Social role is a status-role concept that is one of the most popular theories in sociology. Any person is part of society, society and, in accordance with it, performs a number of functions, and therefore, in this concept, the individual is a subject. Famous American sociologists laid the foundations of the concept of personality, they were R. Minton, J. Mead and T. Parson, of course, each has individual merits for the contribution of their efforts and potential to the development of the status-role concept.

Social status and social role are the main two concepts that describe a person. Individual occupying specific place in society, is secured by a social position and has certain rights and responsibilities. It is this position that defines a person. At the same time, a person has several statuses, one of which is main or basic, that is, the main status is the person’s profession or position.

The social role is that he performs within the framework of his social status in a particular social system. And given that one person has several statuses, then, accordingly, he performs several roles. The totality within one social status is a social set. A person performs more social roles if he has a much higher status and position in society.

The social role of a person working in a security agency is radically different from the role set of the President of the country, this is all clear and easy. In general, the American sociologist T. Parson was the first to systematize roles, thanks to whom five main categories were identified that make it possible to qualify individual social roles:

1. A social role is something that is regulated in some cases. For example, the social role of a civil servant is strictly outlined, but the role of the fact that this employee is a man is very blurred and individual.
2. Some roles are extremely emotional, while others require rigor and restraint.
3. Social roles may differ in the way they are obtained. This depends on the social status that is prescribed or achieved by the person independently.
4. The scale and scope of authority within one social role is clearly defined, while in others it is not even established.
5. The performance of a role is motivated by personal interests or for the sake of public duty.

It is important to remember that a social role is a pattern of behavior that is balanced between role expectations and a person's character. That is, it is not the exact mechanism and pattern expected of a particular social role, but role behavior is specific depending on the individual characteristics of the person. Let us once again confirm that a person’s social role is determined by a specific social status, expressed by a certain profession, field of activity. For example, teacher, musician, student, salesman, director, accountant, politician. The social role of the individual is always assessed by society, approved or condemned. For example, the role of a criminal or a prostitute has social stigma.

A social role is a social function of an individual, a way of behavior of people that corresponds to accepted norms, depending on their status or position in society, in the system of interpersonal relations."

A social role is a normatively approved and prescribed method, algorithm, pattern of activity and behavior of an individual, voluntarily or forcibly accepted by society or a social group in the implementation of certain social functions. A social role is a model of individual behavior determined by its status.

There is a point of view that a social role is a set of social norms that society or a group encourages or forces an individual to master. Usually, a social role is defined as a dynamic aspect of status, as a list of real functions assigned by a group to its member as a set of expected behavioral stereotypes associated with the performance of a specific job.

American social psychologist T. Shibutani introduces the concept of a conventional role. He tries to distinguish between social and conventional roles, but this cannot be done strictly and obviously enough.

A conventional role, according to T. Shibutani, is an idea of ​​a prescribed pattern of behavior that is expected and required from a subject in a given situation, if the position he occupies in a joint action is known. It seems that its conventional role, with very minor errors, can be considered synonymous with the social role. It is very important that, in the understanding of T. Shibutani, roles are defined as a template, an algorithm of mutual rights and obligations, and not just as a behavioral standard. An obligation, he notes, is something that a subject feels compelled to do because of the role he plays and other people expect and demand that he act in a certain way. However, it is impossible to completely separate the pattern from behavior: it is behavior that ultimately acts as a measure of whether the conventional role is being realized adequately or inadequately.

Another American psychologist, T. Parsons, defines a role as a structurally organized, normatively regulated participation of a person in a specific process of social interaction with certain specific role partners. He believed that any role can be described by the following five main characteristics: emotionality; different roles require varying degrees of emotionality; the method of obtaining: some roles are prescribed, others are fought; structured: some roles are formed and strictly limited, others are blurred; formalization: some roles are implemented in strictly established templates, algorithms specified from the outside or by the subject himself, others are implemented spontaneously, creatively; motivation: a system of personal needs that are satisfied by the very fact of playing roles.

