Concept and types of order position: Privilege and discrimination in an institutional conception

• Published in: Journal for the theory of social behaviour 2021-09, Vol.51 (3), p.327-349
• Main Author: Farkas, Zoltán
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Concepts; Discrimination; Equipment purchasing; Norms; order position; privilege; Social privilege; Social status; types of order positions; Weber, Max (1864-1920); Year in review
• ISSN: 0021-8308; 1468-5914
• DOI: 10.1111/jtsb.12272

In this paper, I reinterpret the classic concept of order position, as well as privilege and discrimination in the concept and types of order position. In the first part of the paper, I give a short survey of the classic conception of order position, with special regard to Max Weber's concept of social status or order position. In the second part, I define the concept of order position in my conception. Accordingly, order position is the real institutional position of the given individual (or group) as compared to the institutional position that can be occupied by the given individual (or group) in the general social institutional norm system assumed on the basis of the expressed values, especially the deviation between the two positions as related to the interests of the subject. In the third part, I typify order positions from the aspect of whether the institutional norm system that is valid or realized in reality deviates or does not deviate from the assumed general norm system, and if it does, whether it deviates in a direction corresponding or contrary to the interests of the individuals. In this way, I make a distinction between privileged, normativized and degraded order positions.