The urbanite may frequently rely upon appearance rather than reputation: status may be temporarily appropriated by the "correct" display and manipulation of symbols, while in the small town it is more permanently manifested by the direct enactment of rights and duties. The bestowal of status in the city is often an inference from symbolism to social position; in the small town the bestowal of status proceeds from the evaluation of rights and duties appropriate to social position, and the relevant symbolism is basically symptomatic.

XREF: Connects to concepts of status signaling in sociology (Goffman's presentation of self) and contemporary thinking about personal branding and social capital in urban settings.

Lyn H. Lofland, World of Strangers_ Order a…, loc. 148