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 zones 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.
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.
social role
Social role- a model of human behavior, objectively set by the social position of the individual in the system of social, public and personal relations. A social role is not something outwardly associated with social status, but an expression in action of the agent's social position. In other words, a social role is "the behavior that is expected of a person holding a certain status".
History of the term
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, a “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 "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 what happens. selection of people for 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" turn out to be poorly compatible. 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, role conflicts that arise in situations where an individual is required to simultaneously perform several roles with conflicting requirements have become widespread in modern society. Irwin 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.
Concept definition
social role- a dynamic characteristic of a social position, expressed in a set of behaviors that are consistent with social expectations (role expectations) and are set by special norms (social prescriptions) addressed from the corresponding group (or several groups) to the owner of a certain social position. The holders of a social position expect that the fulfillment of special prescriptions (norms) results in regular and therefore predictable behavior, on which the behavior of other people can be guided. Thanks to this, regular and continuously planned social interaction (communicative interaction) is possible.
Types of social roles
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.
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 a social role
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.
Motivation depends on the needs and motives of the person. Different roles are due to different motives. Parents, caring for the welfare of their child, are guided primarily by a feeling of love and care; the leader works in the name of the cause, etc.
Role conflicts
Role conflicts arise when the duties of the role are not fulfilled due to subjective reasons (unwillingness, inability).
see also
Bibliography
- "Games that people play" E. Bern
Notes
Links
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010 .
- Chachba, Alexander Konstantinovich
- Fantozzi (film)
See what "Social role" is in other dictionaries:
SOCIAL ROLE- a normatively approved, relatively stable pattern of behavior (including actions, thoughts and feelings) reproduced by an individual depending on social status or position in society. The concept of "role" was introduced independently of each other ... ... The latest philosophical dictionary
social role- a stereotypical model of human behavior, objectively set by the social position of the individual in the system of social or personal relations. The role is defined by: title; the position of the individual; the function performed in the system of social relations; and… … Glossary of business terms
social role- socialinis vaidmuo statusas T sritis švietimas apibrėžtis Žmogaus elgesio būdų visuma, būdinga kuriai nors veiklos sričiai. Visuomeninis individo statusas (užimama vieta, pareigos ir atsakomybė) sukelia lūkestį, kad vaidmuo bus atliktas pagal… … Enciklopedinis edukologijos žodynas
social role- socialinis vaidmuo statusas T sritis Kūno kultūra ir sportas apibrėžtis Laikymasis normų, nustatančių, kaip turi elgtis tam tikros socialinės padėties žmogus. atitikmenys: engl. social role mode vok. sociale Rolle, f rus. Role; social role … Sporto terminų žodynas
social role- socialinis vaidmuo statusas T sritis Kūno kultūra ir sportas apibrėžtis Socialinio elgesio modelis, tam tikras elgesio pavyzdys, kurio tikimasi iš atitinkamą socialinę padėtį užimančio žmogaus. atitikmenys: engl. social role mode vok. soziale… … Sporto terminų žodynas
social role- (see Social role) ... human ecology
social role- A normatively approved by society image of behavior expected from everyone occupying a given social position. Social roles typical for a given society are acquired by a person in the process of his socialization. S.r. directly related to... Dictionary of sociolinguistic terms
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.
In sociology, the concept of a social role has appeared since the end of the 19th century, although officially this term appeared only at the end of the 20th century within the framework of R. Linton's theory.
This science considers a society or other organized group as a collection of individuals with a certain status and behavior pattern. What is meant by the concepts of social statuses and roles, as well as what significance they have for a person, we will describe further and give examples.
Definition
For sociology, the term "social role" means a model of behavior expected from a person that would correspond to the rights and normative duties established by society. That is, this concept considers the relationship between the function of the individual and its position in society or interpersonal relationships.
It can also be said that a social role is a certain algorithm of actions prescribed to a person by society, which he must follow in order to carry out useful activities in society. At the same time, a person tries on a model of behavior or a prescribed algorithm of actions either voluntarily or forcibly.
Usually this concept is considered as one of the dynamic aspects of the status of an individual. Acting as a member of a society or group and taking responsibility for the performance of certain functions, a person must follow the rules established by this very group. This is expected of him by the rest of the community.
If we consider the concept of a social role on the example of an organization, then we can understand that the manager of an enterprise, training personnel, and persons receiving knowledge are an active organized community, in which the rules and regulations are prescribed for each participant. In an educational institution, the director gives orders to which teachers must obey.
