abstract:Achieved status is a concept developed by the anthropologist Ralph Linton denoting a social position that a person can acquire on the basis of merit; it is a position that is earned or chosen. It is the opposite of ascribed status.
Ascribed vs. AchievedStatusTraditionally, a person's statusin thesociety was based importantly on inheritedcharacteristicssuch asage, gender, andfamily. Thisis changing.
Tai Shan achieved a certain celebrity status here in the U.S.capital as visitors flocked to the zoo to see him and his parents, and 11-year-old father Tian Tian, who were born in China.
VOA: standard.2010.02.02
However in Iceland, where the puffin has achieved iconic status among tourists, it is not all bad news.