Types of social roles. Concepts of social role and status

behavior expected from someone who has a certain social status. It is limited by the totality of rights and obligations corresponding to this status.

Great Definition

Incomplete definition ↓

ROLE SOCIAL

a set of requirements imposed by the society on persons occupying certain social. positions. These requirements (prescriptions, wishes and expectations of appropriate behavior) are embodied in specific social. norms. The system of social sanctions of a positive and negative nature is aimed at ensuring the proper execution of requirements related to R.s. Arising in connection with a specific social. position given in society. structure, R.s. at the same time - a specific (normatively approved) way of behavior, obligatory for individuals performing the corresponding R.s. R.s performed by an individual become a decisive characteristic of his personality, without losing, however, their social-derived and, in this sense, objectively inevitable character. Together, R.s performed by people personify the dominant societies. relations. Social in their genesis, the requirements of the role become a structural element of the human personality in the course of the socialization of individuals and as a result of the internalization (deep internal assimilation) of the norms that characterize R.s. To internalize a role means to give it its own, individual (personal) definition, evaluate and develop a certain attitude towards social. position that forms the corresponding R.s. In the course of the internalization of the role, socially developed norms are evaluated through the prism of attitudes, beliefs, and principles shared by the individual. Society imposes R.s on an individual, but its acceptance, rejection, or performance always leaves an imprint on a person's real behavior. Depending on the nature of the requirements contained in the normative structure of R.s, the latter are divided into at least three categories: norms of proper (mandatory), desirable and possible behavior. Compliance with the mandatory regulatory requirements of R.s is ensured by the most serious negative sanctions, most often embodied in laws or other legal regulations. character. The norms of roles that embody the desired (from the point of view of about-va) behavior are most often provided with negative sanctions of an extra-legal nature (non-compliance with the charter of a public organization entails exclusion from it, etc.). In contrast, role norms, which formulate possible behavior, are provided primarily with positive sanctions (voluntary fulfillment of the duties of those who need help entails an increase in prestige, approval, etc.). In the normative structure of the role, four constructive elements can be distinguished - description (of the type of behavior that is required from a person in this role); prescription (requirement in connection with such behavior); assessment (cases of fulfillment or non-fulfillment of the requirements of the role); sanction (favorable or unfavorable social consequences of actions within the framework of the requirements of R.c). See also: Role theory of personality, Theory of roles. Lit.: Yakovlev A.M. Sociology of economic crime. M., 1988; Solovyov E.Yu. Personality and law//The past interprets us. Essays on the history of philosophy and culture. M, 1991. S, 403-431; Smelzer N. Sociology M., 1994. A.M. Yakovlev.

Great Definition

Incomplete definition ↓

social role - sample behavior of a person that society recognizes as appropriate for the holder of this status.

Social role- this is a set of actions that a person occupying this status must perform. A person must fulfill certain material values in social system.

This is a model of human behavior, objectively set by the social position of the individual in the system of social, public and personal relations. In other words, a social role is "the behavior that is expected of a person occupying a certain status". Modern society requires the individual to constantly change the model of behavior to perform specific roles. In this regard, such neo-Marxists and neo-Freudians as T. Adorno, K. Horney and others made a paradoxical conclusion in their works: the “normal” personality of modern society is a neurotic. Moreover, in modern society, role conflicts that arise in situations where an individual is required to simultaneously perform several roles with conflicting requirements are widespread.

Irving Hoffman, in his studies of interaction rituals, accepting and developing the basic theatrical metaphor, paid attention not so much to role instructions and passive adherence to them, but to the processes of active construction and maintenance of the “appearance” in the course of communication, to areas of uncertainty and ambiguity in interaction , mistakes in the behavior of partners.

The concept of " social role” was proposed independently by American sociologists R. Linton and J. Mead in the 1930s, and the first interpreted the concept of “social role” as a unit of social structure, described in the form of a system of norms given to a person, the second - in terms of direct interaction between people , "role-playing game", during which, due to the fact that a person imagines himself in the role of another, social norms are assimilated and the social is formed in the individual. Linton's definition of a social role as a "dynamic aspect of status" was entrenched in structural functionalism and was developed by T. Parsons, A. Radcliffe-Brown, R. Merton. Mead's ideas were developed in interactionist sociology and psychology. With all the differences, both of these approaches are united by the idea of a social role as a key point at which the individual and society merge, individual behavior turns into social, and the individual properties and inclinations of people are compared with the normative settings that exist in society, depending on which people are selected. to certain social roles. Of course, in reality, role expectations are never unambiguous. In addition, a person often finds himself in a situation of role conflict, when his different social roles are poorly compatible.