For each participant in role relations, the prescribed normative requirements and individual shades of the status received by him are known. Therefore, the model of human behavior in a particular social circle is expected for the rest of the members of this group. This means that other members of the community can largely predict the nature of the actions of each of its members.
Classification and varieties
Within the framework of its scientific direction, this concept has its own classification. So, social roles are divided into types:
In turn, this type is divided into the main socio-demographic models of behavior, where there are such social roles in the family as husband and wife, daughter, son, granddaughter, grandson, etc. If we take the biological component as a basis, then we can also distinguish such social roles of the individual as a woman / man.
2. Interpersonal - roles determined by the relationship of people in limited conditions and the individual characteristics of each of them. These include any relationship between people, including conflict, arising on the basis of emotional manifestations. In this case, the gradation may look like this: idol, leader, ignored, privileged, offended, etc.
These types of social roles exist in every organized community, and there is a clear relationship between the duration of the existence of the group and the likelihood of its typical manifestations in the behavior of the participants. It is worth noting that it is extremely difficult to get rid of the stereotype that has developed over the years, familiar to a person and society, over time.
Considering this topic, one cannot ignore the classification according to the characteristics of each specific role. They were able to highlight the well-known sociologist from America T. Parsons in order to get the most complete idea of the term "social role of the individual." For each model, he proposed four distinctive properties at once.
1. Scale. This characteristic depends on the breadth of interpersonal relationships observed between members of a particular group. The closer the communication between people, the greater the significance in such relationships. Here is a good example of the relationship between husband and wife.
Gender representations of a person regarding his role are fixed by the school. The biological characteristics of the individual and the gender stereotypes that have developed in society predetermine further formation under the influence of the environment.
It would be appropriate to note that at present the model of behavior is not so tied to the characteristic manifestations of a particular sex than before. Thus, the social role of a woman now includes not only the duties of a mother and a housewife, but also extends to other areas.
These are models prescribed by society for each person who will not have to make an effort to receive justification from the environment. As achieved roles, one can consider the results of an individual's activity, indicating his social status (for example, career growth).
3. The degree of formalization, on which the formation of the personality and its functions depend. Regarding this criterion, the social status of a person can be formed under the influence of regulatory requirements, or it can develop arbitrarily. For example, the relationship between people in the military unit is regulated by the charter, while friends are guided by personal feelings and emotions.
4. Type of motivation. Each person, when choosing a model of behavior, is guided by a personal motive. It can be financial gain, career advancement, the desire to be loved, etc. In psychology, there are two types of motivation - external, which arises under the influence of the environment, and internal, which the subject determines for himself.
The process of choosing and becoming a role
The role of a person in the social environment does not arise spontaneously. The process of its formation goes through several stages, culminating in the individual in society.
At the next stage of development, the social personality is expected to be educated. Throughout almost the entire life, an individual receives new skills and knowledge from educators, teachers, educators and, of course, parents. As the individual grows older, the individual will receive new information from his environment, from the media and other sources.
An equally important component of the socialization of the individual is education. Here the main character is the person himself, choosing the most typical skills for himself and the direction for further development.
The next stage of socialization is protection. It implies a set of processes aimed at reducing the significance of factors that could injure a person in the process of his formation. Using certain social methods of protection, the subject will protect himself from the environment and conditions in which he will be morally uncomfortable.
The processes by which an individual's social role and social status are determined are very complex. But without them, a person cannot become a full-fledged personality, which is why they are so significant in everyone's life. Sociologists argue that there are two phases that contribute to the adaptation of the individual to his social role:
- Adaptation. In this period, a person learns the rules and norms of behavior established by society. Mastering new laws, a person begins to behave accordingly.
- Interiorization. It provides for the adoption of new conditions and rules while abandoning the old foundations.
But "failures" in the process of socialization of the individual are also possible. Often they occur against the background of the unwillingness or inability of the subject to fulfill the conditions and requirements that the social role of a person in society provides.
The definition of conflict in this case is tantamount to a complex of complex emotional states. They can arise in the subject due to the discrepancy or inconsistency of the requirements placed on him by different social circles, of which he is a member.
At the same time, all the roles of a person are very important for him. At the same time, he can identify the significance of each of them in completely different ways. The individual manifestation of social roles by the subject has a specific shade, which directly depends on the acquired knowledge and experience, as well as on the desire and desire of a person to meet the expectations of the society of which he is a member. Author: Elena Suvorova