Social roles are distinguished by their significance. A role is objectively determined by a social position, regardless of the individual characteristics of the person occupying this position. The fulfillment of a social role must correspond to accepted social norms and expectations (esteem) of others.

There is practically no complete coincidence between role expectation and role performance. The quality of role performance depends on many conditions; it is especially important that the role corresponds to the interests and needs of the individual. An individual who does not live up to expectations enters into conflict with society and incurs social and group sanctions.

Since each person plays several roles, role conflict is possible: parents and peers, for example, expect different behavior from a teenager, and he, playing the roles of son and friend, cannot simultaneously meet their expectations. Role conflict is the subject’s experience of ambiguity or inconsistency of role requirements on the part of different social communities of which he is a member.

The following conflicts are possible:

Intrapersonal: caused by contradictory demands placed on the behavior of an individual in different social roles, and even more so in a particular social role;

Intra-role: arises as a result of contradictions in the requirements for the fulfillment of a social role by different participants in the interaction;

Personal-role: arises due to a discrepancy between a person’s ideas about himself and his role functions;

Innovative: appears as a result of a discrepancy between previously formed value orientations and the requirements of the new social situation.

Each person has a certain idea of ​​how he will perform this or that role. Different roles have different importance for the individual.

The role structure of an individual can be integrated or disintegrated depending on the harmony or conflict of social relations.

The internal structure of the personality (picture of the world, desires, attitudes) may favor certain social roles and not contribute to the choice of other social roles. Role expectations are also not random situational factors; they arise from the requirements of the social, including corporate, system.

Depending on the norms and expectations assigned to a particular social role, the latter may be:

The represented roles (the system of expectations of the individual and certain groups);

Subjective roles (expectations that a person associates with his status, i.e. his subjective ideas about how he should act in relation to persons with other statuses);

Roles played (observed behavior of a person having a given status in relation to another person with a different status).

There is a normative structure for fulfilling a social role, which consists of:

Descriptions of behavior (characteristic of a given role);

Prescriptions (requirements for this implementation);

Assessments of performance of the prescribed role;

Sanctions for violation of prescribed requirements.

Since personality is a complex social system, we can say that it is a set of social roles and its individual characteristics,

People identify with their social role in different ways. Some merge with it as much as possible and behave in accordance with its instructions anywhere and everywhere, even where this is absolutely not required. It happens that different social roles inherent in one and the same subject have different ranks, different personal significance, and relevance. In other words, the subject does not identify himself equally with all his roles: with some personally significant roles more, with others less. Such a strong distancing from the role occurs that one can talk about its movement from the actual part of the sphere of consciousness to the periphery, or even about its displacement from the sphere of consciousness completely.

The experience of practicing psychologists suggests that if an objectively relevant social role is not recognized as such by the subject, then within the framework of this role he will experience internal and external conflicts.

Various roles are learned through the process of socialization. As an example, here is the role repertoire of a small group:

Leader: a member of a group, whom others recognize the right to make responsible decisions in situations that are significant to the group, decisions that affect the interests of group members and determine the direction and nature of the activities and behavior of the entire group (more about this in the topic “Leadership as a socio-psychological phenomenon”) ;

Expert: a member of a group who has special knowledge, abilities, skills that the group requires or that the group simply respects;

Members are passive and adaptable: they strive to maintain their anonymity;

- “extreme” member of the group: lags behind everyone else due to personal limitations or fears;

Opponent: an oppositionist who actively opposes the leader;

Martyr: calling for help and refusing it;

Moralist: A group member who is always right;

Interceptor: a group member who seizes the initiative from the leader;

Pet: a group member who evokes tender feelings and is constantly in need of protection;

Aggressor;

Jester;

Provocateur;

Defender;

Whiner;

Rescuer;

Pedant;

Victim, etc.

