Status Inconsistency Research Articles

Not on the right rung for me? How status inconsistency leads to avoidance of status-threatening ties in NCAA.

This study examines the impact of status inconsistency on status-threatening activities within NCAA Division I men's basketball teams. Specifically, we focus on a nested form of status that includes both individual and group-level elements. We argue that organizations dealing with status inconsistency stemming from such nested form face challenges in reducing status inconsistency. To maintain their deserved status, these status-inconsistent organizations tend to avoid activities that could further threaten their status, despite potential economic gains. An analysis of NCAA Division I men's basketball scheduling data from 2000 to 2019 provides robust support to our theoretical arguments. Our findings suggest that the status inconsistency between a team's status and its conference status diminished the likelihood of scheduling games with non-Division I teams, a behavior considered counter-normative in this context. This effect is most prominent among teams in "Mid Major" conferences, while teams with recent participation in the NCAA Tournament show a mitigated effect.

Status (in)consistency in education and violent parenting practices towards children

Violent childrearing practices represent an invisible threat for global health and human development. Leveraging underused information on child discipline methods, this study explores the relationship between parental educational similarity and violent childrearing practices, testing a new potential pathway through which parental educational similarity may relate to child health and wellbeing over the life course. The study uses data from Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS) and Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) covering 27 sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries. Results suggest that couples where partners share the same level of education (homogamy) are less likely to adopt violent childrearing practices relative to couples where partners face status inconsistency in education (heterogamy), with differences by age of the child, yet less so by sex and birth order. Homogamous couples where both partners share high levels of education are also less (more) likely to adopt physically violent (non-violent) practices relative to homogamous couples with low levels of education. Relationships are stronger in countries characterized by higher GDP per capita, Human Development Index, and female education, yet also in countries with higher income and gender inequalities. Besides stressing the importance of female education, these findings underscore the key role of status concordance vs discordance in SSA partnerships. Tested micro-level mechanisms and country-level moderators only weakly explain result heterogeneity, calling for more research on the topic.

Boys and Their Toys: Status Inconsistency in Non-democratic Regimes and the Import of Major Weapon Systems

Major weapon system imports are significant as they are useful for domestic and international security. However, states regularly imported weapons they want in addition to weapons they need. One explanation is that states import unnecessary weapons to gain status. We argue that states suffering from higher levels of negative status inconsistency (SI) import a greater proportion of status symbol weapons. To account for differing security motives, we also separate non-democratic regime types – strongman, junta, boss, and machine – as they vary in their international conflict propensity and domestic stability. Due to the differences across these regimes, we further argue that non-democratic personalist regimes will import more status symbol weapons. Using data covering 1965–1999, we find that negatively status inconsistent regimes import more status symbol weapons.

Sports Practice, Body Image Perception, and Factors Involved in Sporting Activity in Italian Schoolchildren.

Regular physical activity is generally deemed to positively affect health, but studies on children are scarce. Among the kinds of physical activity, sports practice is the most common and easiest to quantify and report by children. This cross-sectional study aimed to compare the two genders and evaluate the association between organized sports practice and body dissatisfaction in a sample of 214 Italian schoolchildren (55.6% males) aged 5 to 12. Body image perception and data on sports practice expectations and facilitators were collected in individual face-to-face interviews; weight and stature were directly measured. Girls tended to be sportier than boys (91.6% of girls vs. 86.3% of boys practiced sports), with an earlier start in sports (5.48 ± 1.47 vs. 5.72 ± 1.38 years) and a greater amount of weekly sports (3.41 ± 2.95 vs. 3.01 ± 2.11 h/week). In both genders, the ideal silhouette was more slender than the feel silhouette, and in girls more than in boys. According to the outcomes of multiple regression models, years of organized sports participation were a significant predictor of the weekly amount of sports in both genders, in addition to the feel weight status minus actual weight status inconsistency score, fun in sports, and parental support only in boys and teacher support only in girls. Children's needs and interests and sports facilitators should be considered to promote an early active lifestyle.

