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 human interaction, role play", 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 attitudes prevailing in society, depending on which people are selected 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 incentive. 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, while adopting and developing the basic theatrical metaphor, paid attention not so much to role-playing prescriptions and passive adherence to them, but to the processes of active construction and maintenance themselves " appearance» in the course of communication, on 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
Types of social roles are determined by diversity social groups, activities and relationships in which the person 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. Personal profit can serve as motivation, 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 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 of a traffic police representative with 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:
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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
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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
Each person living in a society is included in many different social groups (family, study group, friendly company, etc.). In each of these groups, he occupies a certain position, has a certain status, certain requirements are imposed on him. Thus, one and the same person must behave in one situation like a father, in another - like a friend, in a third - like a boss, i.e. act in different roles. A social role is a way of people's behavior corresponding to accepted norms, depending on their status or position in society, in the system of interpersonal relations. The development of social roles is part of the process of socialization of the individual, an indispensable condition for the "growing" of a person into a society of his own kind. Socialization is the process and result of the assimilation and active reproduction of social experience by an individual, carried out in communication and activity. Examples of social roles are also gender roles (male or female behavior), professional roles. Observing social roles, a person learns social standards of behavior, learns to evaluate himself from the outside and exercise self-control. However, since in real life a person is included in many activities and relationships, forced to perform different roles, the requirements for which may be contradictory, there is a need for some mechanism that would allow a person to maintain the integrity of his "I" in the conditions of multiple connections with the world (i.e. remain himself playing different roles). A personality (or rather, a formed substructure of orientation) is just that mechanism, a functional organ that allows you to integrate your "I" and your own life, to carry out a moral assessment of your actions, to find your place not only in a separate social group, but also in life. in general, to work out the meaning of one's existence, to refuse one in favor of the other. Thus, a developed personality can use role-playing behavior as a tool for adapting to certain social situations, while at the same time not merging, not identifying with the role. The main components of the social role constitute a hierarchical system in which three levels can be distinguished. The first is peripheral attributes, i.e. such, the presence or absence of which does not affect either the perception of the role by the environment, or its effectiveness (for example, the civil status of a poet or a doctor). The second level involves such attributes of the role that affect both perception and its effectiveness (for example, long hair a hippie or an athlete in poor health). At the top of the three-level gradation are the attributes of the role, which are decisive for the formation of a person's identity. The role concept of personality emerged in American social psychology in the 1930s. (C. Cooley, J. Mead) and became widespread in various sociological currents, primarily in structural-functional analysis. T. Parsons and his followers consider personality as a function of the multitude of social roles that are inherent in any individual in a particular society. Charles Cooley believed that personality is formed on the basis of many interactions of people with the outside world. In the process of these interactions, people create their "mirror self", which consists of three elements: 1. how we think others perceive us ("I'm sure people pay attention to my new hairstyle"); 2. how we think they react to 3. what they see (“I’m sure they like my new hairstyle"); 4. how we respond to the perceived reaction of others ("Apparently, I will always comb my hair like this"). This theory gives importance our interpretation of the thoughts and feelings of others. American psychologist George Herbert Mead went further in his analysis of the process of development of our "I". Like Cooley, he believed that the "I" is a social product, formed on the basis of relationships with other people. In the beginning, as young children, we are unable to explain to ourselves the motives behind the behavior of others. Having learned to comprehend their behavior, children thus take the first step in life. Having learned to think about themselves, they can think about others; the child begins to acquire a sense of his "I". According to Mead, the process of personality formation includes three distinct stages. The first is imitation. At this stage, children copy the behavior of adults without understanding it. Then follows the game stage, when children understand behavior as the performance of certain roles: a doctor, a firefighter, a race car driver, etc.; in the course of the game they reproduce these roles.
44. Social status and social role.
social status- the social position occupied by a social individual or social group in society or a separate social subsystem of society. It is determined by characteristics specific to a particular society, which can be economic, national, age and other characteristics. Social status is divided by skills, abilities, education.