Types of social roles in society

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

Social roles associated with social status, profession or type of activity (teacher, pupil, student, seller). These are standardized impersonal roles based on rights and obligations, regardless of who fills these roles. Allocate socio-demographic roles: husband, wife, daughter, son, grandson ... A man and a woman are also social roles that involve specific ways of behavior, enshrined in social norms and customs.
Interpersonal roles associated with interpersonal relationships that are regulated at an emotional level (leader, offended, neglected, family idol, loved one, etc.).

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

Characteristics of social roles

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

Scale. Some roles may be strictly limited, while others may be blurred.
By way of getting. Roles are divided into prescribed and conquered (they are also called achieved).
According to the degree of formalization. Activities can proceed both within strictly established limits, and arbitrarily.
By type of motivation. The motivation can be personal profit, public good, etc.

Role Scale depends on the range of interpersonal relationships. The larger the range, the larger the scale. So, for example, the social roles of spouses have a very large scale, since a wide 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, relations are regulated by normative acts and in a certain sense are formal. The participants in this social interaction are interested in the most diverse aspects of each other's lives, their relationships are practically unlimited. In other cases, when the relationship is strictly defined by social roles (for example, the relationship of the seller and the buyer), the interaction can be carried out only on a specific occasion (in this case, purchases). Here the scope of the role is reduced to a narrow range of specific issues and is small.

How to get a role depends on how inevitable the given role is for the person. So, the roles of a young man, an old man, a man, a woman are automatically determined by the age and sex of a person and do not require much effort to acquire them. There can only be a problem of matching one's role, which already exists as a given. Other roles are achieved or even won in the course of a person's life and as a result of purposeful special efforts. For example, the role of a student, researcher, professor, etc. These are almost all roles associated with the profession and any achievements of a person.

Formalization as a descriptive characteristic of a social role is determined by the specifics of interpersonal relations of the bearer of this role. Some roles involve the establishment of only formal relations between people with strict regulation of the rules of conduct; others, on the contrary, are only informal; still others may combine both formal and informal relationships. Obviously, the relationship between a traffic police representative and a violator of traffic rules 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 interact for a while and the relationship becomes relatively stable.

The topic of personal growth is very popular right now. A lot of different trainings and methods of personality development have been created. It is expensive, and the efficiency is catastrophically low, it is difficult to find a qualified specialist.

Let's break down the concepts to avoid wandering around in search of the most effective way to become more successful. The process of personal development includes the development of social roles and communication skills(creation, maintenance and development of quality relationships).

It is through various social roles that personality manifests itself and develops. Learning a new role can change your life dramatically. The successful implementation of the main social roles for a person creates a feeling of happiness and well-being. The more social roles a person is able to play, the better he is adapted to life, the more successful he is. After all, happy people have a good family, successfully cope with their professional duties. Take an active and conscious part in the life of society. Friendly companies, hobbies and hobbies greatly enrich a person's life, but cannot compensate for failures in the implementation of significant social roles for him.

The lack of implementation of significant social roles, misunderstanding or their inadequate interpretation creates a feeling of guilt in a person’s life, low self-esteem, a feeling of loss, self-doubt, meaninglessness of life.
Observing and mastering social roles, a person learns the standards of behavior, learns to evaluate himself from the outside, to exercise self-control.

social role

is a model of human behavior, objectively given by the position of the individual in the system of social and personal relations.

Let's just say that society has a certain faceless pattern of expected behavior, within which something is considered acceptable, and something that goes beyond the norm. Thanks to this standard, quite predictable behavior is expected from the performer of a social role, which others can be guided by.

This predictability allows you to maintain and develop interaction. A person's consistent fulfillment of his social roles creates orderliness in everyday life.
The family man plays the roles of son, husband, father, brother. At work, he can simultaneously be an engineer, a foreman of a production site, a trade union member, a boss and a subordinate. In social life: as a passenger, driver of a private car, pedestrian, customer, client, patient, neighbor, citizen, philanthropist, friend, hunter, traveler, etc.

Of course, not all social roles are equivalent for society and equal for the individual. Family, professional and socio-political roles should be singled out as significant.

What social roles are important to you?

In the family: husband / wife; father mother; son daughter?

In profession and career: a conscientious employee, an expert and a specialist in his field, a manager or an entrepreneur, a boss or a business owner?