The group always strives to expand its repertoire of roles. The individual performance of a role by a person has a personal touch, which depends on his knowledge and ability to be in a given role, on its significance for him, on the desire to more or less meet the expectations of others (for example, it is easy to become a father, it is difficult to be a father).

Some people confuse this concept with status. But these terms mean completely different manifestations. The concept of role was introduced by psychologist T. Parsons. K. Horney and I. Hoffman used it in their works. They revealed the characteristics of the concept in more detail and conducted interesting studies.

Social role - what is it?

According to the definition, a social role is behavior that society has deemed acceptable for people in a particular status. A person's social roles change depending on who he is at the moment. Society dictates that a son or daughter behave in one way than, say, a worker, a mother, or a woman.

What is included in the concept of social role:

1. Human behavioral reactions, his speech, actions, actions.
2. The appearance of the individual. He must also conform to the norms of society. A man dressed in a dress or skirt in a number of countries will be perceived negatively, just like an office manager who comes to work in a dirty robe.
3. Individual motivation. The environment approves and reacts negatively not only to a person’s behavior, but also to his internal aspirations. Motives are assessed based on the expectations of other people, which are built on the generally accepted understanding. A bride who marries for material benefits will be perceived negatively in certain societies; love and sincere feelings are expected from her, and not commercialism.

The importance of social role in human life

Changing behavioral responses can be costly for an individual. Our social roles are determined by the expectations of other people; if we fail to meet them, we risk remaining outcasts. A person who decides to break these peculiar rules is unlikely to build relationships with other members of society. They will condemn him and try to change him. In some cases, such an individual is perceived as mentally abnormal, although the doctor did not make such a diagnosis.

Signs of a social role

This concept is also associated with the profession and type of human activity. This also affects how the social role is manifested. We expect different appearance, speech and actions from a university student and from a schoolchild. A woman, in our understanding, should not do what is included in the concept of normal behavior of a man. And a doctor does not have the right to act in a work environment in the same way as a salesman or engineer would act. The social role in the profession is manifested in appearance, the use of terms. By violating these rules, you can be considered a bad specialist.

How are social status and social role related?

These concepts mean completely different things. But at the same time, social statuses and roles are very closely related. The first gives a person rights and responsibilities, the second explains what behavior society expects from him. A man who becomes a father must support his child, and he is expected to devote time to communicating with his offspring. The expectations of the environment in this case can be very precise or vague. It depends on the culture of the country where the person lives and is raised.

Types of social roles

Psychologists divide the concept into 2 main categories - interpersonal and status-related. The first are associated with emotional relationships - the leader, the favorite in the team, the soul of the company. The social roles of the individual, depending on the official position, are more determined by profession, type of activity and family - husband, child, salesman. This category is impersonal; behavioral reactions in them are more clearly defined than in the first group.

Each social role is different:

1. By the degree of its formalization and scale. There are those where the behavior is very clearly defined and those where the expected actions and reactions by the environment are described vaguely.
2. By method of receipt. Achievements are often associated with a profession, awarded with marital status, physiological characteristics. An example of the first subgroup is a lawyer, a leader, and the second is a woman, daughter, mother.

Individual role

Each person has several functions at the same time. Performing each of them, he is forced to behave in a certain way. The individual social role of a person is related to the interests and motives of a person. Each of us perceives ourselves somewhat differently from how other people see us, so own assessment behavior and how other people perceive it can vary widely. Let's say a teenager may consider himself quite mature, having the right to make a number of decisions, but for his parents he will still be a child.

Interpersonal roles of a person

This category is associated with the emotional sphere. This social role of a person is often assigned to him by a certain group of people. An individual can be considered a fun guy, a favorite, a leader, a loser. Based on the group’s perception of the individual, the environment expects a certain standard response from the person. If it is assumed that a teenager is not only a son and a student, but also a joker and a bully, his actions will be assessed through the prism of these unofficial statuses.

