Social role - concept, examples, types, characteristics

People have many statuses and belong to many social groups, the prestige of which in society is not the same. A person looks at the world and treats other people in accordance with his status. The more social roles an individual is able to reproduce, the more adapted to life he is. Thus, the process of personality development often acts as the dynamics of mastering social roles.

A person interacts with different people and social groups every day. It rarely happens that he fully interacts only with members of one group, for example a family, but at the same time he can also be a member of a work collective, public organizations, etc. Entering simultaneously into many social groups, he occupies the corresponding position in each of them. position determined by relationships with other members of the group. To analyze the degree of inclusion of an individual in various groups, as well as the positions he occupies in each of them, the concepts of social status and social role are used.

Status (from Latin status - position, condition) - the position of a citizen.

Social status is usually defined as the position of an individual or group in a social system, which has characteristics specific to this system. Each social status has a certain prestige.

All social statuses can be divided into two main types: those that are prescribed to the individual by society or a group, regardless of his abilities and efforts, and those that the individual achieves through his own efforts.

What does the concept of social role include?

Social roles are characterized by dynamism. In other words, throughout one’s life a person tries on different social roles. A son or daughter must meet certain expectations, while other requirements are imposed on employees and mothers.

The structural content of the concept of social role consists of the following elements:

behavioral reactions , his speech, actions, actions;
The appearance of a person. Each social role has its own requirements in terms of appearance, and a person must meet them. The doctor should be in a robe, the policeman in uniform, the builder in a helmet;
Human motivation. Members of a social group approve or disapprove of the behavioral reactions demonstrated by a person, and this also applies to his internal aspirations. The assessment of motives is carried out on the basis of the expectations of members of a social group, which are formed on the generally accepted understanding. If a girl who gets married aims to obtain material gain, then this behavior is condemned by society. If the source of her motivation is love and feelings, then society will positively perceive her actions.

Examples of social roles

At the present stage of development of society, human life is characterized by diversity. A large number of life realities makes it possible to highlight many examples, indicating what society expects from a person in accordance with a certain social role:

As part of their interaction with their parents, a son or daughter is expected to be obedient until adulthood and help in old age;
A person crossing the road must follow traffic rules and not create a dangerous situation. The driver must also follow the prescribed rules to avoid an accident or a fine;
A university student must attend lectures, pass sessions, undergo internships, assimilate and consolidate educational material, show respect to teachers during lectures and behave diligently while studying;
The status of a friend implies providing a friend with help and support in difficult moments of life, defending and sharing his interests and worldview;
A parent must take care of the child, satisfy his basic needs, monitor his health, implement an educational function, convey knowledge about the surrounding reality, and relay the norms accepted in society.

In the mechanism, each person can implement several social roles depending on the situation. Their distribution can be carried out either in a pre-established order, or they can arise unexpectedly, which is due to changed realities. After signing an employment contract, the boss expects the employee to follow and adhere to the specific rules set by the company. In turn, everyday phenomena force a person to become a participant in events that he did not plan to participate in at all.

Variety of statuses

There is a wide range of statuses: prescribed, achieved, mixed, personal, professional, economic, political, demographic, religious and consanguineous, which belong to the variety of basic statuses.
In addition to them, there are a huge number of episodic, non-main statuses. These are the statuses of a pedestrian, passer-by, patient, witness, participant in a demonstration, strike or crowd, reader, listener, television viewer, etc. As a rule, these are temporary states. The rights and obligations of holders of such statuses are often not registered in any way. They are generally difficult to detect, say, in a passerby. But they exist, although they influence not the main, but the secondary traits of behavior, thinking and feeling. Thus, the status of a professor determines a lot in the life of a given person. What about his temporary status as a passerby or a patient? Of course not.

So, a person has basic (determining his life activity) and non-basic (affecting the details of behavior) statuses. The first are significantly different from the second.

Behind each status - permanent or temporary, basic or non-basic - there is a special social group or social category. Catholics, conservatives, engineers (main statuses) form real groups. For example, patients, pedestrians (non-primary statuses) form nominal groups or statistical categories. As a rule, holders of non-main statuses do not coordinate their behavior with each other in any way and do not interact.

People have many statuses and belong to many social groups, the prestige of which in society is not the same: businessmen are valued higher than plumbers or general workers; men have more social “weight” than women; belonging to a titular ethnic group in a state is not the same as belonging to a national minority, etc.

Over time, public opinion is developed, transmitted, supported, but, as a rule, no documents record a hierarchy of statuses and social groups, where some are valued and respected more than others.

A place in such an invisible hierarchy is called rank , which can be high, medium or low. Hierarchy can exist between groups within the same society (intergroup) and between individuals within the same group (intragroup). And a person’s place in them is also expressed by the term “rank”.

The discrepancy between statuses causes a contradiction in the intergroup and intragroup hierarchy, which arises under two circumstances:

when an individual occupies a high rank in one group and a low rank in the second;
when the rights and obligations of one person's status conflict with or interfere with the rights and obligations of another.

