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gwern comments on The Nature of Offense - Less Wrong
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I think maybe status is the wrong approach. Status sounds neutral enough and easily changed. But if we swap it out for the word 'power', then it works better, and now we can handle arguments about status, why people won't change their linguistic ways, etc.
I have an old essay on this at http://www.gwern.net/On%20Disrespect
I didn't think it appropriate for LW because it seemed a bit too fluffy and based on personal experience, but maybe this post shows I was wrong in that.
Fixed link.
I thought it would be clear from the context that I meant social status, which is decidedly not neutral or easily changed. I haven't read your essay closely, but your notion of "power" is probably a closely related, if not identical, concept.
I'll add a link to my post to prevent future confusion.
Johnstone, mentioned by jajvirta below, posits that his version of status is an eufemism for dominance hierarchy, which is one instance of power.
Funnily enough, one person reading my disrespect essay last week commented that it reminded him a lot of Johnstone, and recommended exactly that book. (I haven't gotten around to reading it yet.)
I read your essay, you should definitely read Impro. When people talk about social status, they are talking about some stable trait-like thing that you can achieve by for example buying a nice car.
In your essay, you are talking more about the pecking order or dominance hierarchy, which we constantly maintain and test by our actions. That's why many actions of humans can also be viewed as "status transactions".
I also recommend books by Desmond Morris, especially Human Zoo. Many Johnstone's ideas are based on Morris.