Status symbols derive prestige from money, time, and exclusive access costs.

Evidence

There are five common signaling costs. The first and most obvious is money. Since wealth correlates to status position in capitalist society, most status symbols are expensive. English-style horseback riding has status value because it’s an expensive skill to learn. The second cost is time. A PhD signals experience because it takes years and years of education and validation from established professors. This is why traditional societies treat older people with high status: their valuable wisdom can only be accrued from decades of living. — W. David Marx, Status and Culture, 215

Categorization

• DEFINE: Sets up the taxonomy of five signaling costs that the surrounding chapter develops; also frames age-respect as a time-cost status signal.
• XREF: connects to: Expenditures that seem extravagant to outsiders are necessary basics within higher status tiers — W. David Marx, Status and Culture: How Our Desire for…, 156; Advancing up status tiers requires adopting each tier’s more expensive lifestyle conventions — W. David Marx, Status and Culture: How Our Desire for…, 157; Modern mobility makes portability the chief virtue of status symbols. — W. David Marx, Status and Culture: How Our Desire for…, 206 (+10 more)

Broader Connections

• Wealth is pursued as a status marker within an elite circle. #exemplifies (0.82) — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 1471
• New Money universally signals status through conspicuous consumption across eras and cultures #corroborates (0.80) — W. David Marx, Status and Culture, 309
• Prestige status requires explanation as information-goods access. #expands (0.78) — Joseph Henrich, The Secret of Our Success, 1218
• Ascribed high status lets the advantaged claim status without visible effort or symbols #complicates (0.78) — W. David Marx, Status and Culture, 286
• Status symbols create a tradeoff between exclusivity and legibility to outsiders #qualifies (0.75) — W. David Marx, Status and Culture, 224
• Symbols can be acquired from generic sources like advertising. #complicates (0.74)
• Prestige evolved as a second status system distinct from dominance #complicates (0.73) — Joseph Henrich, The Secret of Our Success, 48
• Flattening the gap between standard and premium reduces status hierarchies #complicates (0.72) — W. David Marx, Status and Culture, 819