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Social role and its significance. What are the types of social roles

social role

Social role- a model of human behavior, objectively set by the social position of the individual in the system of social, public and personal relations. A social role is not something outwardly associated with social status, but an expression in action of the agent's social position. In other words, a social role is "the behavior that is expected of a person holding a certain status".

History of the term

The concept of "social role" was proposed independently by American sociologists R. Linton and J. Mead in the 1930s, and the first interpreted the concept of "social role" as a unit of social structure, described in the form of a system of norms given to a person, the second - in terms of direct 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. Despite all the differences, both of these approaches are united by the idea of ​​"social role" as a key point at which the individual and society merge, individual behavior turns into a social one, 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. 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: a “normal” personality modern society is a neurotic. Moreover, role conflicts that arise in situations where an individual is required to simultaneously perform several roles with conflicting requirements have become widespread in modern society. Irwin Hoffman, in his studies of interaction rituals, accepting and developing the basic theatrical metaphor, paid attention not so much to role instructions and passive adherence to them, but to the processes of active construction and maintenance of the “appearance” in the course of communication, to areas of uncertainty and ambiguity in interaction. , mistakes in the behavior of partners.

Concept definition

social role- a dynamic characteristic of a social position, expressed in a set of behaviors that are consistent with social expectations (role expectations) and are set by special norms (social prescriptions) addressed from the corresponding group (or several groups) to the owner of a certain social position. The holders of a social position expect that the fulfillment of special prescriptions (norms) results in regular and therefore predictable behavior, on which the behavior of other people can be guided. Thanks to this, regular and continuously planned social interaction (communicative interaction) is possible.

Types of social roles

The types of social roles are determined by the variety of social groups, activities and relationships in which the individual is included. Depending on social relations, social and interpersonal social roles are distinguished.

In life, in interpersonal relationships, each person acts in some kind of dominant social role, a kind of social role as the most typical individual image familiar to those around you. It is extremely difficult to change the habitual image both for the person himself and for the perception of the people around him. The more a long period time the group exists, the more familiar the dominant social roles of each member of the group become for others and the more difficult it is to change the stereotype of behavior familiar to others.

Characteristics of a social role

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

  • Scale. Some roles may be strictly limited, while others may be blurred.
  • By way of getting. Roles are divided into prescribed and conquered (they are also called achieved).
  • According to the degree of formalization. Activities can proceed both within strictly established limits, and arbitrarily.
  • By type of motivation. The motivation can be personal profit, public good, etc.

Role Scale depends on the range of interpersonal relationships. The larger the range, the larger the scale. So, for example, the social roles of spouses have a very large scale, since a wide range of relationships is established between husband and wife. On the one hand, these are interpersonal relationships based on a variety of feelings and emotions; on the other hand, relations are regulated by normative acts and in a certain sense are formal. Participants of this social interaction interested in the most different aspects of each other's lives, their relationship is 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. Yes, roles young man, old man, men, women are automatically determined by the age and gender of a person and do not require much effort to acquire them. There can only be a problem of matching one's role, which already exists as a given. Other roles are achieved or even won in the course of a person's life and as a result of purposeful special efforts. For example, the role of a student, researcher, professor, etc. These are almost all roles associated with the profession and any achievements of a person.

Formalization as a descriptive characteristic of a social role is determined by the specifics of interpersonal relations of the bearer of this role. Some roles involve the establishment of only formal relations between people with strict regulation of the rules of conduct; others, on the contrary, are only informal; still others may combine both formal and informal relationships. Obviously, the relationship of the representative of the traffic police with the violator of the rules traffic should be determined by formal rules, and relations between close people - 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


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See what "Social Role" is in other dictionaries:

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Some people confuse this concept with status. But these terms mean completely different manifestations. The concept of role was introduced by psychologist T. Parsons. K. Horney and I. Hoffman used it in their works. They revealed the characteristics of the concept in more detail and conducted interesting research.

Social role - what is it?

