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. This concept was first used by the English jurist Henry Maine in the mid-19th century.
Each person simultaneously has several social statuses in different social groups. Let's look at the main types of social status and examples:
- Natural status. As a rule, the status received at birth is unchanged: gender, race, nationality, class or estate.
- Acquired status. 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 due to factors beyond his control; for example - age (an elderly man cannot do anything about the fact that he is elderly). This status changes and changes over the course of life.
Social status gives a person certain rights and responsibilities. For example, having achieved the status of a father, a person receives the responsibility to care for his child.
The totality of all the statuses a person currently possesses 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, but at the desk you are a poor student. Or there are situations when the rights and responsibilities of one status interfere with the rights and responsibilities 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 incompatibility (or status mismatch).
The concept of social role.
Social role- this 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, but social role is dynamic; as in linguistics: status is the subject, and role is the predicate. For example, the best football player in the world in 2014 is expected to play well. Great acting is a role.
Types of social role.
generally accepted system of social roles developed by American sociologist Talcott Parsons. He divided types of roles according to four main characteristics:
By the scale of the role (that is, by the range of possible actions):
- broad (the roles of husband and wife involve a huge number of actions and varied behavior);
- narrow (roles of seller and 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 man and woman, young man, old man, child, etc.);
- achieved (the role of a schoolchild, student, worker, employee, husband or wife, father or mother, etc.).
By level of formalization (officiality):
- formal (based on legal or administrative norms: police officer, civil servant, official);
- informal (that arose spontaneously: the roles of a friend, “the soul of the party,” 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 of others of a certain behavior from a person according to his status. In case of failure to fulfill one’s role, various sanctions are provided (depending on the specific social group) up to and including depriving a person of his social status.
Thus, the concepts social status and role are inextricably linked, since one follows from the other.
In sociology, the concept of social role has appeared since the end of the 19th century, although this term officially appeared only at the end of the 20th century within the framework of the theory of R. Linton.
This science considers 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 meaning 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 responsibilities established by society. That is, this concept considers the connection between the function of an individual and its position in society or interpersonal relationships.
We can also say 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. In this case, 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 an individual’s status. When acting as a member of a society or group and accepting responsibility for performing certain functions, a person must follow the rules established by that very group. This is what the rest of the community expects from him.
If we consider the concept of a social role using the example of an organization, we can understand that the manager of an enterprise, training staff, and persons receiving knowledge are an active organized community, the norms and rules of which are prescribed for each participant. In an educational institution, the principal gives orders that teachers must obey.
For each participant in role relationships, the prescribed regulatory requirements and the individual shades of the status he has received are known. Therefore, the model of human behavior in a particular social circle is expected for other 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. Thus, social roles are divided into types:
In turn, this type is divided into basic socio-demographic patterns 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, we can also distinguish such social roles of the individual as woman/man.
2. Interpersonal – roles determined by the relationships between people in limited conditions and the individual characteristics of each of them. These include any relationship between people, including conflict, arising from 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 connection between the duration of the group's existence and the likelihood of typical manifestations in the behavior of its participants. It is worth noting that it is extremely difficult to get rid of a stereotype that has developed over the years, familiar to a person and society, over time.
When considering this topic, one cannot ignore the classification according to the characteristics of each specific role. The famous American sociologist T. Parsons was able to identify them in order to get the most complete understanding of the term “social role of the individual.” For each model, he immediately proposed four distinctive properties.
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 more significance there is in such relationships. Here you can give a clear example of the relationship between a husband and wife.
A person’s gender ideas regarding his role are reinforced by school. The biological characteristics of the individual and the gender stereotypes established in society predetermine further formation under the influence of the environment.
It would be appropriate to note that at present the behavior model is not as tied to the characteristic manifestations of a particular gender than before. Thus, the social role of women now includes not only the duties of mother and housewife, but also extends to other areas.
These are models prescribed by society for every person who will not have to make any effort to receive justification from the environment. The achieved roles can be considered the results of an individual’s activities, indicating his social status (for example, career growth).
3. The degree of formalization on which the formation of personality and its functions depends. Regarding this criterion, the social status of an individual can be formed under the influence of regulatory requirements, or it can develop arbitrarily. For example, relationships between people in a military unit are regulated by regulations, 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. This could 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 is determined by the subject himself.
The process of choosing and becoming a role
A person's role in a social environment does not arise spontaneously. The process of its formation goes through several stages, culminating with the individual in society.
