There are any number of examples of people who have low income, but much higher rank, status and authority within their circles than the average engineer has in his or her. If you are perceiving one continuous spectrum along which every human alive is ranked according to these measures, I would suggest that you might have a naive view of the world.
I wasn't being reductionist, that is not my world view; I recognize many different hierarchies. But wealth is an extremely important dimension and the one under examination here. Simple example: people with higher income hire literal wage slaves to do their gardening and cleaning. Low income people don't have nearly such authority.