Occupation and Status/Social regard

[Maz]

Does anyone have a quick rundown of some of the most common jobs and what Status they should have and/or Social Regard?

For instance a doctor, a policeman, a fireman, a soldier, a school teacher, a lawyer, a professor, a nurse... just to mention a few that might have a generally better reaction from people based on their position in society.


In general I am a little unsure when Social regard is fitting and when Status is.
The thing about Status is that it has an upkeep in Cost of Living, but I think at least some occupations carry a bonus with it just for the fact that you have the education, no matter what you use it for and how well your off (a doctor for instance).
I don't know if it would be fitting to combine the two?

A quick guess:

Social regard (respected) 2: Doctor
Status 1: Lawyer, Professor.
Social regard (respected) 1: Soldiers, firemen, policemen.
Nothing: Nurse, school teacher. (yeah, that's very unfair but I think very true)
Status -1: any sort of servant like-job; waiter, maid, pool cleaner, trash collector.

Any one have some input here?

[Agemegos]

It varies from culture to culture and from period to period. Here in Australia doctors now get noticeably less respect than they did forty years ago.

[Gollum]

Yes. And it also depends on several factors, even in the same culture. Being a philosophy teacher in Harvard, for instance, gives a higher status than being one in a little unknown university...

So, to my mind, the best is to let the player decide - as long as it is consistent with the game world and his character's background: a character can hardly have a status of 5 just for being a philosophy teacher!... Unless living in a SF game world where the teachers would be the ruling class...

[johndallman]

Indeed, it varies a lot. I don't think British lawyers have Status, although they often have Wealth. I'm fairly sure our judges do have Status.

"Professor" has a lot of variation in meaning, form "everyone who's a tenured university lecturer" to "only on of these per subject per university, and she's in charge".

Ministers of religion often have social regard from fellow-believers, but not from other members of the same society.

[Gollum]

Originally Posted by johndallman

Ministers of religion often have social regard from fellow-believers, but not from other members of the same society.

This is why it is best handled with religious Rank (Basic Set, Characters, page 29) than Status.

[vicky_molokh]

Social Regard should be extremely visible at first sight, doesn't it?

[Gollum]

Originally Posted by vicky_molokh

Social Regard should be extremely visible at first sight, doesn't it?

Not necessarily. A king was certainly very easy to differentiate from a mere knight but, in our modern world, being able to know who is status 1 (or even 2) between a crowd of dressed up status 0 people is far much harder.

[vicky_molokh]

Turns out I was right:

Originally Posted by B86, Social Regard

You are a member of a class, race,
sex, or other group that your society
holds in high regard. To be an advan-
tage, this must be obvious to anyone
who meets you. This is the opposite of
Social Stigma (p. 155); membership in
a given social group cannot result in
both Social Regard and Social Stigma.

So a member of the SS qualifies for Feared (he gets to wear a distinct uniform on the streets, and nobody would dare impersonating one for long), as does an elderly for Venerated (visible and not chronological age being the important factor, as confirmed by my parents). But a doctor does not qualify for Social Regard unless s/he wears a doctor's uniform all of the time (and there is reason why other people generally don't do the same).

[Polydamas]

Originally Posted by Brett

It varies from culture to culture and from period to period. Here in Australia doctors now get noticeably less respect than they did forty years ago.

And doctors tend to be richer (but have more Debt and business expenses) in the US than in Canada. Wealth does not always imply status, but it is a good rule of thumb.

[David Johnston2]

There are only two kinds of Social Regard in modern western society, the social regard (feared) that colour-wearing gang members have, and the social regard that instantly recognizable celebrities get. Occupations don't get social regard, not even occupations like "doctor". Malpractice insurance would be a lot cheaper if they did. Status of occupations can be estimated based on pay scale. (Doctors don't have Social Regard, but they do have Status.)