What social roles are you in? social role

  • 12.10.2019

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 different requirements are imposed on the performance of one role by different representatives 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. public 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 a social role with certain types of social activities Personalities. The social role is “a socially necessary type of social Activity and a way of behavior of the Personality” (Bueva). The social role always bears the stamp of social evaluation: society can either approve or disapprove of certain social roles, sometimes approval or disapproval can be differentiated among different social groups, the evaluation of a role can become completely different meaning 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. Mastering social roles is a 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.

Behavior is a form of interaction of an organism with the environment, the source of which is needs. Human behavior differs from the behavior of animals in its social conditioning, awareness, activity, creativity and is goal-setting, arbitrary.

Structure of social behavior:

1) behavioral act - a single manifestation of activity, its element;

2) social actions - actions performed by individuals or social groups that are of public importance and involve socially determined motivation, intentions, attitudes;

3) an act is a conscious action of a person who understands it social significance and done in accordance with the accepted intention;

4) act - a set of actions of a person for which he is responsible.

Types of social behavior of the individual:

1) according to the system of public relations:

a) production behavior (labor, professional);

b) economic behavior (consumer behavior, distributive behavior, behavior in the sphere of exchange, entrepreneurial, investment, etc.);

c) socio-political behavior (political activity, behavior towards power, bureaucratic behavior, electoral behavior, etc.);

d) legal behavior (law-abiding, illegal, deviant, deviant, criminal);

e) moral behavior (ethical, moral, immoral, immoral behavior, etc.);

f) religious behavior;

2) by the time of implementation:

› impulsive;

› variable;

› long-term implementation.

The subjects of the regulation of the social behavior of the individual are society, small groups and the individual himself.

social status

The social status (from Latin status - position, state) of a person is the position of a person in society, which he occupies in accordance with his age, gender, origin, profession, marital status.

Social status is a certain position in the social structure of a group or society, associated with other positions through a system of rights and obligations.

Sociologists distinguish several varieties of social statuses.:

1) Statuses determined by the position of the individual in the group - personal and social.

Personal status is the position of a person that he occupies in the so-called small, or primary, group, depending on how his individual qualities are evaluated in it.

On the other hand, in the process of interaction with other individuals, each person performs certain social functions that determine his social status.

2) Statuses determined by the time frame, the impact on the life of the individual as a whole - the main and non-main (episodic).

The main status determines the main thing in a person's life (most often it is the status associated with the main place of work and family, for example, a good family man and an irreplaceable worker).

Episodic (minor) social statuses affect the details of a person's behavior (for example, a pedestrian, a passenger, a passer-by, a patient, a participant in a demonstration or strike, a reader, a listener, a TV viewer, etc.).

3) Statuses acquired or not acquired as a result of free choice.

Prescribed (assigned) status - a social position that is pre-assigned to an individual by society, regardless of the merits of the individual (for example, nationality, place of birth, social origin, etc.).

Mixed status has the features of a prescribed and achieved status (a person who has become disabled, the title of an academician, an Olympic champion, etc.).

Achieved (acquired) is acquired as a result of free choice, personal efforts and is under the control of a person (education, profession, material wealth, business connections, etc.).

In any society, there is a certain hierarchy of statuses, which is the basis of its stratification. Certain statuses are prestigious, others are vice versa. This hierarchy formed under the influence of two factors:

a) the real usefulness of those social functions that a person performs;

b) the system of values ​​characteristic of a given society.

If the prestige of any statuses is unreasonably high or, on the contrary, underestimated, it is usually said that there is a loss of status balance. A society in which there is a similar tendency to lose this balance is unable to ensure its normal functioning.

Prestige is an assessment by society of the social significance of a particular status, enshrined in culture and public opinion.

Each individual can have a large number of statuses. The social status of the individual primarily affects its behavior. Knowing the social status of a person, one can easily determine most of the qualities that he possesses, as well as predict the actions that he will carry out. Such expected behavior of a person, associated with the status that he has, is commonly called a social role.

social role It is a status oriented behavior pattern.