In the socio-political sphere: member of a political party/charitable foundation/church, non-partisan atheist?

What social role would your life be incomplete without?

Wife, mother, business woman?

Every social role has meaning and significance.

In order for a society to function and develop normally, it is important that all its members master and fulfill social roles. Since patterns of behavior are laid down and passed down from generation to generation in the family, let's look at family roles.

According to the study, the bulk of men marry in order to have a permanent partner for sex and entertainment. In addition, a wife for a man is an attribute of success that maintains his status. Hence, the meaning of the social role of the wife in sharing the hobbies and interests of her husband, in order to look worthy at any age and in any period of life. If a man does not receive sexual satisfaction in marriage, he will have to look for a different meaning of marital relations.

The social role of the mother provides for the care of the child: health, nutrition, clothing, home comfort and education of a full-fledged member of society. Often women in marriage substitute the role of a wife for the role of a mother, and then wonder why the relationship is destroyed.

The social role of the father is to ensure the protection and safety of their children, to be the highest authority in children's assessment of their actions, in the skills of maintaining a hierarchy.

The task of parents, both father and mother- during the time of growing up, to help the child form a personality capable of living and creating results in his life on his own. To instill moral and spiritual norms, the foundations of self-development and stress resistance, to lay healthy models of relationships in the family and society.

Sociological research claims that the majority of women marry in order to have the status of a married woman, a reliable rear for raising children in a full-fledged family. She expects from her husband admiration and openness in relationships. Hence, husband's social role in having a legal marriage with a woman, taking care of a wife, participating in the upbringing of children throughout the period of their growing up.

Social roles of adult daughters or sons imply independent (financially independent) life from parents. In our society, it is believed that children should take care of their parents at a time when they become helpless.

The social role is not a rigid model of behavior.

People perceive and perform their roles differently. If a person perceives a social role as a rigid mask, the behavioral stereotypes of which he is forced to obey, he literally breaks his personality and life turns into hell for him. Therefore, as in the theater, there is only one role, and each performer gives it its own original features. For example, a research scientist is required to adhere to the provisions and methods established by science and at the same time create and justify new ideas; A good surgeon is not only the one who performs conventional operations well, but also the one who can go for an unconventional solution, saving the patient's life. Thus, the initiative and the author's style is an integral part of the fulfillment of a social role.

Every social role has a prescribed set of rights and responsibilities.

Duty is what a person does based on the norms of a social role, regardless of whether he likes it or not. Since duties are always accompanied by rights, performing their duties in accordance with their social role, a person has the right to present his requirements to the interaction partner. If there are no obligations in a relationship, then there are no rights. Rights and obligations are like two sides of the same coin - one is impossible without the other. The harmony of rights and obligations presupposes the optimal fulfillment of a social role. Any imbalance in this ratio indicates a poor-quality assimilation of the social role. For example, often in cohabitation (the so-called civil marriage), a conflict arises at the moment when the requirements of the social role of the spouse are presented to the partner.

Conflicts in the performance of social roles and, consequently, psychological problems.

Each person has an author's performance of generally accepted social roles. It is not possible to achieve complete agreement between a given standard and personal interpretation. Proper fulfillment of the requirements associated with a social role is ensured by a system of social sanctions. Often fear of not meeting expectations leads to self-condemnation: “I am a bad mother, a worthless wife, a disgusting daughter” ...
Personal-role conflict arises if the requirements of a social role contradict the life aspirations of the individual. For example, the role of a boss requires strong-willed qualities, energy, and the ability to communicate with people in different, including critical, situations from a person. If a specialist lacks these qualities, he cannot cope with his role. The people on this occasion say: "Not for Senka hat."
When a person has several social roles with mutually exclusive requirements or he does not have the opportunity to fulfill his roles in full, there is role conflict. At the heart of this conflict lies the illusion that "the impossible is possible." For example, a woman wants to be an ideal housewife and mother, while successfully managing a large corporation.
If different requirements are imposed on the performance of one role by different representatives of a social group, there is intra-role conflict. For example, a husband believes that his wife should work, and his mother believes that his wife should stay at home, raise children, and do housework. At the same time, the woman herself thinks that it is important for her wife to develop creatively and spiritually. Staying inside the role conflict leads to the destruction of the personality.
Having matured, a person actively enters into the life of society, striving to take his place in it, to satisfy personal needs and interests. The relationship between the individual and society can be described by the formula: society offers, the individual seeks, chooses his place, trying to realize his interests. At the same time, she shows, proves to society that she is in her place and will perform her assigned role well. The inability to choose a suitable social role for oneself leads to a refusal to perform any social functions - to self-elimination .
- For men, such a psychological trauma is fraught with a reluctance to have a wife and children, a refusal to protect their interests; self-affirmation due to the humiliation of the defenseless, a tendency to a passive lifestyle, narcissism and irresponsibility.
- For women, the unfulfillment of some social roles leads to uncontrolled aggression not only towards others, but also towards themselves and their children, up to the rejection of motherhood.

