Traveller 5E

[MongooseBella]

I've always seen SOC (in addition to some of the things mentioned) as 'the way you were raised', e.g. mannerisms, how you walk, talk, whether you know which forks are what etc. Instead of it just being a strict measure of your standing in a particular society, it also covers how you act. So that might be always opening the door for others, or it could be not making eye contact with people below or higher than you.

 

[Condottiere]

Then Miller got that wrong, and GURPS got it right.

 

[Sigtrygg]

In a caste based or class based society then your status at birth is as much a characteristic as your STR etc. A class ridden feudal society very much warrants a Soc characteristic.

The Charted Space setting has class and caste based societies at the Interstellar level.

Imperium - noble rank, class, status
Zhodani - caste
Vilani - caste

 

[Vormaerin]

I've always seen SOC (in addition to some of the things mentioned) as 'the way you were raised', e.g. mannerisms, how you walk, talk, whether you know which forks are what etc. Instead of it just being a strict measure of your standing in a particular society, it also covers how you act. So that might be always opening the door for others, or it could be not making eye contact with people below or higher than you.

But these are things that are generally pretty mutable. Most PCs have been off their homeworld for 16 to 20 years in some career are going to learn things that obscure that unless they intentionally cling to those cultural elements. Equally importantly, those things are not going to be the same on different worlds. How you act is culturally based. I suppose you could say that SOC is just relevant for dealing with Imperial officialdom and spacer culture.... But that's not how it is presented in the rules.

In a caste based or class based society then your status at birth is as much a characteristic as your STR etc. A class ridden feudal society very much warrants a Soc characteristic.

The Charted Space setting has class and caste based societies at the Interstellar level.

Imperium - noble rank, class, status
Zhodani - caste
Vilani - caste

Yeah, you can play up the class consciousness of the Imperium, but Traveller's rules are not just about Charted Space. And, other than nobles existing, there's very little in the presentation of Imperial society that suggests it is that level of class stratification. You don't see it in the sourcebooks or the adventures except for the occasional pompous noble.

"Your parents were plebs on Menorb, scum. You might be CEO of Moneybags, Inc now but you're still a plebian scumbag. Get in the back with the other muck, this restaurant doesn't serve your kind" (since becoming a Rank 6 corporate official is only +1 SOC) just isn't how the setting is presented.