What is the social role. Personality as a subject of social relations
Ticket 8. The concept of social status. social role
The social status of a person- this is the social position that he occupies in the structure of society, the place that the individual occupies among other individuals.
Each person simultaneously has several social statuses in different social groups.
Types of social status:
natural status. Invariable, as a rule, the status received at birth: gender, race, nationality, belonging to a class or estate.
acquired status. The position in society achieved by the person himself. What a person achieves in the course of his life with the help of knowledge, skills and abilities: profession, position, title.
prescribed status. The status that a person acquires regardless of his desire (age, status in the family), it can change over the course of life.
The totality of all the statuses of a person that he possesses at the moment is called status set.
Natural status of the individual- essential and relatively stable characteristics of a person: a man, a woman, a child, a young man, an old man, etc.
Professional and official status is a social indicator that captures the social, economic and industrial position of a person in society. (engineer, chief technologist, shop manager, personnel manager, etc.)
social role is a set of actions that a person occupying a given status in the social system must perform.
Moreover, each status involves the performance of not one, but several roles. The set of roles, the fulfillment of which is prescribed by one status, is called role set.
The systematization of social roles was first developed by Parsons, who identified five grounds for classifying a particular role:
1. Emotionality. Some roles (for example, nurse, doctor, or police officer) require emotional restraint in situations that are usually accompanied by a violent manifestation of feelings (we are talking about illness, suffering, death).
2. Receipt method. How to get a role:
prescribed (roles of a man and a woman, a young man, an old man, a child, etc.);
achieved (the role of a schoolchild, student, worker, employee, husband or wife, father or mother, etc.).
3. Scale. By the scale of the role (that is, by the range of possible actions):
wide (the roles of husband and wife imply a huge number of actions and diverse behavior);
narrow (the roles of the seller and the buyer: gave money, received goods and change, said “thank you”).
4. Formalization. By the level of formalization (formality):
formal (based on legal or administrative norms: police officer, civil servant, official);
informal (arising spontaneously: the role of a friend, "the soul of the company", a merry fellow).
5. Motivation. By motivation (according to the needs and interests of the individual):
economic (the role of the entrepreneur);
political (mayor, minister);
personal (husband, wife, friend);
spiritual (mentor, educator);
religious (preacher);
There are usually four elements in the normal structure of a social role:
1) description of the type of behavior corresponding to this role;
2) instructions (requirements) associated with this behavior;
3) assessment of the performance of the prescribed role;
4) sanctions - the social consequences of a particular action within the framework of the requirements of the social system. Social sanctions by their nature can be moral, implemented directly by the social group through its behavior (contempt), or legal, political, environmental.
One and the same person performs many roles that may contradict each other, which leads to a role conflict.
Socio-role conflict - it is a contradiction either between the normative structures of social roles or between the structural elements of a social role.
The social role is a socially necessary type of social activity and a method of individual behavior. The concept of a social role was first proposed by American sociologists Mead and Linton back in the thirties of the last century.
The main types of social roles
The diversity of social groups and relations in their groups, as well as types of activities, became the basis for the classification of social statuses. Currently, there are types of social roles, such as: formal, interpersonal and socio-demographic. Formal social roles are related to the position that a person occupies in society. This refers to his occupation and profession. But interpersonal roles are directly related to different types of relationships. This category usually includes favorites, outcasts, leaders. As for socio-demographic roles, these are husband, son, sister, etc.
Characteristics of social roles
The American sociologist Talcott Parsons identified the main characteristics of social roles. These include: scale, method of obtaining, emotionality, motivation and formalization. As a rule, the scale of the role is determined by the range of interpersonal relationships. There is a directly proportional relationship here. For example, the social roles of husband and wife are very significant because a wide range of relationships are established between them.
If we talk about the method of obtaining a role, it depends on the inevitability of this role for the individual. Thus, the roles of a young man or an old man do not require any effort to acquire them. They are determined by the age of the person. And other social roles can be won during life when certain conditions are met.
Social roles can also differ in terms of emotionality. Each role has its own expression of emotions. Also, some roles involve the establishment of formal relationships between people, others - informal, and still others can combine those and other relationships.