What to do to avoid problems?

Determine for yourself the SIGNIFICANT social roles and how to update them.
Describe the model of behavior in this social role, based on the meaning and significance of this role.
State your system of ideas about how to behave in a given social role.
Describe the perception of people significant to you about this social role.
Assess the actual behavior, find the discrepancy.
Adjust your behavior so that your boundaries are not violated and your needs are met.

Characterize various relationships and determine the behavior of people certain social roles and statuses.

A social role is a way of people's behavior corresponding to accepted norms, depending on their status or position in society, in the system of interpersonal relations. Every human behavior is motivated by something and someone, has its own direction, is accompanied by some actions (physical, mental, verbal, etc.).

The development of social roles is part of the process of socialization of the individual, an indispensable condition for the “growing” of a person into a society of his own kind. Socialization is the process and result of the assimilation and active reproduction of social experience by an individual, carried out in communication and activity. By assimilating social roles, a person assimilates social standards of behavior, learns to evaluate himself from the outside and exercise self-control. Thus, a developed personality can use role-playing behavior as a tool for adapting to certain social situations, at the same time not merging, not identifying with the role.

Social roles are subdivided into institutionalized ones, i.e. institution of marriage, family; social. roles of mother, daughter; wife and conventional: accepted by agreement, although a person may not accept them.

Describing the role sociotypical behavior of the individual, sociologists and social psychologists characterize the individual precisely as a representative of a particular group, profession, nation, class, or one or another social whole. Depending on how the group acts for the individual, how much the individual is involved in certain relations with the group, what the goals and objectives of the joint activity of the group mean for it, various personality traits are manifested.

Social roles are diverse, and the larger their set, the more complex the society. However, the roles are not a simple heap, devoid of inner harmony. They are organized, interconnected by countless threads. There are two main levels of organization, ordering of roles: institutions and communities. Thanks to these social formations, roles are interconnected, their reproduction is ensured, guarantees of their stability are created, specific norms regulating role interactions are formed, sanctions are developed, and complex systems of social control arise.

The social role "concentrates attention on the universal, universal requirements for the behavior of a person who is in a certain social position." Moreover, these two concepts describe the same phenomenon from different points of view. Status describes the position of a person in the social structure, and the role determines its dynamic aspect. Role is a dynamic aspect of status. Education, as a folded system, offers a set of ready-made statuses and roles that can fluctuate within a certain scale of acceptable invariants.

With regard to social stratification, education plays a dual role. Social stratification describes the social inequality of people, fixes the structural inequality of people, "the conditions under which social groups have unequal access to such social benefits as money, power, prestige, education, information, professional career, self-realization, etc." Thus, education as a synonym for the word "diploma" is one of the criteria for building the social stratification of a particular society. According to the degree of accessibility of individual members of society to education, we can talk about the qualitative characteristics of the inequality that prevails in a particular society. On the other hand, education is a separate stratum of society. The social stratum has a certain qualitative homogeneity. It is a collection of people who occupy a close position in the hierarchy and lead a similar lifestyle. Belonging to a stratum has two components - objective (the presence of objective indicators characteristic of a given social stratum) and subjective (identification with a certain stratum).

Social status as an element of the social organization of society is complexly coordinated and ranked relative to the dominant system of values, which makes them of particular importance in public opinion. Social mobility characterizes “a change in social status, i.e. movement of an individual (or social group) between different positions in the system of social stratification. A number of researchers consider educational institutions to be the main means of stimulating and reinforcing social inequality. Nevertheless, there is no doubt that in the current conditions of the development of society (acceleration of scientific progress, intensification of the rate of knowledge renewal, increase in the volume of incoming information), a quality education is required.

These categories allow you to describe the movement of an individual vertically. But education appears at all levels: global, national, regional. Such a consideration makes it possible to reveal the presence of additional functions performed by education.

