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roenxilast Saturday at 3:01 AM1 replyview on HN

I mean sure. There is a pretty substantial risk that low-status people will be perceived as low status if they do something where success relies on their status being high. I like to offer advice - low status people probably shouldn't be engaging in status-proving activities if that worries them. They're making a play for higher status; that might not work.


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danarislast Saturday at 11:24 AM

...I think you've missed my point.

In a situation where someone's status is not already known by a majority of people present, engaging in activities that rely on high status are a risk.

No one's status is inherent. It's a purely social construct—and it can vary depending on what group you're with!

If you look at, say, a black person in the mid-20th century, they might be very high status among other black people, but if they go among white people they will be seen as low status.

Leave your own community, go among people who don't know you (assuming there's nothing immediately visible about you that communicates status to them, as above), and whatever status you had before is only as relevant as you make it.