What is Mr. Collins's view on his position in society in Pride and Prejudice?

Mr. Collins seems to believe that, with Lady Catherine de Bourgh as his patroness, his position in society is somewhat higher than it actually is.  Though he has some education, he is a silly man whose ridiculousness is readily apparent to almost everyone with whom he comes in contact.  The narrator says, "the respect which he felt for [Lady Catherine's] high rank, and his veneration for her as his patroness, mingling with a very good opinion of himself, of his authority as a clergyman, and his right as a rector, made him altogether a mixture of pride and obsequiousness, self-importance and humility."  He feels quite elevated in society by his association with Lady Catherine as well as his own occupational authority and position within her estate, and so while he is humble -- at least in regard to her eminence -- Mr. Collins is also quite proud. 

His opinion of his position in society is perhaps best demonstrated by his impromptu (and socially inappropriate) conversation with Mr. Darcy at the Netherfield ball; without having been introduced, he simply approaches Lady Catherine's nephew because he feels that his position exempts him from the social rules that govern such interactions.  He addresses a man who is his social superior as though he were an equal, and this gives us a good clue that Mr. Collins's perspective on himself and his relative social position differs from others.