Strangeness as home. Georg Simmel in Berlin

Georg Simmel is the sociologist of the city. He spent almost his entire life in Berlin where he tried to make an academic career at his home town university. He had from early on remarkable success and published a number of classical books, most well-known among them his “Philosophy of Money.” But the intellectual merits did not translate into professional success. In Berlin he remained a “Privatdozent”—a teaching person without salary—and an “Extraordinarius”—a professor not remunerated. Simmel’s status inconsistency—a globally famous philosopher and sociologist yet without a full professorship—expressed an interesting meritocratic formula: failure by success. Simmel could endure this complicated fate only by putting on a mask which made strangeness his home. This thesis is developed in three steps: First, by looking on young Simmel who combined intellectual success with critical reception, in short: philosophe maudit. Secondly, by referring to his private life and life style as far as this can be reconstructed at all because Simmel turned all matters private into a secret. Thirdly, by discussing his predominate topics (city, prostitution, sociability, secret, and the stranger) we try to show how he made his personal existence possible philosophically, sociologically, and psychologically.

Status Inconsistency, Gender, and Health in Korean Young Adults: Separating Educational and Skill Mismatch

Status Inconsistency, Gender, and Health in Korean Young Adults: Separating Educational and Skill Mismatch

Which hierarchy matters? Subjective social status, status incongruence and well-being among high-skilled Mainland Chinese migrants in Hong Kong

We assessed how the high-skilled migrants’ statuses in Mainland China and Hong Kong and the discrepancies between the two statuses are related to their well-being outcomes. We used respondent-driven sampling method and obtained an analytical sample of 2,864 participants. The majority of the high-skilled migrants perceived higher status in Mainland China than in Hong Kong which is more consequential for their health and well-being. Compared to those who perceived similar statuses in the two locations, migrants who perceived different statuses tended to report lower levels of psychological well-being, providing evidence to the detrimental effects of status inconsistency.

Determinants of Bias Perceptions in South Africa: The Case of A Highly Unequal Society

While objective class dynamics have received much attention in South Africa, less is known about the subjective social positions individuals place themselves in. For example, in a highly unequal society like South Africa, some individuals would overestimate (inflate) or underestimate (deflate) their social position compared to their objective class position. This paper aims to provide further information on status inconsistency in South Africa by assessing some of the socioeconomic determinants of bias perceptions. Using International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) data and a multinomial probit model, the results show that education and race play a significant role in influencing the biased perceptions of individuals in South Africa. For example, individuals with higher education levels have a stronger tendency to deflate their social position, while Coloreds, Indians/Asians, and whites tend to inflate their social positions more than Africans. The results indicate the vital role of race and education in determining status inconsistencies in a society that is still suffering from high levels of racial and education inequality due to the lingering legacy of apartheid. The results provide a better understanding to policymakers and government on the dynamics behind social status perceptions in South Africa.

Body Image Perception in High School Students: The Relationship with Gender, Weight Status, and Physical Activity.

Body image perception includes body size assessment, body desirability estimation, and perceptions concerning one's own body shape and size. Adolescence is a period of intense and prompt physical transformation, which changes the perception of one's body. This represents a critical period for the development of body image. Therefore, the present cross-sectional study aimed to evaluate body image perception and investigate the relationships between it, weight status, sex, and physical activity in a sample of high school students living in Italy. General demographic information and details about physical activity were collected. Body image perception was measured with a body silhouette and two indexes were calculated: the FID (Feel minus Ideal Discrepancy) to evaluate the discrepancy between the perceived current figure and the ideal figure; and the FAI (Feel weight status minus Actual weight status Inconsistency) to observe improper perception of weight status. In addition, body shape concerns were evaluated with the Body Shape Questionnaire (BSQ), in which participants reported the frequency of experiencing negative thoughts about their body shape in the last four weeks. Two hundred and four students were included in the study (155 = female, mean age = 17.13 ± 1.70; 49 = male, mean age = 17.25 ± 1.69). Females felt more concerned about body shape than males (χ2 = 11.347, p = 0.001). Distinctions emerged in terms of body mass index, the scores of Feel minus Ideal Discrepancy (FID), Feel weight status minus Actual weight status Inconsistency (FAI), the Body Shape Questionnaire (BSQ), and of the silhouette mean comparisons due to sex, weight status, and PA interaction effects (p < 0.001). Additionally, 94% of the BSQ variability could be explained by sex, weight status, and PA. Although no direct effects were observed on body image perception, healthy habit promotion, such as physical activity, could positively affect adolescent lives.