Social roles in the family are also interpersonal. There are often situations when one of the children has the status of a favorite. In this case, conflicts between children and parents become pronounced and arise more often. Psychologists advise avoiding assigning interpersonal statuses within the family, because in this situation its members are forced to rebuild behavioral reactions, which leads to personality changes, and not always for the better.

New social roles of youth

They appeared in connection with a change in social structure. The development of Internet communication has led to the fact that the social roles of young people have changed and become more variable. Development also contributed to this. Modern teenagers are increasingly focusing not on official statuses, but on those that are accepted in their society - punk, vaper. The assignment of such perception can be group or individual.

Modern psychologists argue that behavior considered normal for the environment is not characteristic of a healthy person, but of a neurotic person. They associate this fact with the ever-increasing number of people who are not forced to turn to specialists for help.

A social role is the behavior expected of someone who has a certain social status. Social roles are a set of requirements imposed on an individual by society, as well as actions that a person occupying a given status in the social system must perform. A person can have many roles.

Children's status is usually subordinate to adults, and children are expected to be respectful towards the latter. The status of soldiers is different from that of civilians; The role of soldiers is associated with risk and fulfillment of the oath, which cannot be said about other groups of the population. Women have a different status from men and are therefore expected to behave differently than men. Each individual can have a large number of statuses, and others have the right to expect him to fulfill roles in accordance with these statuses. In this sense, status and role are two sides of the same phenomenon: if status is a set of rights, privileges and responsibilities, then a role is an action within the framework of this set of rights and responsibilities. A social role consists of role expectations (expectation) and the performance of this role (game).

Social roles can be institutionalized or conventional.

Institutionalized: institution of marriage, family (social roles of mother, daughter, wife)

Conventional: accepted by agreement (a person can refuse to accept them)

Cultural norms are learned primarily through role learning. For example, a person who masters the role of a military man becomes familiar with the customs, moral norms and laws characteristic of the status of this role. Only a few norms are accepted by all members of society; the acceptance of most norms depends on the status of a particular individual. What is acceptable for one status is unacceptable for another. Thus, socialization as the process of learning generally accepted ways and methods of actions and interactions is the most important process of learning role behavior, as a result of which the individual truly becomes a part of society.

Types of social roles

The types of social roles are determined by the variety of social groups, types of activities and relationships in which the individual is included. Depending on social relations, social and interpersonal social roles are distinguished.

Social roles are associated with social status, profession or type of activity (teacher, student, student, salesperson). These are standardized impersonal roles, built on the basis of rights and responsibilities, regardless of who plays these roles. There are socio-demographic roles: husband, wife, daughter, son, grandson... Man and woman are also social roles, biologically predetermined and presupposing specific modes of behavior, enshrined in social norms and customs.

Interpersonal roles are associated with interpersonal relationships that are regulated at the emotional level (leader, offended, neglected, family idol, loved one, etc.).

In life, in interpersonal relationships, each person acts in some dominant social role, a unique social role as the most typical individual image, familiar to others. Changing a habitual image is extremely difficult both for the person himself and for the perception of the people around him. The longer a group exists, the more familiar the dominant social roles of each group member become to those around them and the more difficult it is to change the behavior pattern habitual to those around them.

Main characteristics of a social role

The main characteristics of a social role are highlighted by American sociologist Talcott Parsons. He suggested the following four characteristics of any role.

By scale. Some roles may be strictly limited, while others may be blurred.

By method of receipt. Roles are divided into prescribed and conquered (they are also called achieved).

According to the degree of formalization. Activities can take place either within strictly established limits or arbitrarily.

By types of motivation. Personal profit may serve as motivation, public good etc.

