# Why Status Matters for Inequality

*Ridgeway · Power & Equity · American Sociological Review · 2014 · Open access*

Presidential address to the American Sociological Association arguing that status — esteem and respect-based inequality — is a central mechanism behind durable patterns of social inequality, operating alongside resource and power inequalities. Cultural status beliefs about groups bias evaluations of competence and suitability for authority, direct higher-status members toward positions of power, and actively resist challenge from lower-status members. Connects Status Characteristics Theory to structural inequality at scale.

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