The Political Significance of Overeducation: Status Inconsistency, Attitudes towards the Political System and Political Participation in a High-Overeducation Context

This article examines the impact of overeducation on attitudes towards the political system and political participation. Using survey data from Spain, diagonal reference models were estimated to contrast hypotheses based on the theory of status inconsistency. The evidence links overeducation to political attitudes (lower satisfaction with the functioning of democracy, lower external political efficacy) and political participation (greater participation in protests, higher membership in associations). Most of these effects are modest and some of them are moderated by age. Overall, the findings indicate that overeducation has relevant political consequences, mainly among young, university-educated workers doing jobs with low educational requirements. However, overeducation does not pose a major threat to political stability.

Does Power at Home Protect Women from Violence? A Comparative Analysis between Urban and Rural Colombian Women

ABSTRACT Using a sample of 38,718 Colombian women in intimate heterosexual relationships, this study analyzes the prevalence and characteristics of intimate partner violence against rural women in Colombia. The author first contrasts their experiences with those faced by women living in urban areas, and second, the author analyzes those families in which women either have the power to make decisions or share that power with their male partners. The analysis includes discussion of the effects of cultural beliefs such as acceptance of abusive parenting, gender expectations, and attitudes favorable toward violence against women and toward male dominance over their female partners’ social lives and economic security. Demographic indicators such as age, education, wealth, and employment are also analyzed. The analysis was conducted by combining the rationales behind the power control theory (PCT) and the status inconsistency theory (SIT). Factor analysis and structural equation modeling were conducted for the statistical analysis. The results indicate that women living in rural areas versus those in urban settings face specific cultural and economic challenges, and that older, educated, and wealthy women could make decisions more freely than their poor, younger, and less educated counterparts. Regardless of the place of residency, women are abused by their male partners even when they are powerful enough to make decisions alone, as is the case in the matriarchal-type family. In fact, that abuse may be a response to the perception of an “inconsistency” in their gendered behavior.

From zero to hero and back to zero: The consequences of status inconsistency between the work roles of multiple jobholders.

The surge of opportunities available through the gig economy has increased the sizeable population of people who hold multiple jobs. Many of these multiple jobholders are full-time employees who have adopted side-hustles-income-generating work performed alongside full-time work. A core and ubiquitous feature of both full-time work and side-hustles is status, or membership in a social hierarchy. Although status has traditionally been investigated as an employee's enduring position in the social hierarchy at their full-time job, employees with side-hustles hold two distinct work-related statuses: status in their full-time job and status in their side-hustle. Having two statuses necessarily creates a situation in which employees' status is either consistent or inconsistent across roles. We investigate the implications of status inconsistency between side-hustles and full-time work for employees' stress, well-being, and performance. We assert that status inconsistency between side-hustles and full-time work requires employees to navigate stress-inducing tensions, such as incongruent role expectations and confusion regarding their sense of self. By extension, we propose that status inconsistency between side-hustles and full-time work promotes more role stress than occupying consistently low-status roles. In a four-wave field study of full-time employees with side-hustles, and their supervisors, we use polynomial regression analysis to test our predictions. We find that status inconsistency diminishes performance in full-time work via role stress and emotional exhaustion. Given the burgeoning gig economy and associated changes to how work is organized, our research has important and timely implications for multiple jobholders and their full-time work organizations. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Alternative Work Arrangements: Understanding the Experience of the Modern Worker

