Dominance Versus Prestige Status

Humans have two distinct kinds of status that we suspiciously tend to merge: dominance (power over someone) and prestige (earned respect). The distinction shows in eye behavior — you avoid the eyes of someone with dominance over you (eye contact signals defiance) but are supposed to look at someone with prestige. People want prestige and will admit to accepting it but not to seeking it, and won't admit to submitting to dominance, which is how people make peace with their bosses ('he's earned that role') versus condemning other societies' tyrants.