At the next stage of development, the social personality awaits education. Throughout almost his entire life, an individual receives new skills and knowledge from educators, teachers, educators and, of course, parents. As an individual grows older, he will receive new information from his environment, from the media and other sources.
An equally important component of individual socialization 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 traumatize 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 the social role and social status of an individual are determined are very complex. But without them, a person cannot become a full-fledged person, which is why they are so significant in everyone’s life. Sociologists argue that there are two phases that contribute to an individual’s adaptation to his social role:
- Adaptation. During this period, a person learns the rules and norms of behavior established by society. By mastering new laws, a person begins to behave accordingly.
- Interiorization. It provides for the acceptance of new conditions and rules while simultaneously abandoning old principles.
But “failures” in the process of socialization of the individual are also possible. Often they occur against the background of the subject’s reluctance or inability to fulfill the conditions and requirements that the social role of a person in society provides for.
The definition of conflict in this case is tantamount to a complex of complex emotional states. They can arise in a subject due to a discrepancy or contradiction in the demands placed on him by different social circles of which he is a member.
At the same time, all a person’s roles are very important to 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 the person to meet the expectations of the society of which he is a member. Author: Elena Suvorova
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Social role- a model of human behavior, objectively specified 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 an individual to constantly change his behavior pattern to perform specific roles. In this regard, such neo-Marxists and neo-Freudians as T. Adorno, K. Horney and others in their works made a paradoxical conclusion: 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 Goffman, in his studies of interaction rituals, accepting and developing the basic theatrical metaphor, paid attention not so much to role prescriptions and passive adherence to them, but to the very processes of active construction and maintenance of “appearance” in the course of communication, to zones 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, types of 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, student, student, salesperson). These are standardized impersonal roles, built on the basis of rights and responsibilities, regardless of who plays these roles. There are socio-demographic roles: husband, wife, daughter, son, grandson... Man and woman are also social roles, biologically predetermined and presupposing specific modes of behavior, enshrined in social norms and customs.
§ Interpersonal roles associated with interpersonal relationships that are regulated at the emotional level (leader, offended, neglected, family idol, loved one, etc.).
In life, in interpersonal relationships, each person acts in some dominant social role, a unique social role as the most typical individual image, familiar to others. Changing a habitual image is extremely difficult both for the person himself and for the perception of the people around him. The longer a group exists, the more familiar the dominant social roles of each group member become to those around them and the more difficult it is to change the behavior pattern habitual to those around them.
[edit]Characteristics of a social role
The main characteristics of the social role were highlighted by the American sociologist Talcott Parsons. He proposed the following four characteristics of any role:
§ By scale. Some roles may be strictly limited, while others may be blurred.
§ By method of receipt. Roles are divided into prescribed and conquered (they are also called achieved).
§ According to the degree of formalization. Activities can take place either within strictly established limits or arbitrarily.
§ By type of motivation. The motivation can be personal profit, public good, etc.
Scope of the role depends on the range of interpersonal relationships. The larger the range, the larger the scale. For example, the social roles of spouses have a very large scale, since the widest 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 regulations and, in a certain sense, are formal. The participants in this social interaction are interested in a variety of aspects of each other’s lives, their relationships are practically unlimited. In other cases, when relationships are strictly defined by social roles (for example, the relationship between a seller and a buyer), interaction can only be carried out for a specific reason (in this case, purchases). Here the scope of the role is limited to a narrow range of specific issues and is small.
How to get a role depends on how inevitable the role is for the person. Thus, the roles of a young man, an old man, a man, a woman are automatically determined by the age and gender of a person and do not require special efforts to acquire them. There can only be a problem of compliance with one’s role, which already exists as a given. Other roles are achieved or even won during the course of a person's life and as a result of targeted special efforts. For example, the role of a student, researcher, professor, etc. These are almost all roles related to the profession and any achievements of a person.
Formalization as a descriptive characteristic of a social role is determined by the specifics of interpersonal relationships of the bearer of this role. Some roles involve the establishment of only formal relationships between people with strict regulation of rules of behavior; others, on the contrary, are only informal; still others may combine both formal and informal relationships. It is obvious that the relationship between a traffic police representative and a traffic rule violator 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 have been interacting for a while and the relationship has become relatively stable.
Motivation depends on the needs and motives of the person. Different roles are driven by different motives. Parents, caring for the well-being of their child, are guided primarily by a feeling of love and care; the leader works for the sake of the cause, etc.