Each person, as a rule, has not one, but several social statuses. Sociologists distinguish:
natural status- the status received by a person at birth (sex, race, nationality, biological stratum). In some cases, birth status may change: the status of a member of the royal family - from birth and as long as the monarchy exists.
acquired (achieved) status- the status that a person achieves due to his mental and physical efforts (work, connections, position, post).
prescribed (assigned) status- the status that a person acquires regardless of his desire (age, status in the family), it can change over the course of life. Prescribed status can be congenital or acquired.
social role is a set of actions that a person occupying a given status in the social system must perform. Each status usually includes a number of roles. The set of roles resulting from the published status is called a role set.
Social role should be considered in two aspects: role expectation and role performance. There is never a perfect match between these two aspects. But each of them is of great importance in the behavior of the individual. Our roles are defined primarily by what others expect of us. These expectations are associated with the status that the person has. If someone does not play a role in accordance with our expectation, then he enters into a certain conflict with society.
For example, a parent should take care of children, a close friend should be not indifferent to our problems, etc.
Role requirements (prescriptions, provisions and expectations of appropriate behavior) are embodied in specific social norms grouped around social status.
The main link between role expectations and role behavior is the character of the individual.
Because each person plays multiple roles in many different situations, conflict can arise between roles. A situation in which a person is faced with the need to satisfy the requirements of two or more incompatible roles is called role conflict. Role conflicts can arise both between roles and within one role.
For example, a working wife finds that the demands of her main job may conflict with her domestic duties; or a married student must reconcile the demands on him as a husband with the demands made on him as a student; or a police officer sometimes has to choose between doing his job or arresting a close friend. An example of a conflict occurring within the same role is the position of a leader or public figure who publicly proclaims one point of view, and in a narrow circle declares himself a supporter of the opposite, or an individual who, under pressure of circumstances, plays a role that does not meet either his interests or his interests. internal settings.
As a result, we can say that every personality in modern society, due to inadequate role training, as well as constantly occurring cultural changes and the multiplicity of roles played by it, experiences role tension and conflict. However, it has mechanisms of unconscious defense and conscious involvement of social structures in order to avoid the dangerous consequences of social role conflicts.
45. Social inequality. Ways and means to overcome it Inequality in society can have 2 sources: natural and social. People differ in physical strength, endurance, etc. These differences lead to the fact that they achieve results and thus occupy a different position in society. But over time, natural inequality is supplemented by social inequality, which consists in the possibility of obtaining social benefits that are not associated with a contribution to the public domain. For example, unequal pay for equal work. Ways to overcome: due to the conditional nature of the social. inequality, it can and must be abolished in the name of equality. Equality is understood as personal equality before God and the law, equality of opportunities, living conditions, health, etc. Currently, supporters of the theory of functionalism believe that the social. inequality is a tool that helps ensure that the most important and responsible tasks are carried out by people who are talented and prepared. Supporters of the theory of conflict believe that the views of the functionalists are an attempt to justify the statuses that have developed in society and the situation in which people who control social values have the opportunity to receive benefits for themselves. The question of social inequality is closely intertwined with the concept of social. justice. This concept has 2 interpretations: objective and subjective. Subjective interpretation comes from the attribution of social. justice to legal categories, with the help of which a person gives an assessment that approves or condemns the processes taking place in society. The second position (objective) comes from the principle of equivalence, i.e. reciprocity in relationships between people.
The social role is interpreted as an expectation, activity, representation, stereotype, social function, a set of norms, etc.
In addition, there are two main role characteristics(aspect):
1) role expectation- what is expected of me
2) role performance- what I will actually perform.
A certain consistency of role expectation with role performance serves as a guarantee of optimal social interaction.
Types of social roles determined by the variability of social groups, types of activities and relationships in which the individual is included.
Classification of social roles according to Gerhard:
1. Status - changeable with the greatest difficulty, prescribed to us from birth.
Man Woman
age roles
The role of a citizen of one's country
2. Positional - are determined by the professional and qualification division of labor in society. (Physicists, chemists, journalists; senior and junior researchers; professors, categories of actors). More defined than status. Status, in turn, are superimposed on positional.
3. Situational - performed in a given situation. Pedestrian, shopper, etc. More degrees of freedom. The difference in their number can lead to conflict.
