Status Power and Prestige

Sociology was my major in college. The head of the department and I became friends. He once said to me that I was unique among many of my peers in that I thought like a sociologist. Sociologists try to cultivate what Peter Berger called “Independent Critical Thinking.” This manner of thinking is common to every scientist. I believe we ought never to accept any social event on its face value but rather look for patterns of behavior, hidden agendas, assumed common values, and even physical groupings.

I have begun reading more intensely in this field. Many of the concepts I previously learned are coming back to me. It is interesting how few core questions have changed. There are two schools of Macro Sociology; Functionalism and Conflict Theory. The only Micro Sociology school of thought is Symbolic Interpretation.

Most agree that there are three social aims are in sight for all persons. While variously named they are roughly, status, power, and wealth. I find the school of symbolic interaction the most entertaining. It is no use in having power and status if no one will appreciate it. So, you must find ways to let others know who and what you are and who are what you believe them to be. It was once said that the perception of power is real power. The same holds true for status. If I think you have a gun in your waist band, then I will be just as respectful and fearful of you even if you, in fact, don’t.

Last week I attended a lunch gathering of about a dozen fellow Presbyterian ministers. After revisiting sociology I began to view this particular gathering with symbolic interaction in mind. The colleague we were welcoming had serviced several prestigious pulpits in the South. He parlayed that into a position on the board of directors for a denominational seminary. He excelled in fund raising while a board member. This status he leveraged to a position as a vice presidency of a seminary. After retirement he was called to serve as an interim pastor at several tall steeple churches. Any man who has spent half his career persuading wealthy donors to contribute to a seminary has achieved a high degree of status among the upper, upper middle class portion of an middle to upper middle class denomination.

A middle career pastor sat to the left this prestigious gentleman. I sat there to his right pretending to be interested as a two party conversation ensued between Middle Career guy and Fund Raiser guy. First we learned that Middle Career guy’s father was also a Southern Presbyterian pastor. His status was now being defined. Fund Raiser guy knew his father “well.” A series of names and institutions bounced back and forth between these two men in a “can you top this” contest. At one point Middle Career guy mentioned a notable theologian and indicated his intimate friendship with the man, Fund Raiser guy won the game, set and match with the news that “he was my roommate in seminary” piece of information. We were all duly or in my case dully impressed.

This thirty-five minute exchange was a fine example of two men establishing their status in a religious structure. I was mildly amused and mostly bored until an observer tried to gain entrance into the game with a comment about a pastor they had mentioned. All three held this pastor in low regard. To justify this evaluation the third player merely said, “He was one of those Gordon Conwell graduates.” The whole table nodded knowingly. His connection with this educational institution, by itself, proved the unwitting pastor in question was of little worth.

Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary is an independent seminary near Boston that was begun by Billy Graham and some other neo-evangelical leaders. Both my daughters and both my sons in law graduated from Gordon Conwell and I merely reported that fact to those gathered. The comment was greeted with silence, then the gathering was ended. I am not sure what that fact did to my status, power, and prestige among those gather there. I figure no harm was done because it is not possible for a status to drop below zero, which is where my status currently resides.