In recent years, technological advancements have fundamentally changed how, when, and where individuals work. An increasing number of modern workers have jobs outside of the 9-to-5 traditional work arrangement and instead seek work through alternative work arrangements, such as gig work or multiple jobholding. This trend has accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic and will likely continue due to the benefits inherent in these alternative work arrangements such as increased income and flexibility. This symposium focuses on both the benefits and challenges of alternative work arrangements. Throughout this proposed symposium, we elaborate on the experiences of workers with alternative work arrangements face. More specifically, the papers in the symposium focus on the work identities and relational strategies of the modern worker, the status inconsistencies between the types of work they perform, the freedom they receive from the alternative work arrangements, and whether or not they disclose their alternative forms of work and how their alternative work arrangements impact important work outcomes. Thus, each paper offers insights into what the future of work will look like and what organizations and managers should consider to successfully retain talent and cooperate with new types of workers. With this symposium, we see the potential to bridge the perspectives of organizations and individual workers so that both parties can benefit from these new types of work arrangements. A Comparison of the Relational Challenges of Organizational Workers Versus Gig Workers. Presenter: Elizabeth Nguyen Trinh; U. of Michigan, Ross School of Business Presenter: Brittany Lambert; Indiana U. - Kelley School of Business Presenter: Brianna Barker Caza; U. of North Carolina at Greensboro Presenter: Susan J. Ashford; U. of Michigan Is Multiple Jobholding Depleting or Enriching? Presenter: Sherry E. Moss; Wake Forest U. Presenter: Brianna Barker Caza; U. of North Carolina at Greensboro Presenter: Arran Caza; U. of North Carolina, Greensboro The Effects of Psychological Reactance on Side-hustlers’ Daily Hostility and Initiative Presenter: Hudson Sessions; Southern Methodist U. Presenter: Michael Baer; Arizona State U. Presenter: Jennifer Nahrgang; U. of Iowa A Self-Regulation Perspective on How Adult Content Creators Achieve Multiple Job Coherence Presenter: Emily D. Campion; U. of Iowa Presenter: Kathleen Keeler; Ohio State U. Do You Want to Know a Secret? Disclosure and Concealment of Multiple Job Holding Presenter: Sujin Jeong; U. of Iowa Presenter: Jennifer Nahrgang; U. of Iowa

How Entrepreneur Status Variance Affects Corporate Philanthropy: Evidence from Chinese Private Firms

We examine the effects of entrepreneur status variance across multiple status hierarchies on corporate philanthropy. We argue that status variance among multiple status hierarchies drives corporate philanthropy by triggering anxiety and empathy among entrepreneurs. The analysis of a national survey of Chinese private firms shows that entrepreneur status variance has a positive effect on corporate philanthropy. This effect was further amplified when the firms are located in less developed provinces or when the entrepreneurs once have unemployment experience. We contribute to the literature on corporate philanthropy by highlighting the role of entrepreneur status inconsistency as a significant non-financial driver.

Overqualification in Socialization Context: a Social Capital Perspective

The relationship between overqualification and performance exists puzzle, and the social influence of overqualification on employees, especially during the socialization process, received less attention. Taking into account the perspective of social capital and the theory of status inconsistency, we proposed a moderated mediation model linking objective overqualification to performance. Based on the archival data of a single real estate agency company in mainland China, we delineated the trajectory of social capital accumulation process by 4690 newcomers, and identified how objective overqualification affected degree centrality change and subsequent job performance. The results of this study suggested that objective overqualification adversely affected in-degree centrality increase and subsequent job performance. Experience strengthened this negative effect. We discussed the theoretical and practical implications of this research.

Nutritional status and body image perception in a group of Moroccan adolescents

BACKGROUND: Adolescent obesity has become a pressing public health issue in Morocco. Along with the increased prevalence of obesity, body weight misperceptions have also increased among adolescents, which may reduce the effectiveness of intervention programs. The main study objective was to establish the relationship between body image perception, anthropometric status and their associated factors among a sample of Moroccan adolescents. METHODS: A cross-sectional school-based survey was conducted during 2018, involving 250 adolescents from Morocco. Data on sociodemographic information, anthropometric characteristics, and weight perception were collected and reported as the means and proportions. Statistical analysis was carried out using Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 19.0 software. RESULTS: The prevalence of overweight and obesity in our study reached 12.8% and 4.8%, respectively. Misperception of body weight compared to body mass index (BMI) was found in 50.4% of young adolescents (χ2 = 54.05; p < 0.001), and dissatisfaction computed by the Feel minus Ideal Discrepancy (FID) index reached 46% with no difference between the sexes (χ2 = 2.55; p > 0.05). The Feel weight status minus Actual weight status Inconsistency (FAI) index was used to determine whether the subjects’ perception of their weight was realistic. The results showed that both sexes tended to underestimate their weight. Only 68.2% of overweight/obese participants reported trying to lose weight (χ2 = 39.74; p < 0.001), while this number increased to 94.7% when the intention to lose weight was related to perceived body image (χ2 = 86.09; p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study reveal that a mismatch exists between the perception of body weight and actual BMI in adolescents, with a tendency toward underestimation, affirming the early effect of social norms and the vulnerability to sociocultural influences of individuals in this age category. Future interventions and educational programs are thus required to prevent overweight and obesity and to address the mismatch between adolescents’ weight status and their perceived weight.

