The Stigma of Occupational Prestige

In my previous articles, I have often asked what makes a “profession” or “occupation” perceived as superior or inferior to another. The awareness of such an issue is important in determining whether or not our actions are congruent with who we want to be.

In our society, work has taken on a much more significant role than it was initially intended. Rather than simply working for money, we have begun to identify with our job. We take personal satisfaction in holding particular occupations, and at times feel superior to others who are in occupations that are regarded as non-skilled or blue collar.

I find it fascinating that such behaviour is regarded as normal, and yet many of our current occupations have only existed for a short proportion of the lifetime of our species. During our evolutionary process, we had no lawyers, IT professionals, doctors or engineers. Career oriented behaviours and attitudes are still in their infancy.

Identifying with your career is a dangerous proposition. Here are just a few reasons how identifying with your career can affect you:

1. Affects on self-confidence

Identifying with a profession is all well and good when times are good. For many, a downturn in economy, losing your job also means losing your identity. If you are no longer a lawyer, then who are you? How will you introduce yourself to others at a gathering? When asked “so, what do you do?” will you be embarrassed. Once upon a time, you would have loved such a question, a prompt to tell others about your respected profession.

I have often heard stories about retired software engineers and electrical engineers who lost their jobs and suffered long bouts of depression. They had money in the bank, but they felt they had no identity.

2. Spending habits

I will personally admit that I was once a slave to the perception of my occupation. I was a consultant in a well respected consultancy. As a “professional” I found that my spending habits changed.

I spent more on fine clothing, shinier shoes and a nice apartment. With the perceived image of a successful career, I quickly began spending money like a successful consultant does. How about you? If you are a successful attorney, would you be seen in an old car? Of course not. Your fellow lawyers would wonder if you’re not doing so well.

The wealthy reside in only a few distinct suburbs. Prestigious occupations usually beg the individual to move out of “bad” neighbourhoods and into “high earner” residences. What was the factor in the move? Is it crime? Most likely, it is the perception and status of the new area. To impress your friends and fellow employees.

3. Your relationships with others

I was once tremendously embarrassed when a fellow consultant talked down to a waiter in a coffee shop I regularly attended. This consultant was a good friend of mine and was always polite towards other employees and managers. We were sitting together talking about work, when the waiter came to take our order.

My colleague did not even look at the waiter’s face, nor did he thank the waiter for taking his order. When the waiter came back with the wrong order, he spoke down to the waiter as though he was a lesser human being. When I expressed my distaste in my colleagues behaviour, he turned to me and said: “how hard is it to bring food to a table.” When I asked him to apologise to the waiter, his response was: “Don’t worry about it, he’s just a waiter.”

What gives one person the right to speak to another person like that. If this waiter was instead a lawyer, would he be talked down to? Likely not. My colleague felt that his occupation put him in a position of superiority to a waiter. This behaviour is despicable, destructive and had caused a damaged ego to somebody who did not deserve it.

This is an extreme case, although we discriminate this way so commonly in our society. Dating is a great example of this, with dating websites massively favouring users with “prestigious” careers. A blue collar worker often has to work harder to impress his mother in law than a doctor does.

After seeing numerous displays of occupation discrimination, I became aware of this issue and vowed to never treat somebody this way. Since then, I have to admit, I have had issues with authority. In my eyes, upper management no longer commanded more respect than the building janitor. I liked the janitor more, so I treated him better.


Where did this all start?

Why do we think one occupation is better than another? More importantly, why are we drawn to a particular occupation rather than another. The primary reason, above all, is perceived status.

1. Perceived Status

Note: There is a difference between the way we all perceive status. For example, if you drive a brand new sports car - you may perceive your status as successful, where as others may perceive you as an insecure brand zombie. Occupational status usually benefits from the shared notions that one career is more prestigious than another. We can all agree that being a doctor is a more prestigious career than being a stripper.

Yet, if the goal of a job is to return maximum return per investment of time, then stripping is a more prestigious occupation than being a Doctor. Of course, money is a secondary factor to status when it comes to occupational prestige.

2. Education

A common reasoning behind the prestige of an occupation is the amount of time an individual needs to invest to get to where they are. Agreeably, this does explain the time investment of students studying law, medicine and engineering.

However, we should not neglect the time and effort invested by other individuals. While I studied engineering in comfortable University lecture halls, a family friend used to crawl under people’s houses while learning electrical wiring during his apprenticeship. If you ask me, five years of University is easier than three years of labor related apprenticeships. He now makes more money than me, but still suffers occupation discrimination.

We need to rethink where we stand in our self perception. We are all people - and that’s all. I’m no more an engineer, than you are a doctor, than you are a lawyer. We do these things to earn money, not to feel superior, inferior (or anything at all) about how it is we bring money home.

3. Brand recognition

A step further from occupational selection, is the prestige related to particular corporations. Large consultancy houses have well recognised names that are plastered all over the umbrellas they hand out to graduate students.

I have personally witnessed peers increase their work hours, and take pay cuts to be a part of a large consultancy. A friend at University had obtained a role with one of the top four consultancy firms. He was so proud of his achievement that he printed his own business cards before starting work so that he can start handing them out to friends. This is brand prestige at work. The things we do to one-up over each other are seemingly endless.

4. Money

I have left money till last, because I really believe this is the last thing that people consider when choosing a prestigious occupation. That sounds like a bold statement, but perhaps you should research how much intelligent blue collar contractors earn. More money - for less time.

When I purchased a collection of vending machines, a software engineering friend of mine remarked that he would feel embarrassed being “one of those guys with grease on his hands, emptying bits of loose change out of a machine”. He is a financially aware individual, he understands the profitability, but he would much rather wear a suit and be paid less than get paid more and “suffer the embarrassment” of collecting his earnings.

Sure, money certainly is magnetised to those with prestigious careers, but we should not fool ourselves here. There are higher paying occupations, smarter ways to earn a living, ways that do not confine us to offices, bosses and car loan payments.

Why is all of this important?

Firstly, if you have an ego about your profession you need to let it go. Your confidence, spending, and attitude towards others depend on you freeing yourself from the chains of your self-perception. If, on the other hand, you are concerned about having a non-prestigious career - relax. It’s a job, that’s it. You should not let societal nonsense and constant one-upping affect your life.

Do not play the game by these rules, we all lose. If you are a parent, and your kid does not get into law school or business school - cut them some slack. I’m sure their giving and sympathetic nature will make you more proud then their occupation ever could. We should do our best instead to nurture prestigious character traits, the way we treat each other and our planet is the most important thing in this world.

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Published:
1.2.08 / 7pm
Category:
Occupation, Rethink your life