The scope of the role depends on the range of interpersonal relationships. The larger the range, the larger the scale. For example, the social roles of spouses have a very large scale, since the widest range of relationships is established between husband and wife. On the one hand, these are interpersonal relationships based on a variety of feelings and emotions; on the other hand, relationships are regulated regulations and in a certain sense are formal. Participants in a given social interaction are interested in the most different sides each other's lives, their relationship is practically unlimited. In other cases, when relationships are strictly defined by social roles (for example, the relationship between a seller and a buyer), interaction can only be carried out on a specific occasion (in in this case- purchases). Here the scope of the role is limited to a narrow range of specific issues and is small.

The way a role is acquired depends on how inevitable the role is for the person. Yes, roles young man, old man, man, woman are automatically determined by the age and gender of a person and do not require special efforts to acquire them. There can only be a problem of compliance with one’s role, which already exists as a given. Other roles are achieved or even won during the course of a person's life and as a result of targeted special efforts. For example, the role of student, researcher, professor, etc. These are almost all roles related to the profession and any achievements of a person.

Formalization as a descriptive characteristic of a social role is determined by the specifics of interpersonal relationships of the bearer of this role. Some roles involve the establishment of only formal relationships between people with strict regulation of rules of behavior; others, on the contrary, are only informal; still others may combine both formal and informal relationships. It is obvious that the relationship between a traffic police representative and a traffic rule violator should be determined by formal rules, and relationships between close people should be determined by feelings. Formal relationships are often accompanied by informal ones, in which emotionality is manifested, because a person, perceiving and evaluating another, shows sympathy or antipathy towards him. This happens when people have been interacting for a while and the relationship has become relatively stable.

Motivation depends on the needs and motives of a person. Different roles are driven by different motives. Parents, caring for the well-being of their child, are guided primarily by a feeling of love and care; the leader works for the sake of the cause, etc.

Social status

Social status (from lat. status- position, state) of a person is the position of a person in society, which he occupies in accordance with his age, gender, origin, profession, marital status.

Social status - it is a certain position in the social structure of a group or society, connected to other positions through a system of rights and responsibilities.

Sociologists distinguish several types of social statuses:

1) Statuses determined by the position of an individual in a group are personal and social.

Personal status is the position of a person that he occupies in the so-called small, or primary, group, depending on how his individual qualities are assessed in it.

On the other hand, in the process of interaction with other individuals, each person performs certain social functions that determine his social status.

2) Statuses determined by time frames, influence on the life of the individual as a whole - main and non-main (episodic).

Basic status determines the main thing in a person’s life (most often this is a status associated with the main place of work and family, for example, a good family man and an irreplaceable worker).

Episodic (non-main) social statuses influence the details of human behavior (for example, pedestrian, passenger, passerby, patient, participant in a demonstration or strike, reader, listener, television viewer, etc.).

3) Statuses acquired or not acquired as a result of free choice.

Prescribed (assigned) status - a social position that is pre-prescribed to an individual by society regardless of the individual’s merits (for example, nationality, place of birth, social origin, etc.).

Mixed status has the features of a prescribed and achieved status (a person who has become disabled, the title of academician, Olympic champion, etc.).

Reachable ( acquired) acquired as a result of free choice, personal efforts and is under the control of a person (education, profession, material wealth, business connections, etc.).

In any society there is a certain hierarchy of statuses, which represents the basis of its stratification. Certain statuses are prestigious, others are the opposite. This hierarchy is formed under the influence of two factors:

a) the real usefulness of the social functions that a person performs;

b) a value system characteristic of a given society.

If the prestige of any status is unreasonably overestimated or, conversely, underestimated, it is usually said that there is a loss of status balance. A society in which there is a similar tendency to lose this balance is unable to ensure its normal functioning.

Prestige - This is society’s assessment of the social significance of a particular status, enshrined in culture and public opinion.

Each individual can have large number statuses. The social status of an individual primarily influences his behavior. Knowing the social status of a person, you can easily determine most of the qualities that he possesses, as well as predict the actions that he will carry out. Such expected behavior of a person, associated with the status that he has, is usually called a social role.

