckties, not wearing a necktie offers useful information to suss out an individual’s occupation. This may lead to ambiguities: tielessness is customary among blue-collar workers but also employees in the creative industries. But the fact that not doing things plays a role in status appraisals means no one can ever opt out of making status claims. Everything we do, say, and own—or choose not to do, say, or own—becomes a sign. — W. David Marx, Status and Culture, 203

Categorization

• APHORISMS: Reading as life-wisdom: you cannot decline the game; even refusing to play is a move in it.
• XREF: connects to: Even ascetic withdrawal from society yields status to the detached — W. David Marx, Status and Culture: How Our Desire for…, 297; Status is zero-sum and cannot rise for everyone at once — W. David Marx, Status and Culture: How Our Desire for…, 73