The sociological distinction between ascribed and achieved statuses and the typology of roles attached to them construct “status sets” that form the building blocks of class, social inequality and stratification – the most important components of social structure. Among other topics, this chapter addresses the correspondences between work, salvation, piety and economics, by discussing the complexity of meanings in Islam, and through a discourse on Islamic culture. Both theoretically and empirically, we argue that work and social mobility have advanced by placing emphasis on achieved status rather than ascribed status, as in the Protestant vision. The prevalent assumption is that everybody is born with equal capabilities that can be actualized by individual endeavors. Thus, from the Protestant viewpoint, achieved statuses, and the social roles attached to them to build up the social structure, are more individually than socially based. This statement, that reflects a long debate on the role of nature and nurture, does not mean the authors are underestimating societal resources by an emphasis on psychologism. Attempts are made to avoid both sociologism and psychologism especially where theological foundational concerns are built upon here and beyond. Nonetheless, since creation starts with motivation, there are individuals who are prone to uphold and judge their creations to achieve a status without expert information. That is the moment that societal auditioning in various forms hold individuals' estimation of their creation to the societal standards whether in terms of subjectivity of taste or normative demands of a status. By de-emphasizing ascribed status, the individual's endeavors to gain rewards, material or non-material in this world not only contribute to capital accumulation, or prestige, but also open the avenue for the individual who believes in salvation, or engagement in innovation and scientific experimentation. As functionalists suggest, the expectation of reward, failure, and specialization create social inequality – that is, the qualities such as a degree of religiosity that have nothing to do with the stratification of people. If the degree of religiosity, measured by frequency of attending church or mosque, is able to impact drastically upon societal stratification, then the more stratified societies with large gaps between social classes are able to close them harmoniously.
Capturing the moment
