[__derek__]

> "management of other people" is a key determinant of social status in some places

That's because control of other people is the primary status marker in much of the US.

[jerf]

Control over others of their species is a primary status marker in mammals. Even calling that a "human" trait is being waaaay too specific.

[__derek__]

Given that I responded to a comment about social status among people in the US South, it would be odd if I said that. While true, it fails to be specific enough to be relevant.[1]

[1] Grice's maxims, which I find helpful for gauging my contributions to conversations: https://www.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/dravling/grice.html

[kevinskii]

Your comment suggested (probably unintentionally) that this characteristic is somewhat unique to U.S. culture. jerf's comment was therefore relevant.

[webmaven]

The disciplines emerging around mediated control of people through UX, copywriting, transactional email, algorithmic filtering, etc. (from garden variety A/B testing on through Facebook's emotional control experiment and beyond) prompt me to wonder whether that sort of less direct control of people will accrue status as well.