Status cheaters are punished only when their fraud exceeds conventional tolerances.

Evidence

That being said, cheating comes in degrees, the same way fudging a few numbers on tax returns isn’t the same as large-scale financial fraud. Some forms of trickery have become conventional. In a world where “gentlemen prefer blondes,” brunettes are able to dye their hair without being considered Delvey-level grifters. Besides, we can always hide our emulations behind solid alibis: e.g., the reliable German engineering of luxury sedans, the durable and supple leather of opulent handbags. Our fear of being seen as cheaters makes us more likely to borrow status symbols from one status tier up and not higher. And in considering how much we can pay in signaling costs, we can usually hop a step but not an entire flight of stairs. Anna Sorokin may have remained Anna Delvey had she not aimed so high. — W. David Marx, Status and Culture, 234

Categorization

• XREF: Ties to economic work on costly signaling and honest signals; the ‘hop a step not a flight’ idea parallels Batesian mimicry limits in biology. — connects to: Status groups punish fraudulent pretenders more harshly than ordinary members. — W. David Marx, Status and Culture: How Our Desire for…, 233; Reputation deterrence fails when defectors can evade full penalties — Diego Gambetta, Trust - Making and Breaking Cooperative…, 2611; Widespread small fraud escapes private enforcement when no single victim suffers enough harm — Henry M. Hart, Jr. and Albert M. Sacks, The Legal Process: Basic Problems in…, 1077 (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• Status groups punish fraudulent pretenders more harshly than ordinary members. #expands (0.80) — W. David Marx, Status and Culture, 233
• Social sanctions deter only those with reputations worth losing #qualifies (0.75) — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 1380
• Illegitimate claims to status provoke envy and social sanction #exemplifies (0.75) — W. David Marx, Status and Culture, 92
• Reputation deterrence fails when defectors can evade full penalties #expands (0.72) — Diego Gambetta, Trust - Making and Breaking Cooperative…, 2611
• Widespread small fraud escapes private enforcement when no single victim suffers enough harm #complicates (0.72) — Henry M. Hart, Jr. and Albert M. Sacks, The Legal Process, 1077