Social prestige

Nowadays, there are a number of situational approaches to determining the nature of public prestige and the “price tag” (assessing prestige itself). Politics emphasizes their compensatory nature, considering the system of the “price tag” and the phenomenon of prestige itself through the prism of the desire for power and the desire to control people and events. Psychology emphasizes either respect or in the context of achievement in a motivational way. It is also worth noting that the fact of craving for prestige is recognized to compensate for inferiority or low self-esteem ^[2] . Sociology distinguishes approaches of the following nature: axiological and stratification ^[3] .

Considering social prestige from the point of view of adherents of the theory of social stratification, it should be noted that it is studied as a measure of social status and one of the main reasons for dividing society into strata ^[4] .

A different approach, axiological, points to the value nature of prestige, describing the opportunities that open up that allow us to demonstrate and explain the phenomena of social life according to their social significance ^[5] .

An accurate understanding of the term is difficult due to the modification of its original meaning, as the name of the term is quite a free derivative of the Latin praestigium (which means enchantment, deception of feelings) ^[6] .

Any individual can simultaneously belong to several social groups, which, accordingly, rewards a variety of different statuses. We will proceed from the fact that statuses are usually divided into prescribed (which are imposed after birth) and achieved (which are acquired as a result of achieving the intended goal). A society that is more free minimizes the importance of the prescribed statuses, but the importance of the achieved, on the contrary, extols ^[7] .

Any individual can simultaneously have a number of different statuses. For example, his “assortment of statuses” may be as follows: male, single, doctor of historical sciences, pottery master, European, Pole, Catholic, villager, etc. List of statuses (European, Pole, male individual gender) was acquired by him upon his birth - we will classify these statuses as prescribed. He personally acquired a number of others (doctor of historical sciences, a master in pottery), having spent some effort on achieving the set tasks - these statuses relate to the achievements ^[8] . The situation is similar with prestige.

What is social prestige? In fact, it is a comparative, integral assessment of the significance of public objects or the activities of subjects when considering those from the standpoint of a particular value system, which may include the following: recognition in society, personal authority, attention from the public.

In the scientific community, the term "prestige" arose thanks to British scientists back in 1911 ^[9] . The reason was the need to create differentiated assessments of different types of work.

The concept of status is directly related to the concept of prestige.
The higher the price tag, the more significant is the social status of its owner in the eyes of others. For example, at the moment we can say that the profession of financier or lawyer is considered quite prestigious; obtained in a prestigious / expensive / famous university; high post; close to the center (district, city, state) place of residence. If people are talking not so much about a high level of position in society, but about the personal significance of a certain person and his individual qualities, then it is not about prestige, but about authority.

First and foremost, status is a formal objective assessment of the position of an individual or social institution in society. Such concepts as “authority” and “respect” are closer to prestige ^[10] . These indicated concepts relate to methods of subjective assessment of social status. These criteria are latent indicators that are represented by influence and significance for others. For example, authority is not set initially, but it can be gained by earning due to the effectiveness of one's social functions, achievement of success and recognition. ^[9] .
Prestige, like authority and respect, is a socially individual assessment, though the “color” is more impersonal, it is not so significant in the hierarchical system of social relations. Prestige is an incentive, but not a global achievement or motivation ^[11] .

Scientists of the last century identified a number of functions performed by prestige in social life ^[12] :

1. Promotion function.
2. Regulatory function.
3. Distance function.
4. Integrative function.
5. Indicator (criterion of significance).
6. Cognition of characters.
7. Illusory-compensatory function.

So, social prestige makes it possible to satisfy one of the most significant and widespread needs of an individual, namely, the need to be recognized by his environment, environment, and society, which allows this individual to assert himself, gain respect in his own eyes, and exalt his own personality. Without meeting this need, it is simply impossible to move to the next stage of self-development, which allows you to master and take advantage of more advanced ways of constructing thoughts and actions.

True, under the current conditions of a serious behavioral crisis, which has lost the relevance of the past and the consciousness of the deviation of the “price tag”, there is a risk of rooting “misunderstandings” between the changing tendencies of reality in the sphere of public life, information about it, attitudes and results of human activity.