Ascribed status is the social status a person is assigned at birth or assumes involuntarily later in life. For example, a person born into a wealthy family has a high ascribed status. In contrast, an achieved status is a social position a person takes on voluntarily that reflects personal ability and merit. Also when a person's position in society is fixed (or ascribed to him or her by others) on the basis of family background or genetic inheritance. Racial, ethnic, and religious differences, as well as gender, often serve as the basis for ascribed status. Other people that are born into ascribed status are people born into royalty. Since the child came into the world with their care givers having royal lineage, the child has inherited those royal blood lines as well.
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The various factors which determine ascribed status are:
In addition to ascription, at birth there are also:
Being wealthy does not necessarily describe all of ascribed status. Religion is also a factor in ascribed status as well. If you family is born a specific religion be it Christian, Hindu, Muslim, etc., you are proclaimed that status at birth because of your upbringing. Ascribed status can also be closely linked with master status as they both involve what you were born with although master status is a broader term and looks at more topics than ascribed status. Another way to look at ascribed status is through the caste system in India.
The caste system in India long has been an extreme example of a stratification structure based on ascribed status. Each level in the stratification structure is known as a caste. Everyone is born belonging to a specific caste. The caste of the parents thus generally determines the status of their children, regardless of ability or merit. The ranks of the caste system include: