Hello Socko, The term 'status quo' dates back to the 14th century. It is a latin diplomatic term used at those times and literally means "the state in which" . That is why it is used mostly to describe current political situations. It means the general state of things ,the existing state of affairs regardless from being bad or good .Apart from being used to describe political situations ,it could be applied for personal relations or other conditions. It is seldom used in contemporary spoken English, and more likely to be found in articles and written material.

"status quo" is a latin expression meaning "just like now" or "these circumstances (existing now)". it mainly applies to politics. it can be writtten or spoken in any language, but you don't expect many knowing this expression or using it on an everyday basis. you'll understand it that way easyly: you had demonstrations recently against your prime minister i think. well, demonstrators were trying to change the status quo and prime minister was trying to maintain it.

"Status quo" is used in both written and spoken English. Just by itself, it does not imply that the current situation is good or bad. However, most of the time I see it, it is used in a context which implies that the person using the phrase is not happy with the status quo. The key thing is to look at the larger context in which the phrase is being used. If a politician tells you they don't like the status quo, some good healthy doubt is good. Before election every single politician will tell you they will change the status quo. After they are elected, they will fight like hell to maintain the same status quo they were complaining about one week earlier. There are some notable exceptions. Once in a while, a politician will try to change things when they are bad and sometimes they succeed. I usually wait to see it happen, though, before I feel good about "changing the status quo".

I agree with Zooey because this phrase is often used at staff meetings by people who don't want any changes in the workplace, so they invoke that phrase in order to maintain the present conditions. Another way of explaining this is by the cliche: 'if it's not broken, why fix it?'

I agree mostly, except that there is a possible negative association. Yes, perfectly intellectually you can use the term as neutral. But if I hear it and there's no reason to think otherwise I assume the speaker means it is a bad thing. "They just want to preserve the status quo" -implies that there is something else that is being sacrificed as a result (quality, fairness, whatever)