A highly paid official (high professional rank) will most likely also have a high family rank as a person who provides material wealth for the family.
But it does not automatically follow from this that he will have high ranks in other groups - among friends, relatives, colleagues. Although statuses do not enter into social relations directly, but only indirectly (through their bearers), they mainly determine the content and nature of social relations.

A person looks at the world and treats other people in accordance with his status. The poor despise the rich, and the rich disdain the poor. Dog owners do not understand people who love cleanliness and order on their lawns. A professional investigator, although unconsciously, divides people into potential criminals, law-abiding and witnesses. A Russian is more likely to show solidarity with a Russian than with a Jew or Tatar, and vice versa.

Political, religious, demographic, economic, professional statuses of a person determine the intensity, duration, direction and content of social relations of people.

Role (French role) is an image embodied by an actor.

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.

The social role consists of:

from role expectation (expectation) and
performance of this role (game).

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.

Let's look at some definitions of social role:

fixation of a separate position occupied by one or another individual in the system of social relations;
function, a normatively approved pattern of behavior expected of everyone occupying a given position;
a socially necessary type of activity and a way of personal behavior that bears the stamp of public evaluation (approval, condemnation, etc.);
behavior of an individual in accordance with his social status;
a generalized way of performing a certain social function, when a person is expected to perform certain actions;
a stable stereotype of behavior in certain social situations;
a set of objective and subjective expectations (expectations) derived from the socio-political, economic or any other structure of society;
social function of the individual, corresponding to the accepted ideas of people depending on their status or position in society, in the system of interpersonal relations;
the system of expectations existing in society regarding the behavior of an individual occupying a certain position in his interaction with other individuals;
a system of specific expectations towards himself of an individual occupying a certain position, i.e. how he represents the model of his own behavior in interaction with other individuals;
open, observable behavior of an individual occupying a certain position;
an idea of the prescribed pattern of behavior that is expected and required from a person in a given situation;
prescribed actions characteristic of those who occupy a certain social position;
a set of norms that determine how a person of a given social status should behave.

Thus, a social role is interpreted as an expectation, activity, behavior, idea, stereotype, social function, and even a set of norms. We consider the social role as a function of the social status of the individual, realized at the level of social consciousness in expectations, norms and sanctions in the social experience of a particular person.

Characteristics of the social role

Researcher Talcott Parsons, together with his colleagues, was able to systematize social roles in the middle of the last century. He identified five main characteristics of social roles:

Emotional component. A number of roles, including physician, psychologist, social worker, require emotional restraint in situations where, in most cases, people show strong emotions, we are talking about illness, suffering, and death. Such strict requirements in terms of emotional restraint are not imposed on relatives or friends;
Method of receipt. Some roles are the result of prescribed statuses. An example would be a child, teenager or adult - these are determined based on the person's age. Other roles must be earned or achieved, this may include the status of a qualified doctor, that is, to obtain it a person needs to invest time and effort, undergo training and practice;
Scale. A number of roles are limited to strictly defined aspects of interaction between representatives of social groups. For example, the roles of the doctor and the patient are limited to issues related to the treatment of the disease or rehabilitation after surgery. A broader relationship is established between the child and his parents, when parents make efforts to ensure the child’s comfort in solving a wide range of issues;
Formalization. Roles can be identified that emphasize interaction with people in accordance with established rules. For example, a library employee is engaged in issuing books for a strictly designated period, and demands a fine if the book is returned late. As part of other roles, special interactions are allowed with those with whom the person has formed personal relationships. For example, a person would not expect a brother, close friend, or parent to pay for any service rendered, but with a stranger payment would be a requirement;
Motivation. Each role is based on its own motivational component. For example, if we are talking about an enterprising person, then people expect him to implement actions and actions aimed at making a profit. At the same time, a social worker, a striking example is a social work specialist, carries out his activities for the public good, while personal interests recede into the background.

According to researchers, each social role is a combination of all the characteristics described above.

Formalization

This characteristic describes interpersonal relationships between role holders. Some roles accompany formal relationships, while others, in turn, are informal.

There are roles in which a combination of both formal and informal relationships is acceptable. For example, the head of an enterprise hired his friend for the position of deputy.

Often, formal relationships have every chance of being disrupted by informal ones. This usually happens when a person is overly sentimental and sensitive, or is not well-educated enough to maintain subordination and tact.

Types of social roles

There are several main classifications of social roles.

By type of social relations:

Social roles associated with a person’s status and professional activities. Such roles are characterized by depersonalization and independence from the performer (student, driver);
Social roles associated with interaction with people on an emotional level (idol, fan).

By type of social values:

Represented social roles are the expectations of a person and members of his social group;
Subjective social roles are a person’s ideas about his relationship to other people;
The social roles played are behavioral attitudes that depend on a person’s position in society.

By type of role:

Social roles prescribed by a public institution (woman - mother, daughter, wife, grandmother);
Conventional social roles resulting from the adoption of social agreement on a voluntary basis (professional).

Difference from the concept of “social status”

Social status is the position that a person occupies in society. A social role is a set of actions that must be implemented by a person endowed with a certain status.

Based on this, we can conclude that status is a position, and a role is a model of behavior associated with status.

You can read more about social status in this article.