Motivation depends on the needs and motives of a person. Different social roles may be due to certain motives. For example, when parents take care of their child, they are guided by a sense of care and love for him. The leader works for the benefit of some enterprise. It is also known that all social roles can be subject to public evaluation.
44. Social status and social role.
social status- the social position occupied by a social individual or social group in society or a separate social subsystem of society. It is determined by characteristics specific to a particular society, which can be economic, national, age and other characteristics. Social status is divided by skills, abilities, education.
Each person, as a rule, has not one, but several social statuses. Sociologists distinguish:
natural status- the status received by a person at birth (sex, race, nationality, biological stratum). In some cases, birth status may change: the status of a member of the royal family - from birth and as long as the monarchy exists.
acquired (achieved) status- the status that a person achieves due to his mental and physical efforts (work, connections, position, post).
prescribed (assigned) status- the status that a person acquires regardless of his desire (age, status in the family), it can change over the course of life. Prescribed status can be congenital or acquired.
social role is a set of actions that a person occupying a given status in the social system must perform. Each status usually includes a number of roles. The set of roles resulting from the published status is called a role set.
Social role should be considered in two aspects: role expectation and role performance. There is never a perfect match between these two aspects. But each of them is of great importance in the behavior of the individual. Our roles are defined primarily by what others expect of us. These expectations are associated with the status that the person has. If someone does not play a role in accordance with our expectation, then he enters into a certain conflict with society.
For example, a parent should take care of children, a close friend should be not indifferent to our problems, etc.
Role requirements (prescriptions, provisions and expectations of appropriate behavior) are embodied in specific social norms grouped around social status.
The main link between role expectations and role behavior is the character of the individual.
Because each person plays multiple roles in many different situations, conflict can arise between roles. A situation in which a person is faced with the need to satisfy the requirements of two or more incompatible roles is called role conflict. Role conflicts can arise both between roles and within one role.
For example, a working wife finds that the demands of her main job may conflict with her domestic duties; or a married student must reconcile the demands on him as a husband with the demands made on him as a student; or a police officer sometimes has to choose between doing his job or arresting a close friend. An example of a conflict occurring within the same role is the position of a leader or public figure who publicly proclaims one point of view, and in a narrow circle declares himself a supporter of the opposite, or an individual who, under pressure of circumstances, plays a role that does not meet either his interests or his interests. internal settings.
As a result, we can say that every personality in modern society, due to inadequate role training, as well as constantly occurring cultural changes and the multiplicity of roles played by it, experiences role tension and conflict. However, it has mechanisms of unconscious defense and conscious involvement of social structures in order to avoid the dangerous consequences of social role conflicts.
45. Social inequality. Ways and means to overcome it Inequality in society can have 2 sources: natural and social. People differ in physical strength, endurance, etc. These differences lead to the fact that they achieve results and thus occupy a different position in society. But over time, natural inequality is supplemented by social inequality, which consists in the possibility of obtaining social benefits that are not associated with a contribution to the public domain. For example, unequal pay for equal work. Ways to overcome: due to the conditional nature of the social. inequality, it can and must be abolished in the name of equality. Equality is understood as personal equality before God and the law, equality of opportunities, living conditions, health, etc. Currently, supporters of the theory of functionalism believe that the social. inequality is a tool that helps ensure that the most important and responsible tasks are carried out by people who are talented and prepared. Supporters of the theory of conflicts believe that the views of the functionalists are an attempt to justify the statuses that have developed in society and such a situation in which people who control social values have the opportunity to receive benefits for themselves. The question of social inequality is closely intertwined with the concept of social. justice. This concept has 2 interpretations: objective and subjective. Subjective interpretation comes from the attribution of social. justice to legal categories, with the help of which a person gives an assessment that approves or condemns the processes taking place in society. The second position (objective) comes from the principle of equivalence, i.e. reciprocity in relationships between people.
These are the mechanisms of socialization. The concepts of social status, role and role behavior are distinguished.
Social status is the position of the subject in the system of interpersonal relations, which determines his duties, rights and privileges. It is established by society. Social relationships are confused.
The social role is associated with status, these are the norms of behavior of a person occupying a certain status.
Role behavior is a specific use of a social role by a person. This reflects his personal characteristics.