Social role - This is a model of behavior focused on a certain status.

Social role - it is a pattern of behavior recognized as appropriate for people of a given status in a given society.

Roles are determined by people's expectations (for example, the idea that parents should take care of their children, that an employee should conscientiously carry out the work assigned to him, has taken root in the public consciousness). But each person, depending on specific circumstances, accumulated life experience and other factors, fulfills a social role in his own way.

When claiming this status, a person must fulfill all the role requirements assigned to this social position. Each person has not one, but a whole set of social roles that he plays in society. The totality of all human roles in society is called role system or role set.

Role set (role system)

Role set - a set of roles (role complex) associated with one status.

Each role in the role set requires a special manner of behavior and communication with people and is, therefore, a set of relationships that are unlike others. In the role-playing set one can highlight basic (typical) And situational social roles.

Examples of basic social roles:

1) hard worker;

2) owner;

3) consumer;

4) citizen;

5) family member (husband, wife, son, daughter).

Social roles can be institutionalized And conventional.

Institutionalized roles: institution of marriage, family (social roles of mother, daughter, wife).

Conventional roles accepted by agreement (a person may refuse to accept them).

Social roles are associated with social status, profession or type of activity (teacher, student, student, salesperson).

Man and woman are also social roles, biologically predetermined and presupposing specific modes of behavior, enshrined in social norms or customs.

Interpersonal roles are associated with interpersonal relationships that are regulated at the emotional level (leader, offended, family idol, loved one, etc.).

Role behavior

The real role must be distinguished from the social role as a model of behavior. role behavior, which means not socially expected, but actual behavior of the performer of a specific role. And here a lot depends on personal qualities the individual, on the degree of his assimilation of social norms, on his beliefs, attitudes, and value orientations.

Factors determining the process of realizing social roles:

1) biopsychological capabilities of a person, which may facilitate or hinder the fulfillment of a particular social role;

2) the nature of the role accepted in the group and features of social control, designed to monitor the fulfillment of role behavior;

3) personal sample, defining a set of behavioral characteristics necessary for successful performance of the role;

4) group structure, its cohesion and the degree of identification of the individual with the group.

In the process of realizing social roles, certain difficulties may arise due to the need for a person to perform many roles in different situations. → in some cases, there is a discrepancy between social roles, the emergence of contradictions and conflict relations between them.

Role conflict and its types

Role conflict is a situation in which a person is faced with the need to satisfy the demands of two or more incompatible roles.

Types of role conflicts:

Type name	Its essence
Intra-role	A conflict in which the requirements of the same role contradict each other (for example, the role of parents involves not only kind, affectionate treatment of children, but also demandingness and severity towards them).
Interrole	Conflict that arises in situations where the demands of one role conflict with the requirements of another (for example, the demands of a woman’s main job may conflict with her household duties).
Personal-role	A conflict situation when the requirements of a social role contradict the interests and life aspirations of the individual (for example, professional activity does not allow a person to reveal and demonstrate his abilities).

QUESTIONS:

1. Establish a correspondence between the types of status and their examples: for each position given in the first column, select the corresponding position in the second column.

			TYPES OF STATUS
	heir to the throne		prescribed
	world champion		achievable
	head of a department in a company

2. When applying for a job, Citizen A. filled out a form in which she indicated that she was a specialist with a higher education, came from a family of employees, was married, and had two children. Name one prescribed and two achieved statuses of citizen A., which she noted in the questionnaire. Using the example of one of the named achieved statuses, indicate the status rights and responsibilities.

1. Prescribed status - woman.

2. Achieved statuses - specialist with higher education, married lady and mother of two children.

3. As the mother of her children, she is obliged to bear moral and legal responsibility for them and to ensure a decent standard of living. Just like the mother of her children, she has the right to choose educational institution for them, with whom they should communicate, etc.