[edit]Role conflicts
Role conflicts arise when the duties of a 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 associated with the influence on the subject’s formation of the motive for the action or deed of other people (with the help of advice, suggestion, etc.). The extent to which this intervention will be perceived by the subject depends on the degree of his suggestibility, conformity and negativism.
Suggestibility- this is the subject’s tendency 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, views and habits of other people. They are often prone to imitation. 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 personal characteristics as low self-esteem and feelings of inferiority, humility and devotion, an undeveloped sense of responsibility, timidity and shyness, gullibility, increased emotionality and impressionability, daydreaming, superstitiousness and faith, a tendency to fantasize, unstable beliefs and uncritical thinking ( N. N. Obozov, 1997, etc.).
Increased suggestibility is typical for children, especially 10-year-olds. This is explained by the fact that their critical thinking is still poorly developed, which reduces the degree of suggestibility. True, at the age of 5 and after 10, especially among older schoolchildren, there is a decrease in suggestibility (A.I. Zakharov (1998), see Fig. 9.1). By the way, the latter was noted among 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 personality characteristic is conformity, the study of which was initiated by S. Asch (1956).
Conformity- this is a person’s tendency to voluntarily consciously (arbitrarily) change his expected reactions in order to get closer to the reaction of others due to the recognition that they are more right. At the same time, if the intention or social attitudes that a person had coincide with those of those around him, then we are no longer talking about conformity.
The concept of “conformity” has many meanings in Western psychological literature. For example, R. Crutchfield (1967) speaks of “internal conformity,” which is described as close to suggestibility.
Conformity is also called intragroup 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 an individual changes his views, attitudes, and corresponding behavior, and “agreement,” when a person follows a group without sharing its opinion (in Russian science this is called conformism). If a person tends 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 he is classified as a nonconformist (the latter, according to foreign psychologists, includes about a third of people).
There are external and internal conformity. In the first case, a person returns to his previous opinion as soon as the group pressure on him disappears. With internal conformity, he retains the accepted group opinion even after the pressure from the outside has ceased.
The degree of a person’s subordination 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 gender differences: among children and youth there are more conformists than among adults (maximum conformity is noted at 12 years of age, its noticeable decrease is after 1-6 years); women are more susceptible to group pressure than men;
Difficulty of the problem being solved: the more difficult it is, the more the individual submits to the group; the more complex the task and the more ambiguous the decisions made, the higher the conformity;
A person’s status in a group: the higher he 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 subjugation is often only superficial;
Attractiveness of the group for the individual: the subject lends himself more easily to the reference group;
Goals facing a person: if his group competes with another group, the subject's conformity increases; if group members compete with each other, it decreases (the same is observed when defending a group or personal opinion);
The presence and effectiveness of a connection that confirms the correctness or incorrectness 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 when making decisions and forming intentions increases, 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 not socially 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 have insufficient “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 (1977), shy people who have low self-esteem are easily persuaded. It is no coincidence that a connection has been identified between a person’s low self-esteem and his easy susceptibility to outside persuasion (W. McGuire, 1985). This happens due to the fact that they have little respect for their opinions and attitudes, therefore, their motivation to defend their beliefs is weakened. They consider themselves wrong in advance.
R. Nurmi (1970) provides data according to which conformers are characterized by rigidity and a weak nervous system.
It should, however, be kept in mind in what situation conformity manifests itself - in a normative or informational one. This may also affect its connections with other personality traits. In an information situation, there is a noticeable tendency to connect conformity with extraversion (N. N. Obozov, 1997).
Social role is the fixation of a certain position occupied by one or another individual in the system of social relations.
There are 2 types of social relations in society: formal (conventional) – regulated by legislation and social status; informal (interpersonal) – regulated by feelings.
A social role is a socially necessary type of social activity and a way of behavior of an individual that bears the stamp of social evaluation.
The concept of social role was first proposed by American sociologists R. Linton and J. Mead. (in the 30s of the last century)
Each individual performs not one, but several social roles.
Types of social roles:
1. formal social roles (teacher, cook)
2. interpersonal social roles (friend, leader, enemy)
3. socio-demographic roles (mother, man, sister)
Characteristics of a social role
The main characteristics of a social role are highlighted by the American sociologist T. Parsons: scale, method of obtaining, emotionality, formalization, motivation. The scope of the role depends on the range of interpersonal relationships. The larger the range, the larger the scale. For example, the social roles of spouses have a very large scale, since the widest range of relationships is established between husband and wife.