He proposed the concept of the social role of Mead at the end of the 19th - 20th centuries. A person becomes a Personality when they learn to enter the role of another person.
Each role has a structure:
- Model of human behavior on the part of society.
- A system of representing a person how he should behave.
- The actual observable behavior of a person holding this status.
In case of mismatch between these components, a role conflict arises.
1. Inter-role conflict. A person is a performer of many roles, the requirements of which are incompatible or he does not have the strength, time to perform these roles well. At the heart of this conflict lies an illusion.
2. Intra-role conflict. When there are different requirements for the performance of one role by different representatives of social groups. The stay of intra-role conflict is very dangerous for the Personality.
The social role is the fixation of a certain position that this or that individual occupies in the system of social relations. A role is understood as “a function, a normatively approved pattern of behavior expected from everyone occupying a given position” (Kon). These expectations do not depend on the consciousness and behavior of a particular individual; their subject is not the individual, but society. What is essential here is not only and not so much the fixation of rights and obligations, but the connection of the social role with certain types of social activity of the Personality. The social role is “a socially necessary type of social Activity and a way of behavior of the Personality” (Bueva). A social role always bears the stamp of social assessment: society can either approve or disapprove of certain social roles, sometimes approval or disapproval can be differentiated by different social groups, role assessment can acquire completely different meanings in accordance with the social experience of a particular social group .
In reality, each individual performs not one but several social roles: he can be an accountant, a father, a trade union member, and so on. A number of roles are assigned to a person at birth, others are acquired during lifetime. However, the role itself does not determine the Activity and the behavior of each particular carrier in detail: everything depends on how much the individual learns, internalizes the role. The act of internalization is determined by a number of individual psychological characteristics of each specific bearer of a given role. Therefore, social relations, although they are essentially role-playing, impersonal relations, in reality, in their concrete manifestation, acquire a certain “personal coloring”. Each social role does not mean an absolute set of behavior patterns, it always leaves a certain "range of possibilities" for its performer, which can be conditionally called a certain "role performance style".
Social differentiation is inherent in all forms of human existence. The behavior of the Personality is explained by social inequality in society. It is affected by:
- social background;
- ethnicity;
- the level of education;
- position;
- prof. belonging;
- power;
- income and wealth;
- lifestyle, etc.
Role play is individual. Linton proved that the role has a socio-cultural conditionality.
There is also a definition that a social role is a social function of a Personality.
It should be noted that there are several points of view:
- Shebutani is a conventional role. Separates the concepts of conventional role and social role.
- A set of social norms that society encourages or forces to master.
Types of roles:
- psychological or interpersonal (in the system of subjective interpersonal relations). Categories: leaders, preferred, not accepted, outsiders;
- social (in the system of objective social relations). Categories: professional, demographic.
- active or actual - currently being executed;
- latent (hidden) - a person is potentially a carrier, but not at the moment
- conventional (official);
- spontaneous, spontaneous - arise in a specific situation, not due to requirements.
Relationship between role and behavior:
F. Zimbardo (1971) conducted an experiment (students and prison) and found that the role strongly influences the behavior of a person. The phenomenon of the absorption of a person's personality by a role. Role prescriptions shape human behavior. The phenomenon of deindividualization is the absorption of the Personality into a social role, the Personality loses control over its individuality (for example, jailers).
Role behavior is an individual fulfillment of a social role - society sets the standard of behavior, and the fulfillment of a role has a personal coloring. The development of social roles is part of the process of socialization of the Personality, an indispensable condition for the “growth” of the Personality in a society of its own kind. In role behavior, role conflicts can arise: inter-role (a person is forced to perform several roles at the same time, sometimes contradictory), intra-role (they arise when different requirements are imposed on the bearer of one role from different social groups). Gender roles: male, female. Professional roles: boss, subordinate, etc.
Jung. Persona - role (ego, shadows, self). Do not merge with the "persona", so as not to lose the personal core (self).
Andreeva. A social role is a fixation of a certain position that this or that individual occupies in the system of social relations. A number of roles are prescribed from birth (to be a wife/husband). A social role always has a certain range of possibilities for its performer - the “style of role performance”. By assimilating social roles, a person assimilates social standards of behavior, learns to evaluate himself from the outside and exercise self-control. The personality acts (is) the mechanism that allows you to integrate your "I" and your own life, to carry out a moral assessment of your actions, to find your place in life. It is necessary to use role behavior as a tool for adaptation to certain social situations.
