Statuses as a Source of Morality When Understandings Differ

The present point is that for morals to affect behavior, it is not necessary that the understandings concerning the virtues of that behavior be shared by those affected. Some or all may share them, but the behavior could be the same for the sharers and the nonsharers provided that the latter are concerned about the evaluations of the former and respond to understandings that they believe some or all of the others hold.^[5] Much or all of this belief is the result of status-guided interaction where status assignment includes the attribution of expectations including what category members are believed to value.^[6]