Specialized status groups develop hierarchies even more rigid than mainstream society’s

Evidence

While these small communities appear at first more equitable than mainstream society—a voluntary meeting of like minds—the specificity of the group’s status beliefs often make hierarchical structures even more pronounced. For surfers there is only one criterion that is supposed to matter: the ability to surf. The very best surfers have the most status, and the worst surfers have the least—irrespective of their 401(k)s and fancy domiciles. In fact, rich weekend surfers are often disparaged as “kooks” when they show off expensive gear without the talent to justify it. — W. David Marx, Status and Culture, 97

Categorization

• CANDY: The surfers-as-“kooks” detail is a tweetable nugget about gear without talent being ridiculed.
• XREF: The idea that single-criterion communities become acutely hieratical resonates with Any Rand-style meritocracies and the logic in Milgrom’s trade institutions work.