A social role is a social function of a person, a way of behaving people in accordance with accepted norms, depending on their status or position in society, in the system of interpersonal relations.
A social role is a method, algorithm, pattern of activity and behavior of an individual, voluntarily or forcibly accepted by it in the implementation of certain social functions, approved and prescribed by society or a social group. A social role is a model of a person's behavior determined by his status.
There is a point of view that a social role is a set of social norms that society or a group induces 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 particular job.
The 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 clearly 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 taken by him in a joint action is known. It seems that its conventional role, with very minor errors, can be considered a synonym for 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. Duty, he notes, is what the subject feels compelled to do, based on the role he plays, and other people expect and require him to do in a certain way. However, it is impossible to completely separate the pattern from behavior: it is behavior that ultimately serves as a measure of whether a conventional role is adequately or inadequately realized.
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 different degrees of manifestation of emotionality; way of obtaining: some roles are prescribed, others are won; structured: some roles are formed and strictly limited, others are blurred; formalization: part of the roles is implemented in strictly established patterns, algorithms set from the outside or by the subject himself, the other is implemented spontaneously, creatively; motivation: a system of personal needs that are satisfied by the very fact of performing roles.
Social roles are distinguished by their significance. The role is objectively set by the social position, regardless of the individual characteristics of the person occupying this position. The performance of a social role must comply with accepted social norms and expectations (expectation) of others.
There is practically no complete coincidence between role expectation and role performance. The quality of the performance of the role depends on many conditions, especially the correspondence of the role to the interests and needs of the individual. An individual who does not live up to expectations enters into a 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 a son and a friend, cannot simultaneously meet their expectations. Role conflict is the experience by the subject of the 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 conflicting requirements for the behavior of the individual in different social roles, and even more so - the water social role;
Intra-role: arises as a result of contradictions in the requirements for the performance of a social role by different participants in the interaction;
Personal-role: arises due to a mismatch 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 a new social situation.
Each person has a certain idea of how he will perform this or that role. Different roles are important to the individual in different ways.
The role structure of the personality 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 be conducive to one social role and not contribute to the choice of other social roles. Role expectations are also not random situational factors, they follow from the requirements of the social, including corporate, system.
Depending on the norms and expectations attributed to a particular social role, the latter can be:
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);
Played roles (the observed behavior of a person with a given status in relation to another person with a different status).
There is a normative structure for the performance of a social role, which consists of:
Descriptions of behavior (characteristic of this role);
Prescriptions (requirements for this introduction);
Evaluation of the 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 combination 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 everywhere and everywhere, even where it is absolutely not required. It happens that different social roles inherent in the same subject have a different rank, different personal significance, relevance. In other words, the subject does not identify himself equally with all his roles: with some, personally significant, - more, with others - less. There is such a strong distancing from the role that we 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 manifests internal and external conflicts.
Various roles are mastered in the process of socialization. As an example, here is the role repertoire of a small group:
Leader: a member of the group, for whom the rest recognize the right to make responsible decisions in situations that are significant for it, decisions that affect the interests of group members and determine the direction and nature of the activities and behavior of the entire group (more on this in the topic “Leadership as a socio-psychological phenomenon”) ;
Expert: a group member who has special knowledge, abilities, skills that the group requires or which the group simply respects;
Passive and adaptable members: they tend to maintain their anonymity;
- "extreme" member of the group: lagging behind everyone due to personal limitations or fears;
Opponent: an oppositionist who actively opposes the leader;
Martyr: crying out for help and refusing it;
Moralist: member of the group who is always right;
Interceptor: a party member who seizes the initiative from the leader;
Favorite: a member of the group, awakening tender feelings and constantly in need of protection;
Aggressor;
Jester;
provocateur;
Defender;
whiner;
Rescuer;
Pedant;
Victim, etc.
The group is always striving to expand the repertoire of roles. The individual performance of a role by a person has a personal coloring, which depends on his knowledge and ability to be in this 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).
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