Status paradox - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

A status paradox can be one of several paradoxes involving "status", in the meaning of either medical state

Medical state

Medical states or medical conditions are used to describe a patient's condition in a hospital. These terms are most commonly used by the news media and are rarely used by doctors, who in their daily business prefer to deal with medical problems in greater detail.Either or both of two aspects of...

or social status

Social status

In sociology or anthropology, social status is the honor or prestige attached to one's position in society . It may also refer to a rank or position that one holds in a group, for example son or daughter, playmate, pupil, etc....

Status paradox of migration

This type of status paradox describes how a migration of peoples can alter the status of these peoples, either higher or lower. It is related to economic inequality

Economic inequality

Economic inequality comprises all disparities in the distribution of economic assets and income. The term typically refers to inequality among individuals and groups within a society, but can also refer to inequality among countries. The issue of economic inequality is related to the ideas of...

between world regions which creates incentives for transnational migrants to transfer resources earned in richer countries to poorer countries and, thereby, to gain buying power and social status.

An example is a migration of laboring migrants from poorer countries, such as Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

, Albania

Albania

Albania , officially known as the Republic of Albania , is a country in Southeastern Europe, in the Balkans region. It is bordered by Montenegro to the northwest, Kosovo to the northeast, the Republic of Macedonia to the east and Greece to the south and southeast. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea...

or Ghana

Ghana

Ghana , officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country located in West Africa. It is bordered by Côte d'Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south...

. Their ability to work is considered qualified by the standards of their home country, but is much diminished in the new country they come to. This causes their social status to drop in their new country of living, while their level of education or training held them in a higher social circle in their country of origin. This type of status inconsistency creates the paradox of the migrants being qualified for two different social classes at the same time, but they can only use each class if they are within the boundaries of where it is relevant. Because of global inequalities in terms of wealth and buying power transnational migrants to which the status paradox applies challenge local middle classes

Middle class

The middle class is any class of people in the middle of a societal hierarchy. In Weberian socio-economic terms, the middle class is the broad group of people in contemporary society who fall socio-economically between the working class and upper class....

in the sending countries. In several countries of the global south names have emerged to classify these migrants, such as Burgers (Ghana), Bengiste (Côte d'Ivoire) or Modou Modou (Senegal).

Wealth and HIV status paradox

For higher classes with greater amount of wealth, it is naturally assumed that they will have less of a chance of acquiring infectious diseases because they have the money to stop the spread of such diseases. Meanwhile, lower classes with less wealth will not be able to afford treatments to stop the spread of diseases and might even not be knowledgeable about dangerous diseases that they might be catching, so they are at a higher likelihood of catching and spreading various diseases.

However, this is not the case in Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

with HIV

HIV

Human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive...

. The upper class, instead, are the ones that have the highest percentage of HIV infection, specifically 15-29 year olds. This creates a type of status paradox, having a "disease of affluence", associated with differing class levels.

Gender and status paradox

Gender, within the realm of economics and business, has long been a dividing factor in terms of wages and management. The use of humor by women in management is one method of relieving the tension created from women being in charge over men, which is seen as a status paradox.

Lifestyle-health status paradox

For people in the United States, obesity

Obesity

Obesity is a medical condition in which excess body fat has accumulated to the extent that it may have an adverse effect on health, leading to reduced life expectancy and/or increased health problems...

has been a growing trend. The formation of a healthy lifestyle is a viewpoint that is generally not attributed to Americans. From such increases in weight, diabetes, asthma

Asthma

Asthma is the common chronic inflammatory disease of the airways characterized by variable and recurring symptoms, reversible airflow obstruction, and bronchospasm. Symptoms include wheezing, coughing, chest tightness, and shortness of breath...

, and migraines have grown more common. However, offsetting this somewhat, the number of people contracting cardiovascular disease and other chronic diseases has been dropping for the age range of Americans that are at a higher likelihood of being obese. This status paradox does not correlate with the evidence that shows such rates should be increasing, not decreasing.

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