The way a role is acquired depends on how inevitable the role is for the person. Thus, the roles of a young man, an old man, a man, a woman are automatically determined by the age and gender of a person and do not require special efforts to acquire them. Other roles are achieved or even won during a person's life and as a result of special efforts.
Social roles differ significantly in their level of emotionality. Each role carries within itself certain possibilities for the emotional manifestation of its subject.
Formalization as a descriptive characteristic of a social role is determined by the specifics of interpersonal relationships of the bearer of this role. Some roles involve the establishment of only formal relationships between people with strict regulation of rules of behavior; others are only informal; still others may combine both formal and informal relationships.
Motivation depends on the needs and motives of a person. Different roles are driven by different motives. Parents, caring for the well-being of their child, are guided primarily by a feeling of love and care; the leader works for the sake of the cause, etc.
All social roles are subject to public assessment (not the individual, but the type of activity) and are associated with rights and responsibilities. If there is harmony of rights and responsibilities, it means that a person has correctly learned his social role.
The influence of social role on personality development
The influence of social role on personality development is great. Personality development is facilitated by its interaction with persons playing a range of roles, as well as by its participation in the largest possible role repertoire. The more social roles an individual is able to reproduce, the more adapted to life he is. The process of personality development often acts as the dynamics of mastering social roles.
Role conflicts
Role conflict is a situation in which an individual with a certain status is faced with incompatible expectations.
The situation of role conflict is caused by the fact that the individual is unable to fulfill the requirements of the role.
In role theories, it is customary to distinguish between two types of conflicts: inter-role and intra-role.
Functions of social role
In sociology, functions indicate what consequences (for society and its individual members) actions performed by a particular person have.
Personal behavior, priorities and attitudes, choices and emotions are determined by a number of factors:
- position in society;
- environmental conditions;
- type of activity performed;
- internal qualities of the individual, the spiritual world.
Due to the fact that people need each other to satisfy their individual needs, certain relationships and interactions are established between them. At the same time, each person fulfills his social role.
Throughout life, an individual masters many social roles, which he is often forced to play simultaneously. This allows us to make the coexistence of different people in one society as comfortable and possible as possible.
The social role performs a number of important functions:
- Sets certain rules of the game: duties and norms, rights, interactions between roles (boss-subordinate, boss-client, boss-tax inspector, etc.). Social adaptation implies mastering and studying the rules of the game - the laws of a given society.
- Allows you to realize different sides of your personality. Different roles (friend, parent, boss, public figure, etc.) enable a person to demonstrate different qualities. The more roles an individual masters, the more multifaceted and rich his personality will become, the better he will understand others.
- Provides an opportunity to demonstrate and develop potential qualities inherent in a person: softness, toughness, mercy, etc. Only in the process of fulfilling a social role can a person discover his capabilities.
- Allows you to explore the resources of each person's personal capabilities. Teaches you to use the best combination of qualities for adequate behavior in a given situation.
The relationship between social role and social status
Social status influences individual behavior. Knowing the social status of a person, one can predict what qualities are characteristic of him and what actions can be expected from him. The expected behavior of an individual associated with his status is called a social role.
Definition 2
A social role is a pattern of behavior that is recognized as the most appropriate for an individual of a given status in society. A role specifies exactly how to act in a given situation.
Any individual is a reflection of the totality of social relations of his historical period.
Social role and social status in communication perform the following functions:
- regulatory function - helps to quickly select the necessary interaction scenario without spending large resources;
- adaptation function – allows you to quickly find a suitable model of behavior when changing social status;
- cognitive function – the ability to recognize one’s personal potential, carry out processes of self-knowledge;
- the function of self-realization is the manifestation of the best qualities of a person, the achievement of desired goals.
The process of learning social roles allows one to assimilate cultural norms. Each status of a given role is characterized by its own norms, laws, and customs. The acceptance of most norms depends on the status of the individual. Some norms are accepted by all members of society. Those norms and rules that are acceptable for one status may be unacceptable for another. Socialization teaches role behavior and allows the individual to become a part of society.
Note 1
From the many social roles and statuses offered to an individual by society, he can choose those that will most fully help him apply his abilities and realize his plans. The adoption of a certain social role is greatly influenced by biological and personal characteristics and social conditions. Any social role only outlines a pattern of human behavior; the individual chooses the ways of fulfilling the role himself.
