You did not choose your birthplace, your parents, or your skin color. These are ascribed statuses — social positions assigned at birth or given involuntarily later in life. They contrast with achieved statuses, which are earned. A prince is born a prince. A person who becomes disabled after an accident acquires an ascribed status through no choice of their own.

In caste societies, ascribed status determines almost everything: whom you marry, what work you do, where you live. In modern societies, ascribed characteristics still shape life chances. Race, gender, and family wealth influence education, income, and health outcomes. Sociologists measure how much of a person's destiny is fixed at birth.

Examples

• Race and ethnicity
• Sex assigned at birth
• Family socioeconomic background
• Birth order among siblings
• Citizenship by birth

Ascribed status is not always negative. Being born into a supportive family or a safe community provides advantages. The key point is that the individual had no say in receiving it.