Meghan Young ENG-1102 Mia Eaker 21 March 2013

Annotated Bibliography My line of inquiry is Social Status. In my research I plan to determine how it is portrayed in reality television, how high social status is achieved in different areas of America, and if the status you have is prominently based on money. Below is a collection of sources that provide me with this information.

"Social Status." Britannica Encyclopedia. Britannica Encyclopedia Inc., 2013. Web. 21 Mar. 2013. The above citation is from the online Britannica Encyclopedia. The article gives states that status is the rank an individual holds among others. It also states that there are two types of social status: ascribed and achieved. Ascribed social status is assigned at birth and has nothing to do with personal abilities. It is based mostly on sex, gender, race, and family relationship. Achieved status on the other hand is based individual qualities and is accomplished through individual efforts in competition as well as other things.

The Britannica Encyclopedia is an English Language encyclopedia that was first published in 1768 by Britannica Encyclopedia Inc. It is written and edited by over 100 full time editors. The encyclopedia also has over 4,000 contributors. The information I

found in the encyclopedia broaden my knowledge about social status. I also learned that there are two different types of social status.

O'Neil, Dennis. "Status and Role." Social Organization . 27 June 2006. Web. 21 Mar. 2013. Status and Role, an article written by Dennis ONeil talks about the fact that achieved and ascribed status exists in every society but that in different areas one is accepted more than the other. The article gives the example that in North America achieved status is accepted while ascribed status is rejected. In North America parents push their children to be independent, to go to school, and become successful while in India ascribed status is accepted over achieved status and has been that way for years. In India and other parts of the world the social system is divided into classes and has been that way for thousands of years.

When I searched the authors name for this article I got unclear results; however, I have faith that this source is credible because it comes from the Palomar Community College website and is also copy righted. The website it comes from appears to be educational and can be used for teaching purposes. The information in this article strengthened my knowledge and helped form my research that social status is different in every country and supports my research on achieved social status in the United Status.

Berger, Arthur A. Ads, Fads, And Consumer Culture: Advertising's Impact On American Character And Society. Glossary (pg.201) Rowman & Littlefield, 2011. 21 Mar. 2013. In the glossary of the book above I came across the term Cultivation Theory. This theory argues that reality television dominates the symbolic environment people have and gives them false ideas of what things really are. The definition also states that reality TV gives people the idea that almost everyone is living "in upper-middle class splendor."

The author of the book, Arthur Berger, was a professor at San Francisco State from 19652003. He taught Broadcasting and Communication Arts and in his lifetime he has written 60 published books and over 100 articles. The Cultivation Theory can be used in my research because it supports my idea that reality TV portrays social status in the wrong way. Reality TV is one of the most broadcasted types of programming watched by society today and gives people the idea that all people belong to a middle class society or higher because poverty is rarely broadcasted for the world to see.

Devine, Fiona. Social Class in America And Britain. Edinburgh University Press, 1997. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost). Web. 21 Mar. 2013. This eBook was written by Fiona Devine and looks at social class in America and Britain. The book explains the difference in social status between the two, but also things that remain the same. On page 48 she dives into the subject of social mobility; deciding whether the factors of gender, family background and education influence the rate of success and failure in occupation that overall leads to achieving high social status.

Fiona Devine is a Professor of Sociology and head of School of Social Sciences. She is also a published author and previously worked at the University of Liverpool. The information found in her article is beneficial to my research because it looks at major factors that contribute to social status in America. 5. Brasted, Monica. "Electronic Journal of Sociology (2004)." Through the Looking Glass: Class and Reality in Television. CAAP, 2004. Web. 21 Mar. 2013. This article written by Monica Brasted focuses on the idea that people's social status influences the way they perceive almost everything. Influencing things from the type of food people eat, to the car they drive, to the types of clothing they buy. Monica Bastred goes on to say that social status even influences our consumption of cultural products such as television shows, theater events, and music performances. Meaning that depending on your social standing you will attend different theater events, and watch different TV shows as well as interpret what you see differently.

Monica Brasted received her Ph.D in Mass Communication from Pennsylvania State University. Monica has been published ten times the first being in 2004. The information I read from her article benefits to my research because it proves my theory that social status has an effect on how people interpret television and other media.

Waytz, Adam. "The Psychology of Social Status: Scientific American." The Psychology of Social Status: Scientific American. Web. 13 Mar. 2013

In the article The Psychology of Social Status author Adam Waytz writes about how violence and social status are related. In the opening paragraphs he touches on the fact that social status is always on peoples minds. His reasoning for this is supported by research that shows that people are always thinking about themselves in relation to their peers. He later goes on in this paragraph to say that there are certain methods recently found that state that those at the bottom of the totem pole are most successful at climbing to the top. Waytz also reveals another study that was done in the Southern United States. What was found was that people of lower social status are quicker to protect themselves and their things with violent behavior when they feel they are being threatened while people of higher social status do not. This is the case because low-status people are much more sensitive to being rejected and so they are more prone to watch the environment for threats. However, this behavior is in fact the exact opposite of what low-status individuals should be doing. Cameron Anderson and Gavin Kilduff proved this to be true in research that showed those of higher social status attain that status by behaving generously and helpfully to strengthen their value to their social group. So in the end the ultimate way to climb the totem pole is to be nice and generous rather than mean and selfish. I found this article to be very helpful for my line of inquiry. It was interesting to hear a positive perspective on the higher social status rather than a negative report that rights off all high social status figures as selfish. It will help me in my line of inquiry because the information was factual, direct, and also gave me a great idea of how high social status is achieved in the Southern United States. The author of the article is Adam Waytz who is a postdoctoral researcher in Psychology at Harvard University. He received a Ph.D. from

University of Chicago and developed a psychological theory of anthropomorphism based on two motivational determinants and one cognitive determinant.

As I was researching I used a variety of search engines and databases such as: EBSCOhost, Google, Bing, and ProQuest; however, I did not use all the information I found through my research because a lot of it was not fully credible. The research method I found most helpful was to read something I found on Google and then take that idea and search for it on the EBSCOhost to find the credibility. Since EBSCOhost is a database run through the university and it is full of scholarly journals and books it was the easiest way to know if the source was credible or not. After doing all my research I found that I had more search results on social class and how its perceived. I also learned more about ascribed and achieved status which I plan to draw a focus to in my paper through comparing them to one another. Learning that your social status influences the way you perceive most things was new to me and developed my ideas that a persons social status affects almost every part of their life. With doing this research I have learned the true meaning of social status, the different types of status, how social status is different across the world and that social status play a larger role in reality TV than most people think. All the things I researched have been the source of these ideas and I plan to address them all in my Round Table Paper.