Status and respect are funny things aren’t they? I’m sure you would agree that they mean different things to different people. But the truth is they are social constructs and we consider where we sit within that framework.
If we look at Baboons, their status and respect hierarchy is simple. The alpha male is the leader and allowed to take food from whoever he likes. He enjoys the highest status and most respect from the group. Then you go all the way down to the lowest baboon who is usually the weakest, lowest status and least respected by the group. If he doesn’t work his way up the ladder he’ll likely perish. Darwinism clearly at work.
Humans are slightly different of course. First of all our social structure is far more complex and focussed around economic factors. Our status is defined by our jobs, the people we associate with, the car we drive, the clothes we wear, how much money we have, where we live and many other things. Of course money is the driving factor for us being able to increase our status.
One major difference is that, with humans, respect does not necessarily follow status like it used to. We respect people for a much wider range of things that aren’t determined by economic factors such as education, justice, honesty and creating positive impact in the world. In fact, high status can often put you in the firing line for losing respect due to the rise of cancel culture.
The other major difference between us and our baboon cousins is that we have varying economic gaps across the globe. And this is where it gets interesting when we start to look at the link between status and respect and our wellbeing.
Research shows that areas with smaller economic gaps, such as Norway, experience lower levels of loneliness, depression and anxiety than areas with greater economic gaps such as the USA. So when the gap between the perceived top and bottom of society is small, we feel more connected to one another and less lonely.
So here are a few things we can take away from this….
- We can’t ignore our evolutionary desire for status and respect. Marketing certainly doesn’t and uses it to lure us in to buy things so that we feel like we’re higher up the status ladder. But if we know this, we can choose to place more value on how our actions and decisions positively impact our lives and wellbeing rather than achieving perceived status from others. This allows us to create genuine connection between us and what we value rather than feeling lonely whilst we are desperately seeking status from others.
- If we spend our time focussed on the things we value, we will attract the respect we crave from the right tribe of people who share our values. From this you’ll feel the status and respect your genes crave in a way that reduces loneliness and enhances your wellbeing and mental health. This is one of the reasons it’s so important for an organisation to have corporate values and to use these when recruiting and appraising colleagues. A group of people who are all living by the same values will respect each other more, create better connections and reduce the chance of loneliness occurring.
- Finally we have to acknowledge that our judgements and actions towards others will impact the way they feel status and respect from society. If we remain non-judgmental and offer support to those more vulnerable than us, we can help to close economic gaps in our society which will make us all feel more connected and less lonely. This is one of the reasons why we strongly advocate for Mental Health First Aid programmes to be in place in organisations.
