The more important a job is, the less prestige it comes with. And the more prestige a job has, the less important it is.
Why is this true? Why don’t the more important jobs constantly get more prestige?
It’s not really true. Generally speaking, the more intellectual the job, the more prestigious it is. Those positions can be important (the engineer is arguably more important than the men following his designs, in the sense that the latter are more easily replaced), but not necessarily of course. Similarly for leadership positions. This kind of makes sense because these positions come with significant influence and in some cases control over others. Having wealth is also prestigious, for similar reasons. So, in other words, if you’re in a position to get other people to do stuff for you, that’s pretty much the definition of prestige.
Edit: To put it another way, prestige is about power, not importance. Power is of course important in its own right, and importance can be a source of power, so the two are related, but only indirectly.
this makes sense
Reminds me of an off color joke my mom told me once.
The various parts of the body were engaged in some idle banter, about which part was the most important.
"Clearly, I am" said the brain. "Without me, none of you guys could coordinate your functions, and we would all starve to death."
"No, clearly it's me" said the skin. "Without me, we would be constantly battling diseases left and right, and would be leaking fluid like crazy."
"Speaking of diseases--" said the bone marrow "Without me, you guys would be sitting ducks. I crank out whitecells like crazy when you lot screws up and catches something!"
Finally, it was the asshole's turn.
"Nope, I have it on perfect authority that I am the most important body part." it said.
All the other body parts skoffed-- The very nerve of the guy, suggesting that a tiny muscle was the most important body part.
"Oh? Then I shall prove it!" asserted the asshole, as he puckered up tight.
At first nothing seemed amiss, but then 2 days later, the whole body was in an uproar. There was feces backed up a mile, the immune system was on high alert, the skin was flushed and dry, and the brain was drowning in stress hormones.
"Without me, No shit gets done." asserted the asshole.