Category Status and Its Relational Market Ordering Mechanisms

Abstract

Status systems bring social order to markets, but they are non-meritocratic arrangements that benefit those of a higher status and penalize those of a lower status. Paradoxically, these systems are also maintained by those who suffer the most from their inequalities. The literature tends to explain the persistence of these systems through macro-oriented or micro-oriented mechanisms. We propose an alternative path by investigating relational mechanisms that might explain the persistence of this paradox. In an haute cuisine market, we used the social network analysis perspective to identify relational mechanisms that maintain this collective system. The results revealed a three-role structure of symbolic deference/appreciation (diffuse, selective, and egocentric). To conclude, we highlight the social order as a continuous tension between normality and chaos in the relationships between roles and the procedural aspect of structuring market roles, which we call authorizing the representation of a market category.