Hello everyone, this is my third blog post for my inquiry project, and my inquiry question is “How do people gain respect from others, and the effects of culture on how one gains respect.”
This is my first round of research, and I will be researching about how respect is accumulated from others, what important features of values will help you gain respect from others, and what will make you lose respect from others?
Before I start talking about how people gain respect from others, I would like to first clarify the definition of respect, as there are many different ways people interpret the word respect, and the frequent use of the word online has slowly lost its meaning. Respect is “an attitude of deference, admiration, or esteem; regard”, or “the state of being honoured or esteemed” (1), according to Dictionary.com.
There are many ways you could gain respect from someone, and sometimes it does come naturally without needing much getting to know the person, but respecting them purely for their social status. For example, someone with high social status, the CEO of a company, the minister of a department, or a religious figure, would have respect from people without having to do anything (2). In contrast, someone with a non-significant social status would have a harder time gaining respect from others, but they can also gain respect from others through the demonstration of their amazingness: the ability to do something that you cannot, amazing abilities that take a lot of hard work or talent, or that they proved themselves worthy by making a lot of right choices at difficult times (2). Although the two ways seem very different, it is all a demonstration of their ability or character, as someone with high social status has completed important things in the past or is of great importance, we place our trust in them, that they are a great character, therefore deserving respect (3). Through getting to know someone more thoroughly, you can admire someone, for their abilities, personality, or just how great of a person that they are to you, therefore entrusting that your judgement of them is right and respecting them for their special amazingness (3).
Similar to the ways that one could gain respect from people, there are also ways that one could lose the respect they had from people. Moreover, like gaining respect from people, there are two ways for people to lose the respect that other people have for them, through having a lower social status, and through their inappropriate actions or behaviours. If someone loses their high social status, they will most likely also lose the respect people had for them, as you can only lose your social status if you do something wrong, most of the time, and therefore people lose their trust in you being a good person (5). However, this doesn’t apply to people who have a high social status, but people have time to get to know them as a person and get to know about them more, as they become more human to people, people will take less harsh judgement towards them and not lose respect for them for losing social status (4). Moreover, if someone acts inappropriately or badly towards something or someone, they can also lose respect from people as no one wants to admire or to honour a “bad” person (6).
For my next blog post, I will be talking about how culture effects how people respect others. Thank you for reading my blog post!
- https://www.dictionary.com/
- https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/understand-other-people/201802/earning-respect
- https://www.forbes.com/sites/terinaallen/2019/10/04/7-things-you-absolutely-must-do-if-you-want-to-be-respected/?sh=20e098403852
- https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/how-gain-respect
- 14 Effective Ways To Earn More Respect in the Workplace | Indeed.com
- How to Earn Respect as a Leader (hbr.org)
Hey Scott!
I really like the fact that you take the time to clarify the definitions of your topic before you go into creating more of a foundation through your research! I especially like the different perspectives you go through when talking about the respect aspect of culture, for example not just how one gains respect from a culture, but how one can lose respect just as fast. While reading your post, I felt like you are leaning into a big topic in sociology and was going to recommend if you wanted to include that in your research? Sociology is the study of humans and how we function as a society and so I thought I could share some cool research with you that might help you in the long run with your research!
Here are some links:
https://mledwards-15.medium.com/culture-socialization-a-review-d7087cd20dc7
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-intro-to-sociology/chapter/reading-theoretical-perspectives-on-culture/
https://open.maricopa.edu/culturepsychology/chapter/ethnocentrism-and-cultural-relativism/
Can’t wait to read more,
Sanam M.
Hello Scott,
What an interesting topic and the findings you have gathered from your research so far! Respect from others and its direct relation to cultural norms is an extremely relevant connection that helps people make sense of respect as a whole. I specifically enjoyed your piece on how wrongdoings often lead to a loss of credibility, and conversely respect. I would love to know the loopholes and biases of this reasoning. Are there ever situations where someone in a position of power committed a wrongdoing, but respect was still shown? What does this say about capitalistic society as a whole? Nevertheless, fantastic job so far. Keep trying!
Below I have listed a few helpful resources:
– https://www.yorku.ca/horowitz/courses/lectures/35_marx_alienation.html
– https://opentextbc.ca/introductiontosociology/chapter/chapter7-deviance-crime-and-social-control/
– https://medium.com/@mnemko/quotes-on-capitalism-a5a4e5b71765
-Ava
Hi Scott! I love that you included the definition of respect and I completely agree that the word respect is often thrown around and that few people use it the way it is intended. I appreciated your comparison between the respect shown towards someone of a higher social status and someone of a lower social status. For your future blog posts I think it would be helpful for you to incorporate personal stories. For example, you could share a time when you lost or gained respect for someone else based on their actions. You could also share stories of celebrities who had to work for the respect they are now shown.
Here’s a website that might help you with this:
https://www.buzzfeed.com/laviniasantos/celebrities-people-respect
Good luck!
-Sarah
Hey Scott! I really enjoyed your latest blog post! Your exploration of how people gain respect and the cultural influences on it is insightful and well-researched. I particularly liked your distinction between respect given due to social status and respect earned through personal qualities and actions. It’s a unique and intelligent perspective that adds depth to the topic. For future posts, you might explore how different cultures define and value respect. This could provide a broader understanding and highlight interesting contrasts. Also you could look into the psychological reasons behind why we respect certain traits could be fascinating. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/life-negotiation/202206/r-e-s-p-e-c-t#:~:text=Respect%20is%20recognizing%20someone%20else%E2%80%99s%20humanity%20or%20personhood.,other%20people%20as%20mere%20means%20to%20an%20end.
https://www.uopeople.edu/blog/what-is-cultural-diversity/
Keep up the good work!
Hi Scott,
I like how you included detailed definitions of what your topic is on. I like how you included different ways people earn respect.I think this topic is really important to discuss because I see how some people are disrespected or looked down on because they do not have a high social class. Is it fair to treat people based on their social class? I think that this is something society should fix. And society should focus on giving everyone the same respect regardless of their social class. Here is a site that can help: https://www.prosocial.world/posts/how-fairness-depends-on-your-social-status
Kiara
Hi Scott,
this is a super cool topic! Your blog is very concise and well written, and your research is very insightful. I agree respect can be lost or earned, and I also agree that for certain people, it is easier to earn respect than for others. Status unfortunately plays a big part in having respect and I am glad you mentioned this in your blog. This blog post is looking super great; however, I would love for you to speak a bit more on how different cultural value determine who respect is shown to as well. For example Korean culture puts a big emphasis on respecting your elders, no matter their age and collectivist cultures put a big importance towards family, community, and the well being or more than one person. Here are a few links that could help with your research:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3169852/#:~:text=At%20the%20core%20of%20the,of%20filial%20piety%20%5B5%5D.
https://cioviews.com/cultural-values-are-what-make-diverse-cultures-unique/
https://oneworldcenter.org/2023/03/24/the-value-of-understanding-a-different-culture/
Good luck with the rest of your research, I am looking forwards to reading it!
Laura
Hi Scott,
I really enjoyed reading this blog post! It was very in depth and fun to read. I believe that this is a really important and not as spoken about topic. I thoroughly enjoyed when you talked about the difference between respect given due to social rankings and hagiarchy compared to when respect is worked for and earned. For your next blog post, I would love to see if you could talk about how economic social class might affect respect, along with how the different kinds of respect.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5901394/
https://www.lifepersona.com/top-10-kinds-of-respect-with-examples
Keep up the amazing work!
Sarang