A social role is a pattern of behavior recognized as appropriate for people of a given status in a given society.

Roles are determined by people's expectations (for example, the notion that parents should take care of their children, that an employee should conscientiously carry out the work entrusted to him, has taken root in the public mind). But each person, depending on the specific circumstances, accumulated life experience and other factors in its own way performs a social role.

Applying for this status, a person must fulfill all the role requirements assigned to this social position. Each person has not one, but a whole set of social roles that he plays in society. The totality of all human roles in society is called a role system or role set.

Role set (role system)

Role set - a set of roles (role complex) associated with one status.

Each role in the role set requires a specific manner of behavior and communication with people and is thus a collection of relationships unlike any other. In the role set, one can single out the main (typical) and situational social roles.

Examples of basic social roles:

1) a worker;

2) owner;

3) consumer;

4) a citizen;

5) family member (husband, wife, son, daughter).

Social roles can be institutionalized and conventional.

Institutionalized roles: the institution of marriage, family (social roles of mother, daughter, wife).

Conventional roles are accepted by agreement (a person may refuse to accept them).

Social roles are associated with social status, profession or type of activity (teacher, pupil, student, seller).

A man and a woman are also social roles, biologically predetermined and involving specific ways of behavior, fixed by social norms or customs.

Interpersonal roles are associated with interpersonal relationships that are regulated on an emotional level (leader, offended, family idol, loved one, etc.).

Role behavior

From a social role as a model of behavior, one should distinguish between real role behavior, which means not socially expected, but the actual behavior of the performer of a particular role. And here much depends on personal qualities individual, on the degree of assimilation of social norms by him, on his beliefs, attitudes, value orientations.

Factors that determine the process of implementing social roles:

1) the biopsychological capabilities of a person that may contribute to or hinder the performance of a particular social role;

2) the nature of the role adopted in the group and the features of social control, designed to monitor the implementation of role behavior;

3) a personal pattern that determines the set of behavioral characteristics necessary for the successful fulfillment of the role;

4) the structure of the group, its cohesion and the degree of identification of the individual with the group.

In the process of implementing social roles, certain difficulties may arise associated with the need for a person to perform many roles in various situations → in some cases, a mismatch of social roles, the emergence of contradictions and conflict relations between them.

Any social role, according to T. Parsons, can be described using five main characteristics:

level of emotionality - some roles are emotionally restrained, others are relaxed;

method of obtaining - prescribed or achieved;

the scale of manifestation - strictly limited or blurry;

the degree of formalization - strictly established or arbitrary;

motivation - for the general profit or for personal benefit.

The concept of a social role is closely connected with the function that a person performs in society, with his rights and obligations to others. Social science throughout its existence has been enriched by several definitions. Some associate this concept with social position, which brings it closer to the status. Others suggest that this is expected behavior.

Let's give examples of social roles, so it will be easier to understand what exactly we are talking about. Let's say there is a school. Who is in it? Teacher, students, director. In the public understanding, a teacher should know his subject well, be able to explain it, prepare for each lesson, and be demanding. He has certain tasks, and he performs his function. And how well he does it depends on the social status and social role of the individual.

At the same time, the teacher can be more demanding, tough or soft, good-natured. Some limit themselves exclusively to teaching their subject, others begin to participate more actively in the lives of their wards. Someone accepts gifts from parents, others - absolutely not. All these are shades of the same role.

What is meant by social role?

Social roles are necessary for society because they allow us to interact with a large number of people without receiving a huge amount of information about who they are. When we see a doctor, a postman, a policeman in front of us, we have certain expectations. And when they are justified, it contributes to order.

At the same time, one and the same person can have a large number of different roles: in the family - father, husband, in a friendly company - a shirt-guy, at work - the head of the security department, etc. Moreover, the more an individual has the opportunity to switch, the his life is richer and more varied.

The variety of social roles is especially noticeable in adolescence, when a person is trying to understand what is close to him. He can figure out for a long time how they are connected with each other, with status, prestige, with the reaction of society, with family comfort, etc. As the teenager develops a more mature and distinct awareness of what he needs he starts to grow up.

