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

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:

1. Model of human behavior on the part of society.
2. A system of representing a person how he should behave.
3. 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:

1. Shebutani is a conventional role. Separates the concepts of conventional role and social role.
2. 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.

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.

1. 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” ...
2. 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."
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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?

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

[edit]

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The current version of the page has not yet been reviewed by experienced contributors and may differ significantly from the version reviewed on March 20, 2012; verification requires 1 edit.

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. In other words, a social role is "the behavior that is expected of a person holding 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, 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.

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.

§ 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 ... Man and woman are also social roles, biologically predetermined and involving specific ways of behavior, fixed by 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.

[edit] Characteristics of the 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.

[edit] Role conflicts

Role conflicts arise when the duties of the role are not fulfilled due to subjective reasons (unwillingness, inability).

Motivation is divided into externally organized and internally organized (or, as Western psychologists write, external and internal). The first is connected with the influence on the formation of the motive of the action or act of other people by the subject (with the help of advice, suggestion, etc.). How this intervention will be perceived by the subject depends on the degree of his suggestibility, conformity and negativism.

Suggestibility- this is the tendency of the subject to uncritical (involuntary) compliance with the influences of other people, their advice, instructions, even if they contradict his own beliefs and interests.

This is an unconscious change in one's behavior under the influence of suggestion. Suggestible subjects are easily infected by the moods, attitudes and habits of other people. They are often imitative. Suggestibility depends both on the stable properties of a person - a high level of neuroticism, weakness of the nervous system (Yu. E. Ryzhkin, 1977), and on his situational states - anxiety, self-doubt, or emotional arousal.

Suggestibility is influenced by such personality traits as low self-esteem and a sense of inferiority, humility and devotion, an undeveloped sense of responsibility, timidity and shyness, gullibility, increased emotionality and impressionability, daydreaming, superstition and faith, a tendency to fantasize, unstable beliefs and uncritical thinking ( N. N. Obozov, 1997, etc.).

Increased suggestibility is typical for children, especially 10 years of age. This is explained by the fact that they still have poorly developed critical thinking, which reduces the degree of suggestibility. True, at the age of 5 and after 10, especially among older students, a decrease in suggestibility is noted (A.I. Zakharov (1998), see Fig. 9.1). By the way, the latter was noted in older adolescents at the end of the 19th century. A. Binet (1900) and A. Nechaev (1900).

The degree of suggestibility of women is higher than that of men (V. A. Petrik, 1977; L. Levenfeld, 1977).

Another stable characteristic of personality is conformity, the beginning of the study of which was laid by S. Asch (S. Asch, 1956).

Conformity- this is a person's tendency to voluntarily consciously (arbitrarily) change their expected reactions in order to get closer to the reaction of others due to the recognition of their greater rightness. At the same time, if the intention or social attitudes that a person had coincide with those of those around him, then there is no question of conformity.

The concept of "conformity" in Western psychological literature has many meanings. For example, R. Crutchfield (R. Crutchfield, 1967) speaks of "internal conformity", which is close to suggestibility by description.

Conformity is also called intra-group suggestion or suggestibility (note that some authors, for example, A. E. Lichko et al. (1970) do not equate suggestibility and conformity, noting the lack of dependence between them and the difference in the mechanisms of their manifestation). Other researchers distinguish between two types of conformity: "acceptance", when the individual's views, attitudes, and corresponding behavior change, and "consent", when a person follows the group without sharing its opinion (in Russian science this is called conformism). If a person is inclined to constantly agree with the opinion of the group, he is a conformist; if he tends to disagree with the opinion imposed on him, then - to non-conformists (according to the data of foreign psychologists, about a third of people belong to the latter).

Distinguish between external and internal conformity. In the first case, a person returns to his former opinion as soon as the group pressure on him disappears. With internal conformity, he retains the accepted group opinion even after the pressure from outside has ceased.

