There are power mowers, which industry and technology are efficiently building noisier and noisier and bigger and bigger. And it seems that the power mower is something that is a status symbol now, and the rate of status depends on the amount of noise that you are able to put out.

In addition to facilitating identification, status symbols have two other functions. First, they act to dignify relationships, to bring a sense of formality or respectability to the situation. … Second, status symbols are often important in motivation. One has to be amazed at the time and effort that a high school athlete will invest to earn the right to wear a letter jacket—which his parents will have to purchase in many school districts!

It can be a good thing for biodiversity to have a turkey or tomato become a status symbol. … [T]he heirloom tomato does not decrease in availability when it becomes a symbol of elite status and good taste.

Her Kate Spade's] name became a shorthand for the cute, clever bags that were an instant hit with cosmopolitan women in the early stages of their careers and, later, young girls – status symbols of a more attainable, all-American sort than a Fendi clutch or Chanel bag.

Status symbol

Meaning

Noun