Reputation

The discipline of sociology has always depended on the social cartography of identification and rank. Recognizing that sociology continues the work of Veblen, Bourdieu, Goffman and others in their focus on status it is important to examine what we mean by reputation. Reputation operates in several domains. First, with the knowledge of the reputations of others who operate within our social circle. From this starting point, reputational knowledge spreads outward and is a major concern for many people due to the ways in which reputations open and close personal options of identity and self-perception. Reputation also affects the relationships we have with complete strangers as the reputations of celebrities take center-stage in social discourse, shaping our manufactured community. In effect, the media becomes a gatekeeper in the process of defining citizenship and appropriate social behavior.