The degree of subordination of a person to a group depends on many external (situational) and internal (personal) factors, which (mostly external) were systematized by A.P. Sopikov (1969). These include:

Age and sex differences: there are more conformists among children and young men than among adults (the maximum of conformity is noted at 12 years old, its noticeable decrease after 1-6 years of age); women are more susceptible to group pressure than men;

The difficulty of the problem being solved: the more difficult it is, the more the person submits to the group; the more complex the task and the more ambiguous the decisions made, the higher the conformity;

The status of a person in a group: the higher it is, the less this person shows conformity;

The nature of the group affiliation: the subject entered the group of his own free will or under duress; in the latter case, his psychological submission is often only superficial;

The attractiveness of the group for the individual: the subject lends itself more easily to the reference group;

Goals facing a person: if his group competes with another group, the conformity of the subject increases; if members of the group compete with each other, it decreases (the same is observed when defending a group or personal opinion);

The presence and effectiveness of a connection confirming the correctness or infidelity of a person's conforming actions: when an action is wrong, a person can return to his point of view.

With pronounced conformism, a person’s decisiveness increases when making a decision and forming intentions, but at the same time, the feeling of his individual responsibility for an act committed together with others weakens. This is especially noticeable in groups that are socially not mature enough.

Although the influence of situational factors often prevails over the role of individual differences, there are still people who are easily persuaded in any situation (S. Hovland, I. Janis, 1959; I. Janis, P. Field, 1956).

Such people have certain personality traits. It has been revealed, for example, that the most conforming children suffer from an "inferiority complex" and lack "ego strength" (Hartup, 1970). They tend to be more dependent and anxious than their peers and are sensitive to the opinions and hints of others. Children with such personality traits tend to constantly control their behavior and speech, that is, they have a high level of self-control. They care about how they look in the eyes of others, they often compare themselves with their peers.

According to F. Zimbardo (P. Zimbardo, 1977), shy people who have low self-esteem are easily persuaded. It is no coincidence, therefore, that a connection has been found between a person's low self-esteem and his easy susceptibility to persuasion from the outside (W. McGuiere, 1985). This happens due to the fact that they have little respect for their opinions and attitudes, therefore, they have a weakened motivation to defend their beliefs. They presume they are wrong.

R. Nurmi (R. Nurmi, 1970) cites data according to which rigidity and a weak nervous system are inherent in the conformal.

True, it should be borne in mind in what situation conformity manifests itself - in a normative or informational one. This may also affect her connections with other personality traits. In the information situation, there is a noticeable tendency to link conformity with extraversion (N. N. Obozov, 1997).

The social status of a person- this is the social position that he occupies in the structure of society. Simply put, it is the place that an individual occupies among other individuals. For the first time this concept was used by the English lawyer Henry Maine in the middle of the 19th century.

Each person simultaneously has several social statuses in different social groups. Consider the main types of social status and examples:

1. born status. Invariable, as a rule, the status received at birth: gender, race, nationality, belonging to a class or estate.
2. acquired status. What a person achieves in the course of his life with the help of knowledge, skills and abilities: profession, position, title.
3. prescribed status. The status that a person acquires due to factors beyond his control; for example - age (an elderly man can do nothing with the fact that he is elderly). This status during life changes and passes into another.

Social status gives a person certain rights and obligations. For example, having reached the status of a father, a person receives the obligation to take care of his child.

The totality of all the statuses of a person that he possesses at the moment is called status set.

There are situations when a person in one social group occupies a high status, and in another - a low one. For example, on the football field you are Cristiano Ronaldo, and at the desk you are a loser. Or there are situations when the rights and obligations of one status interfere with the fulfillment of the rights and obligations of another. For example, the President of Ukraine, who is engaged in commercial activities, which he does not have the right to do under the constitution. Both of these cases are examples of status incompatibilities (or status mismatches).

The concept of social role.

social role is a set of actions that a person is obliged to perform according to the achieved social status. More specifically, it is a pattern of behavior that results from the status associated with that role. Social status is a static concept, while social role is dynamic; as in linguistics: the status is the subject, and the role is the predicate. For example, the best player in the world in 2014 is expected to perform well. An excellent game is a role.

Types of social role.

generally accepted system of social roles developed by the American sociologist Talcott Parsons. He divided the types of roles according to four main characteristics:

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”, a couple more possible actions and, in fact, that’s all).

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.).

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).

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);

In the structure of a social role, an important point is the expectation by others of a certain behavior from a person according to his status. In case of non-fulfillment or one's role, various sanctions are provided (depending on a specific social group) up to the deprivation of a person of his social status.

Thus the concepts social status and role are inextricably linked, since one follows from the other.