However, this model of education as a social institution turns out to be rather schematic, since it does not reflect the conditions in which a particular institution is located. In addition, it is built synchronously and does not allow revealing the dynamics of the development of education in the time perspective.

The modern social, economic, political, cultural context in which education is located is characterized in terms of two processes: regionalization and globalization. It is customary to consider them as multidirectional and leading to different results. However, this opinion can also be accused of schematism.

Behavior is a form of interaction of an organism with the environment, the source of which is needs. Human behavior differs from the behavior of animals in its social conditioning, awareness, activity, creativity and is goal-setting, arbitrary.

Structure of social behavior:

1) behavioral act - a single manifestation of activity, its element;

2) social actions - actions performed by individuals or social groups that are of public importance and involve socially determined motivation, intentions, attitudes;

3) an act is a conscious action of a person who understands its social significance and is performed in accordance with the accepted intention;

4) act - a set of actions of a person for which he is responsible.

Types of social behavior of the individual:

1) according to the system of public relations:

a) production behavior (labor, professional);

b) economic behavior (consumer behavior, distributive behavior, behavior in the sphere of exchange, entrepreneurial, investment, etc.);

c) socio-political behavior (political activity, behavior towards power, bureaucratic behavior, electoral behavior, etc.);

d) legal behavior (law-abiding, illegal, deviant, deviant, criminal);

e) moral behavior (ethical, moral, immoral, immoral behavior, etc.);

f) religious behavior;

2) by the time of implementation:

› impulsive;

› variable;

› long-term implementation.

The subjects of the regulation of the social behavior of the individual are society, small groups and the individual himself.

social status

The social status (from Latin 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 is a certain position in the social structure of a group or society, associated with other positions through a system of rights and obligations.

Sociologists distinguish several varieties of social statuses.:

1) Statuses determined by the position of the individual in the group - 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 evaluated 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 the time frame, the impact on the life of the individual as a whole - the main and non-main (episodic).

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

Episodic (minor) social statuses affect the details of a person's behavior (for example, a pedestrian, a passenger, a passer-by, a patient, a participant in a demonstration or strike, a reader, a listener, a TV viewer, etc.).

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

Prescribed (assigned) status - a social position that is pre-assigned to an individual by society, regardless of the merits of the individual (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 an academician, an Olympic champion, etc.).

Achieved (acquired) is 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 is the basis of its stratification. Certain statuses are prestigious, others are vice versa. This hierarchy formed under the influence of two factors:

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

b) the system of values characteristic of a given society.

If the prestige of any statuses is unreasonably high 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 is an assessment by society of the social significance of a particular status, enshrined in culture and public opinion.

Each individual can have a large number of statuses. The social status of the individual primarily affects its behavior. Knowing the social status of a person, one 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 commonly called a social role.

social role It is a status oriented behavior pattern.

A social role 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 notion that parents should take care of their children, that an employee should conscientiously carry out the work entrusted to him, has taken root in the public mind). But each person, depending on specific circumstances, accumulated life experience and other factors, fulfills a social role in his own way.

Applying for 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 a 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 specific manner of behavior and communication with people and is thus a collection of relationships unlike any other. In the role set, one can single out the main (typical) and situational social roles.

Examples of basic social roles:

1) a worker;

2) owner;

3) consumer;

4) a citizen;

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

Social roles can be institutionalized and conventional.

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

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

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

A man and a woman are also social roles, biologically predetermined and involving specific ways of behavior, fixed by social norms or customs.

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

Role behavior

From a social role as a model of behavior, one should distinguish between real role behavior, which means not socially expected, but the actual behavior of the performer of a particular role. And here much depends on the personal qualities of the individual, on the degree of assimilation of social norms by him, on his beliefs, attitudes, and value orientations.

Factors that determine the process of implementing social roles:

1) the biopsychological capabilities of a person that may contribute to or hinder the performance of a particular social role;

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

3) a personal pattern that determines the set of behavioral characteristics necessary for the successful fulfillment of the role;

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

In the process of implementing social roles, certain difficulties may arise associated with the need for a person to perform many roles in various situations → in some cases, a mismatch of social roles, the emergence of contradictions and conflict relations between them.

Any social role, according to T. Parsons, can be described using five main characteristics:

level of emotionality - some roles are emotionally restrained, others are relaxed;

method of obtaining - prescribed or achieved;

the scale of manifestation - strictly limited or blurry;

the degree of formalization - strictly established or arbitrary;

motivation - for the general profit or for personal benefit.