And at the same time, in adolescence, there is a transition from one role to another. And in a certain interval, it seems to freeze on the edge. A teenager manages to get out of the state of a child, but not yet fully enter the life of an adult. That is often perceived rather negatively.

Theory of social roles

A well-known researcher in sociology, the American Merton was the first to draw attention to the fact that any social status implies not one, but a whole set of social roles. This formed the basis of the corresponding theory.

Now in science such a set is called a role set. It is believed that the richer it is, the better for the realization of the person himself. But if that person has a small number of roles or only one, then in this case we are talking about pathology. Or, at least, about strong isolation from society.

How is a role set different from a set of roles? The fact that the first refers to only one social status. But the second is more disjointed. In general, sociological focus groups are still conducting research on how a change in one position affects the status in the family, how much, why.

Scientists are now actively checking whether the following judgments are correct: the social role of a man at work does not affect his position in the family in any way. As you might guess, the responses received are also carefully analyzed to understand the reasons.

Types of social roles

So, what types of social roles are there in general? There is a division associated with views. This is the expected role, that is, what they have tuned in to in the family, at work, etc. The second type is the subjective social role of the individual. Roughly speaking, what everyone expects from himself is internal attitudes. And, finally, the role played, a description of what happened.

However, the classification of social roles is not limited to this. They are divided into prescribed (woman, daughter, Russian) and achieved (student, lawyer, professor). There are also types of social formal and informal roles. In the first case, everything is strictly regulated: a military man, an official, a judge. In the second - the soul of the company, the lone wolf, the best friend - a lot of unspoken, and often arises spontaneously.

It should be borne in mind that each role is influenced by the social attitude and how the carrier understands the tasks assigned to him. A seller in the UK and in Iran on the market are two big differences.

The concept of social role in development

Keep in mind that a lot of things are changing quite actively today. Thus, the social role of women in modern society in the family, at work, etc. has become completely different compared to what it was 100 years ago. And the same applies to men, teenagers, representatives of various groups. What today is considered to be permitted behavior options, even a few decades ago, could have severely offended others.

Why is it important to track this trend? To understand what kind of world we live in, where we are moving, what types of social roles we will have to deal with in the future. Scientists are already collecting opinions, for example, whether the following judgments are correct: marriage as an institution has outlived its usefulness, children cannot be physically punished, animals have the right to criminal protection from violence.

What do these trends show? Analyzing the opinion of many, you can see the needs of society. And to understand exactly where we will come, because the existing social demand will be satisfied sooner or later. In the present, social scientists state the growing importance of law in the life of the majority.

For example, many newlyweds, filling out the questionnaire, whether the following judgments are correct, indicated that they really signed a marriage contract. What even 15 years ago seemed like a shocking detail from the world of oligarchs has now touched the representatives of the middle class.

Varieties of social statuses

Since the issue of social role is very closely related to status, it is necessary at least briefly to deal with this concept. And are the following judgments correct: are role and status the same thing or are they very close concepts? As you will see shortly, there are different concepts.

So, they consider the personal status, the one that a person receives in the primary group, and the social one, he acquires it later, achieving something with his mind, behavior, work. Sociologists also distinguish the main, basic status, with which many people associate themselves in the first place, and temporary, secondary ones. They occur for short periods of time.

It should be noted that the roles and statuses in society are unequal to each other. There is a certain hierarchy, determined by the value system and the significance of the owner of a particular status, how important he is for society, how much and what he can influence.

All this is directly related to the issue of prestige. And than greater value has a particular status, the harder a person tries to perform a certain role, as a rule.

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 in 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 model. 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.

For the first time such a definition appeared in 1936, when Ralph Linton proposed his concept of how an individual interacts with society in a limited algorithm of actions dictated by a particular community. This is how the theory of social roles appeared. It allows you to understand how a person can identify himself in certain social frameworks and how such conditions can affect the formation of him as a person.

