Status is judged by gestalt sensibility, not isolated signals

Evidence

For all the talk of individual signals in the last chapter, taste is much more important in status appraisals than the consideration of a single status symbol. By triangulating all the signals, cues, and absences, we understand someone’s taste as a gestalt. We can call this a sensibility—the underlying “feel” that choices express. Specific groups have specific sensibilities, but compared with an infinite number of signals, sensibilities are relatively more finite: e.g., basic, classy, WASPy, boho. Waters’s personal aesthetic, for example, derives from the camp sensibility; his own ideas on taste echo Susan Sontag’s famed line “Camp asserts that good taste is not simply good taste; that there exists, indeed, a good taste of bad taste.” — W. David Marx, Status and Culture, 248

Categorization

• DEFINE: Introduces ‘sensibility’ as the triangulated gestalt of a person’s choices, contrasted with reading single signals.
• XREF: Connects to the earlier chapter’s individual-signal account of status, which this chapter reframes as subordinate to holistic taste. — connects to: Status appraisal works by triangulating a whole package of signals against hard-to-fake cues — W. David Marx, Status and Culture: How Our Desire for…, 236; Status is communicated through manipulable observable characteristics rather than explicit claims — W. David Marx, Status and Culture: How Our Desire for…, 200; Ambiguity in a symbol’s meaning weakens its status signal. — W. David Marx, Status and Culture: How Our Desire for…, 228 (+8 more)
• SHARE: Would interest anyone into Sontag’s camp essay or Waters’s Aesthetics of Garbage interviews.

Broader Connections

• A just-noticeable difference in signal-to-noise ratio does not guarantee subjective value #exemplifies (0.82) — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 5669
• Status is context-dependent and operates through peer perception rather than objective rank. #expands (0.80) — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update, 171
• A psychophysical JND in signal-to-noise ratio does not guarantee subjectively meaningful benefit to patients #corroborates (0.79) — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 5672
• Status symbols create a tradeoff between exclusivity and legibility to outsiders #qualifies (0.78) — W. David Marx, Status and Culture, 224
• Ascribed high status lets the advantaged claim status without visible effort or symbols #qualifies (0.77) — W. David Marx, Status and Culture, 286
• Attracting and commanding attention signals significance and quality in status systems. #expands (0.75) — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update, 230
• People signal status by using symbols associated with top groups #qualifies (0.74) — W. David Marx, Status and Culture, 210
• Status is context-dependent and distinct from online reputation or trust #expands (0.73) — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update, 174