The Effects of Status Violations on Hierarchy and Influence in Groups

In an initial test of Wagner's (1988) status violation theory, we examine how status violations, or the failure to behave in accord with the expectations attached to a person's status position in a group, may reduce the person's status position. Status violations highlight the underlying normative order that forms the group's expectations regarding appropriate status-related behaviors. Status violators, or people whose behavior fails to comply with the expectations attached to their status position, indicate a rejection of the group's normative order and risk being labeled as a “moral violator” as a result of this explicit rejection. As such, moral violators lose status relative to people in the group whose behavior indicates their acceptance of the group's normative social order. We offer an initial experimental test of claims derived from status violation theory, which generates partial support. We describe implications of the theory and discuss further directions for research on status violations.