This is an excellent point, not necessarily because it is true, but because it suggests the idea of status is not sufficiently clearly defined. Personally I don't think politeness/respect/consideration equals status, but sure as hell they have some sort of a relation and interaction.

In a very polite group, it would be very hard to express status differences, and in a very impolite group too. It seems status games develop where people have a middling level of politeness/respect...

Moreover I suspect people know this and use politeness and impoliteness for this purpose. In a boot camp when the sarge just called everybody a worthless maggot it will be hard to play at looking a like a slightly less worthless maggot than the other guy :) And the overly elaborate formal politeness of 19th century aristocrats (e.g. the novel The Count of Monte-Cristo) makes it hard, too, you can hardly express disapproval.

Winning a boxing match is insta-status amongst the fans. They are middling polite with fighters, they have a "let's see what you can do" mood. They don't disrespect anyone who trains hard and gives his best, neither do they sugar-coat defeat.