Classification of positional roles at work according to Brown:
1. Landmark.
2. Approver, emotional leader.
3. Unique roles due to the characteristics of the person. For example, a scapegoat.
T. Parsons. Approach to the problem of social roles. Characteristics of social role analysis:
1. Emotionality (the doctor and the cemetery attendant must be restrained).
2. Method of obtaining (methods are achieved (student) and prescribed).
3. Scale (optician, salesperson or friend, parent).
4. Formalization. Formalized roles contain a specific structure of actions. Librarian and friend - behavior regarding a borrowed book.
5. Motivation. The motive is always there, but we are not always aware of it.
T. Shibutani. Classification of social roles:
1. Conventional. People agree on the rules for their implementation (teacher and student).
2. Interpersonal. Informal, personalized. How to behave with this or that person.
Depending on social relations, there are social and interpersonal social roles.
Social roles are connected with social status, profession or type of activity (teacher, pupil, student, seller). In interactionist concepts, such roles are called conventional(convention - agreement). These are standardized impersonal roles based on rights and obligations, regardless of who fills these roles. Allocate socio-demographic roles: husband, wife, daughter, son, grandson ... A man and a woman are also social roles ( gender roles), biologically predetermined and suggesting specific behaviors.
Interpersonal roles are connected 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 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.
According to the degree of manifestation, they are distinguished active and latent roles.
Active roles are conditioned a specific social situation and are performed at a given time (teacher in the lesson).
Latent rollers manifest themselves in the actual situation, although the subject is potentially the bearer of this role (teacher at home).
Each of us is carriers a large number latent social roles.
According to the way of assimilation, the roles are divided into:
prescribed(Determined by age, gender, nationality).
Acquired(which the subject learns in the process of socialization).
Highlighted the main characteristics of the social role American sociologist T. Parsons. These include:
- scale;
- method of obtaining;
- emotionality;
- formalization;
- motivation.
Scale roles depends on the range of interpersonal relationships. The larger the range, the larger the scale (for example, the social roles of the spouses are very large scale, the seller - the buyer: the interaction is carried out on a specific occasion - purchases - the scale is small).
How to get a role depends on how inevitable the given role is for the person.
The roles of a young man, an old man, a man, a woman are determined and do not require much effort to acquire them. Other roles are achieved in the process of a person's life and as a result of purposeful efforts: student, academician, writer, etc.
Emotion level: each role carries certain possibilities for the emotional manifestation of its subject.
There are roles that prescribe emotional restraint and control: investigator, surgeon, and so on. Conversely, actors are required to be more emotional.
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; others may combine both.
(traffic inspector to the violator only formal).
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 for the cause, and so on.
There is no doubt that the influence of the social role on the development of the individual is quite large. The development of personality is promoted by its interaction with persons playing whole line roles, as well as her participation in the maximum possible role repertoire. The more social roles an individual is able to play, the more adapted to life he is. Thus, the process of personality development often acts as the dynamics of mastering social roles.
(Additional Information, off the record)
Learning a new role can go a long way in changing a person. In psychotherapy, there is even an appropriate method of behavior correction - imagotherapy (imago - image). The patient is offered to enter into a new image, to play a role as in a performance. At the same time, the function of responsibility is not borne by the person himself, but by his role, which sets new pattern behaviors. A person is forced to act differently, based on a new role. At the origins of imagotherapy is the method of psychodrama D. Moreno. He treated people for neurosis, giving them the opportunity to play those roles that they would like to, but could not play in life.
12. Social expectations of personality
EXPECTATIONS - a social psychology term used to denote the expectation of something in interpersonal relationships, for example, the assessment of an individual's actions by other people
Expectations are essentially conditioned individual features personality, objective activity and organizational structure groups, group norms, standards of the totality of socio-psychological expectations, being internally accepted by the personality, form part of its value orientations.
Interpersonal communication gives psychological meaning to expectation - expectation acts as a motive for human behavior
Expectations play a regulatory role in the student group: on the one hand, they provide adaptation, adaptation of the student to his fellow students, and on the other hand, public opinion, the standards of behavior accepted in the student environment, through expectation, they appropriately project the consciousness and actions of each member of the student group, contribute to adaptation groups to individuals.
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.
However, the same person may 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 richer and more diverse his life is.
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.
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