Question

What makes each job either prestigious or lacking prestige - be very specific regarding your motivation in classifying each occupation...why would you want this job or not want the job based on the social perceptions associated with each or the social benefits, etc.

Answer 1

Since birth we have been seeing how our parents, relatives and teachers perceive various individuals on the basis of their career or their jobs. We have been learning that some individuals are praised more and some are praised less on the basis of their jobs. With time we grow up but this kind of vicarious learning stays with us and highly influences our conception and perception about a prestigious and non prestigious job. Regardless of our ethics and manners we do speak with various individuals of various professions in diverse manners and this is mostly due to their differences in professions. We talk and behave in a certain way with a doctor and engineer, in a different way with a teacher and in a different way with a cobbler. A very important factor which makes a job prestigious is the power attached to it and its overt significance in the lives of others and oneself. For example, a doctor or a teacher has a power hierarchy over patients and students respectively and their jobs are of overt significance as they are treating people and enriching new generation respectively. On the other hand, a cobbler or a tea stall owner or even a restaurant manager is not having that much of a power hierarchy over the customer and thus, is not that much seen as prestigious jobs. A tea stall owner may earn more than a teacher but still the teacher job will be perceived as more prestigious due to the power hierarchy and social conditioning attached to it. Thus, we can say that money is not what makes a job prestigious. From a personal point of view, the factors which motivate me to take up a job or perceive it as prestigious is how it impacts people and what amount of respect it draws. Thus, being a successful tea maker who is respected by all due to his skills and whose tea has a great impact on making a nice conversation going will be perceived as a prestigious job for me just like being a Psychologist who is respected by mostly all and which impacts the whole population is a prestigious job for me. Thus, respect, social learning since birth, perceptions of others, impact and significance are some factors which determines whether a job is perceived as prestigious or lacking prestige.