Becoming friends with someone who is constantly worried about status can be exhausting but also worrisome. How do you know they really like you? Perhaps you’ve recently met the friend of a friend who you suspect is using you to advance their own standing in your social circle. If you’re being completely honest, you know that you’re generally pretty popular and this person is not. Could they be trying to hitch themselves to your own rising star?
The idea that people use others to climb to the top forms the theme of countless fictional classics, from Jane Austen’s novels to films such as “Clueless.” The popular and the wealthy are always objects of envy but, just as often, objects of manipulation by those seeking to advance themselves. When you’re the star of your own little drama, it would be nice to know whether you, too, are being seen as the tool of the social climber. This can protect you not only from being used but also from the chance of being dumped when this person finds someone higher in the hierarchy to ingratiate.
Status Importance, Anxiety, and Seeking
As pointed out in a recent study by City University of London’s Francesco Rigoli and National Research Council of Rome’s Marco Mirolli (2024), the concept of status importance “indicates to what degree an individual cares about her own status and, in general, about matters involving status.” This is not the same as status anxiety, which the authors define as “an affective state of anxiety triggered by the expectation that one’s status is under threat.” Yet a third concept is status seeking, which is “the tendency to behave in a way that promotes one’s social position.” Rigoli and Mirolli posit that although importance and anxiety may be related, though not necessarily, the seeking of status is a behavioral manifestation of importance.
Putting these together, social climbers would, in other words, want more status and act in ways (e.g., stepping on others) to get it. They may constantly be looking over their shoulder (anxiety) as they rise up the ladder to make sure no one grabs it from them.
As you think about these related qualities, other phrases might pop into your head such as the need for power, the need to dominate others, the desire to compete, and, finally, the sense of entitlement. All of these less-than-desirable aspects of the social climber might seem to blend together. However, Rigoli and Mirolli regard them as distinct enough to merit separate study. As they point out, someone who doesn’t expect special treatment may still seek ways to rise in the social hierarchy.
Rating the Social Climber on a 10-Item Scale
Having explored these theoretical considerations, the authors maintain that it’s worth finding a way to measure status importance as its own unique quality. Identifying those high in this quality can become the first step to analyzing what causes them to be so preoccupied with their position in society. At the same time, such a measure could come in handy if you’re trying to protect yourself from being seen as just a rung in someone else’s ladder.
Beginning with two online samples of U.K. adults, the authors devised and then tested a 10-item Status Importance Scale (SIS), which they then went on to compare to related personality and social motive instruments. One of their scales used in this process of validation measured the quality of “conspicuous consumption,” where people buy expensive items just to signal their own high status to others. It certainly makes sense that someone who values social status would feel the need to show off their high-priced possessions. Another validational test compared SIS scores to a measure of activities ranging from involvement in work (to boost social status), use of social media, and spending time to take care of their appearance. In the fifth and final study, the authors compared SIS scores to social anxiety.
After subjecting the SIS to a set of rigorous statistical tests across all five studies, the authors arrived at the final 10-item scale. You can score yourself (or perhaps the social-climbing friend) by rating yourself from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree):
- I care a lot about social status.
- I am rather indifferent to my social status.
- I feel very stressed when my social status is threatened.
- I feel very happy when my social status has improved.
- I do not care much about social status.
- I put a lot of effort in improving or maintaining my social status.
- Social status is one of my major concerns.
- I do not put much effort in improving or maintaining my social status.
- I find issues of social status irrelevant.
- I do not think much about issues of social status.
As you can see, items 2, 5, 8, 9, and 10 are reverse-scored.
Social anxiety, which emerged as a distinct quality, was assessed with items such as “I feel anxious that I will be stuck in my position for life.”
For the most part, the relationships between SIS scores and the other personality and motivation questionnaires bore out the authors’ predictions. An exception was need for competition, which did not relate to SIS scores. The authors suggested that perhaps those high in status importance worry about competing so that only those individuals high in self-esteem would want to pit themselves against others to see who comes out on top.
As you read those items and tried to answer them yourself, you may also have wondered how to discern these tendencies in someone you don’t know all that well. Findings from the personality-SIS analyses can provide you with some guidance. People high in agreeableness and conscientiousness had lower SIS scores, but those high in neuroticism were higher on SIS. High-SIS people also were more likely to engage in conspicuous consumption and social media use.
People high in SIS were not immune to status anxiety, even though the two scales could be distinguished statistically. As the authors concluded, “status-related issues” can have “detrimental implications… for mental and physical health.”
Putting the Status Importance Scale to Work for You
Simply knowing that status weighs heavily on some people’s minds can give you insight into the possible social climbers you may encounter. As sad as it is that they don’t feel secure in their own position in the world, from the standpoint of your own well-being, forewarned is forearmed. People high in status importance are likely not only to think in terms of the SIS but to behave in these terms as well. Furthermore, although the type of status we usually associate with social climbers is monetary or class-based, people can also seek to enhance themselves by collecting people as well as things.
To sum up, true fulfillment lies in feeling secure in whatever status you happen to occupy. Being able to protect yourself from those who don’t can help you maintain relationships based on emotional, not material, value.