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. AT educational institution the headmaster gives orders to which the teachers must obey.

In turn, teachers have the right to require students to comply with the rules prescribed for their social status by the standards of the organization (do homework, show respect for teachers, keep silence during lessons, etc.) At the same time, a certain freedom is acceptable for the social role of the student associated with the manifestation of his personal qualities.

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:

1. Social or conventional roles due to professional activities or a standardized system of relationships (educator, teacher, student, salesperson). They are built on the basis of community-prescribed rules, norms and responsibilities. This does not take into account who exactly is the performer of a particular role.

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 due to the relationship of people in limited conditions and individual features 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.

The most illustrative examples here are: the selection of an actor to perform a specific role, taking into account his external data, abilities, specific social and typical manifestations. Each actor tends to a certain role (tragedian, hero, comedian, etc.). A person tries on the most typical model of behavior or a kind of role that allows others to more or less suggest further actions of a person.

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 a 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 identify 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 you can bring good example relationship between husband and wife.

2. Method of receipt. Referring to this criterion, one can single out the roles achieved by a person and assigned to him by society. We can talk about behavioral patterns characteristic of different age categories or representatives of a certain gender.

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.

In turn, with changing conditions modern society the concept of male social role has also changed. However, the family model of behavior for both parties is theoretically balanced, but in fact it is unstable.

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. With respect to this criterion, the social status of a person can be formed under the influence regulatory requirements, but 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.

First, a person learns basic skills - by practicing, he applies the theoretical knowledge gained in childhood. Also to initial stage refers to the development of mental abilities, which will be improved throughout the life of a person.

At the next stage of development social personality waiting for education. 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 its 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 final phase is adaptation. In the process of socialization, a person has to adapt to his environment, learn to communicate with other members of society and maintain contact with them.

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.

Role conflicts are also related to the fact that each member of society tends to play several roles at once. For example, the requirements placed on a teenager by parents and peers will be different, and therefore his functions as a friend and son cannot meet the expectations of both the first and second.

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

A social role is the behavior expected of someone who has a certain social status. Social roles are a set of requirements imposed on an individual by society, as well as actions that a person who occupies a given status in the social system must perform. A person can have many roles.

The status of children is usually subordinate to adults, and children are expected to be respectful towards the latter. The status of soldiers is different from that of civilians; the role of soldiers is associated with risk and fulfillment of the oath, which cannot be said about other groups of the population. The status of women is different from that of men, and therefore they are expected to behave differently from men. Each individual can have big number statuses, and others have the right to expect him to perform roles in accordance with these statuses. In this sense, status and role are two sides of the same phenomenon: if status is a set of rights, privileges and duties, then a role is an action within this set of rights and duties. The social role consists of: role expectation (expectation) and performance of this role (play).

Social roles can be institutionalized and conventional.

Institutionalized: the institution of marriage, family (social roles of mother, daughter, wife)

Conventional: accepted by agreement (a person may refuse to accept them)

Cultural norms are acquired mainly through role training. For example, a person who masters the role of a military man joins the customs, moral standards and laws specific to the status of that role. Only a few norms are accepted by all members of society, the adoption of most norms depends on the status of a particular person. What is acceptable for one status is unacceptable for another. Thus, socialization as a process of learning the generally accepted ways and methods of actions and interactions is essential process learning role-playing behavior, as a result of which the individual really becomes part of society.

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 are 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 are associated with interpersonal relationships that are regulated on 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.

The main characteristics of the social role

The main characteristics of the social role are highlighted by the American sociologist Talcott Parsons. He suggested the following four characteristics of any role.

By scale. Some roles may be strictly limited, while others may be blurred.

According to the method of receipt. Roles are divided into prescribed and conquered (they are also called achieved).

Degree of formalization. Activities can proceed both within strictly established limits, and arbitrarily.

By type of motivation. Personal profit can serve as motivation, public good etc.

The scale of the role 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 a role is acquired depends on how unavoidable the 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 gender of the person and do not require special efforts to purchase 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 a 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 for the cause, and so on.