İlk Bakışta Milliyetçilik ve Futbol: “Sonsuz Derbi” Örneği

From the very beginning of its ‘invention’, football has been a major subject of politics, economy and other social disciplines. In this respect, the Yugoslav experience sets a great example for symbiotic relationship between football and politics. Yugoslav politics, evolved around nationalist tensions, has always had a complex and convoluted profile. In this context, it is argued that the ressentiment at the core of nationalism is a very observable dynamic of Yugoslav politics. Accordingly, the two major football clubs, Partizan FC and Red Star, were deeply influenced by Yugoslavia's founding political principles. Moreover, the rivalry between these two clubs known as the “eternal derby” also took on a symbolic representation of the conflict between nationalist and socialist ideas. Although we can only talk about the former Yugoslavia today, these clubs are still among the greatest living heirs of Balkan history. This paper provides ‘a first look’ at the political history of the “eternal derby” within the framework of Michael Billig and Liah Greenfeld's approaches to nationalism. In this context, it can be said that in addition to its irrational nature with a reference to ressentiment, nationalism is the subject of unconscious reproduction processes that take a place among the habits of daily life. While nationalism, shaped by psychosocial concepts such as existential envy, status inconsistency and identity crisis, the banal form of it can transform teams into armies, players into soldiers, pitches into battlefields, wins into military victories, columnists into embedded journalists. By simulating violence, the imaginary desire for revenge is also tried to be satisfied. The “eternal derby” serves a good model in this regard.

Cultural Omnivorousness and Status Inconsistency in Chile: The Role of Objective and Subjective Social Status

Sociological research has long suggested that cultural participation is socially stratified. We build on this literature to discuss the role of the subjective and objective dimensions of stratification and how they are linked to practices of social distinction through cultural consumption. The aim of this study is to understand (1) the effect of subjective and objective social status on patterns of cultural participation and (2) the implications of the status inconsistency. We use a probabilistic and representative sample of the Chilean urban population older than the age of 18. Latent class analyses show that a significant proportion of Chileans can be considered cultural omnivores. Multinomial diagonal reference models suggest that omnivorousness is positively predicted by subjective and objective social status. Moreover, regarding inconsistency, objective social status is prominent in the explanation of omnivorousness for both status-underestimating and status-overestimating individuals. These findings provide important insights for discussing the implications of status inconsistency on cultural consumption.

Status inconsistency and return to work among foreign-born and native Swedes


 We investigated potential differences in status inconsistency and time to return to work (RTW) from sickness absence between foreign-born and native Swedes, whether inconsistency was associated with RTW, and if this association was stronger for foreign-borns than natives. Significantly fewer native than foreign-born Swedes reported negative status inconsistency, but RTW did not differ between the groups and inconsistency was not associated with RTW. A positive selection of individuals to the Swedish labour market might help explain the findings. This first study of status inconcistency and RTW requires follow-ups in different settings of labour markets and insurance regulations.

The typology of social predictors as a research tool of studying personnel crisis in Russian health care: The publications review

In conditions of societal transformations, social institutions undergo significant alterations that are manifested by institutional inconsistency and dysfunctionality. The transformation of social professional structure of health care system resulted in change of status and trends of social mobility of social professional groups. The purpose of the study is to typologize social predictors of professional activity of physicians in health care of the Russian Federation. The social economic transformation and reforms of the National health care system of recent decades initiated trends of deprofessionalization in medicine, status inflation and marginalization of professional groups. The phenomenon of professional marginalization of physicians is discussed from perspective of the "concept of status inconsistency" by G. Lensky. In aurhoring typology low income of physicians, financial deprivation, reducing of prestige and relative status inflation of medical profession, professional stress, social frustrations and professional burnout are considered as social predictors of professional activity of physicians. The destructive consequences of status inflation are considered as social threat to preservation of manpower potential of health care of the Russian Federation.