[1] Rather, the ascribed status is assigned based on social and cultural expectations, norms, and standards.
[2]: 115 [3] These rigid social designators remain fixed throughout an individual's life and are inseparable from the positive or negative stereotypes that are linked with one's ascribed statuses.
The practice of assigning such statuses to individuals exists cross-culturally within all societies and is based on gender, race, family origins, and ethnic backgrounds.
Ascribed status plays an important role in societies because it can provide the members with a defined and unified identity.
[2] According to Linton, ascribed status is assigned to an individual without reference to their innate differences or abilities.
Linton noted that while the definitions of the two concepts are clear and distinct, it is not always easy to identify whether an individual's status is ascribed or achieved.
Linton uses Leo Schnore's research to illustrate how ascribed statuses can be both irreversible and reversible.
His conclusion is based on the fact that an ascribed status within a social structure is indicative of the behavior that one can exhibit but it does not explain the action itself.
The success of the structure requires that the expectations remain constant, even if they are illegitimately acquired, given that the truth is never discovered.
This further highlights the arbitrariness of ascribed status because there is no biological basis or universal truth for assigning these societal rankings to individuals.