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I know that both terms are often used in the political sphere. Can I use them in other circumstances, e.g. in the cultural or educational sphere, to talk about the current situations in those spheres? For example:

More and more students are bullied at school every day, and this state of affairs/status quo can be attributed to several reasons.

P.S. There is another reason why I posted this question. I once asked a native speaker if the following sentence is correct:

Overall, the elderly were least vulnerable to poverty, while the opposite state of affairs was witnessed for single people who hadn’t reached their old age.

To which he said, and I quote,

"State of Affairs is perfectly acceptable in the context of a political or diplomatic discussion. Your example is more in line of social sciences where you are comparing groups to arrive at a distinction. Here, "situation" is more appropriate."

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    You would not use 'status quo' for that situation.
    – Michael Harvey
    Commented Aug 12 at 19:05
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    Have you checked what those expressions mean in one or more dictionaries?
    – Michael Harvey
    Commented Aug 12 at 20:29
  • Yes, I always try to look up words in some dictionaries before asking questions. They just say "situation". They don't even mention politics in definitions but I deduced that from the examples. But I wasn't sure, hence the question.
    – An IELTS Learner
    Commented Aug 13 at 2:07

3 Answers 3

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  1. Yes, you could certainly use both in other contexts. I might use them at work, to talk about shaking up the way we do things, or if I were concerned about a situation. Searching Google Books for both phrases will probably yield many contexts.

  2. Although both mean "the way things are right now," they have different connotations and might not both be applicable to the same situations.

"Status quo" is usually used to make points about how accustomed we are to the current situation or way of doing things and how hard it is to change. We might "challenge the status quo," or follow tradition "because it's the status quo." It's not an idiomatic choice when you don't mean to make these implications. Given the quote you provided, "state of affairs" is a more likely choice. "Status quo" could certainly be relevant to a conversation about bullying, and it could even be the right choice if the sentence before this one was saying something about how hard it is to change the state of affairs. But, instance, if I were to arrive home and find that the kids were drawing on the walls and the pets had escaped the house, I wouldn't exclaim "How did things get into this status quo?", but rather "state of affairs."

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  • Good answer! I've added a little more context to the question. Could you read that as well? It might help make your answer more comprehensive.
    – An IELTS Learner
    Commented Aug 13 at 2:29
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They can be used in any context. E.g.

West Ham 1-3 Man City: Champions preserve status quo despite Hammers progress

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    My mother-in-law has been at my house for six months now. This state of affairs cannot continue!
    – Michael Harvey
    Commented Aug 12 at 18:55
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Broadly no, they are not restricted to politics, but any real resolution depends on what you mean by 'politics'.

Does 'politics' have to mean the various levels of government, or does using those terms of the arts, commerce or industry change the emphasis enough to switch the subject into a different classification?

Might a discussion being seen as an argument being seen as 'office politics' mean we should drop 'office…' and retain only '… politics'?

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