Jargon

This dissertation chronicles the plight of the lower status professional group member and their attempts to get recognition by using insider language or jargon. Specifically, it explores jargon within the broader context of status signaling, language, and hierarchical relationships. It seeks to understand how language is used as a way to both gain and infer status. Chapter 1 accomplishes two goals. First, it discusses features of human status systems and status signaling processes. Second, it defines jargon and identifies its functions. In doing so, I incorporate linguistic and social psychological theories to argue that jargon is a marker of status or a status symbol. I differentiate jargon from related linguistic concepts of slang and technical language, and I differentiate jargon from other status signals due to the social costs incurred through its use. Chapter 2 focuses on one social motivation for using jargon, arguing that status threat increases jargon use. It proposes that because jargon is a status marker, it is strategically used by those experiencing low status. Across 10 studies, using both archival and experimental methods, I link low status to jargon use because lowe