According to the definition, a social role is a behavior that society has found acceptable for people in a particular status. The social roles of a person change, depending on who he is at the moment. Society prescribes a son or daughter to behave in one way than, say, a worker, mother or woman.

What is meant by social role?

  1. Behavioral reactions of a person, his speech, actions, deeds.
  2. The appearance of the individual. He, too, must comply with the norms of society. A man dressed in a dress or a skirt in a number of countries will be perceived negatively, evenly, just like the head of the office, who comes to work in a dirty robe.
  3. Individual motivation. The environment approves and reacts negatively not only to a person's behavior, but also to his inner aspirations. Motives are evaluated based on the expectations of other people, which are built on a generally accepted understanding. A bride who marries because of material gains will be perceived negatively in certain societies, they expect love and sincere feelings from her, and not commercialism.

The value of the social role in human life

Changing behavioral responses can be costly for an individual. Our social roles are determined by the expectations of other people, not justifying them, we risk remaining outcasts. A person who decides to break these peculiar rules is unlikely to build relationships with the rest of society. They will condemn him, try to change him. In some cases, such an individual is perceived as mentally abnormal, although the doctor did not make such a diagnosis.


Signs of a social role

This concept is also associated with the profession and type of human activity. This also affects how the social role is manifested. We expect different appearance, speech and actions from a university student and from a schoolchild. A woman, in our understanding, should not do what is included in the concept of normal behavior of a man. And a doctor has no right to act in a working environment in the same way as a salesman or engineer would act. The social role in the profession is manifested in appearance, the use of terms. Violating these rules can be considered a bad specialist.

How are social status and social role related?

These terms mean completely different things. But at the same time, social statuses and roles are closely related. The first gives a person rights and obligations, the second explains what kind of behavior society expects from him. A man who has become a father must support his child, and it is expected that he will devote time to communicating with his offspring. Expectations of the environment in this case can be very precise or fuzzy. It depends on the culture of the country where the person lives and is brought up.

Types of social roles

Psychologists divide the concept into 2 main categories - interpersonal and status-related. The former are associated with emotional relationships - the leader, the favorite in the team, the soul of the company. The social roles of the individual, dependent on the official position, are more determined by the profession, type of activity and family - husband, child, seller. This category is impersonal, behavioral reactions in them are defined more clearly than in the first group.

Each social role is different:

  1. According to the degree of its formalization and scale. There are those where the behavior is written very clearly and those where the expected actions and reactions of the environment are described vaguely.
  2. According to the method of receipt. Achieved often associated with the profession, assigned with marital status, physiological characteristics. An example of the first subgroup is a lawyer, a leader, and the second is a woman, daughter, mother.

Individual Role

Each person has several functions at the same time. Performing each of them, he is forced to behave in a certain way. The individual social role of a person is associated with the interests and motives of a person. Each of us perceives ourselves somewhat differently from how other people see us, so our own assessment of behavior and other people's perception of it can diverge greatly. For example, a teenager may consider himself quite mature, having the right to make a number of decisions, but for his parents he will still be a child.


Interpersonal roles of a person

This category is related to the emotional sphere. Such a social role of a person is often assigned to him by a certain group of people. An individual can be considered a merry fellow, a favorite, a leader, a loser. Based on the perception of the personality by the group, the environment expects a certain standard response from the person. If it is assumed that a teenager is not only a son and a student, but also a joker and a bully, his actions will be evaluated through the prism of these unofficial statuses.

Social roles in the family are also interpersonal. It is not uncommon for one of the children to have the status of a pet. In this case, conflicts between children and parents become pronounced and occur more often. Psychologists advise avoiding the assignment of interpersonal statuses within the family, because in this situation, its members are forced to restructure behavioral reactions, which leads to a change in personality, and not always for the better.

New social roles of youth

They appeared in connection with a change in social structure. The development of Internet communication has led to the fact that the social roles of young people have changed, become more variable. Development also contributed to this. Modern teenagers are more and more guided not by official statuses, but by those accepted in their society - punk, vaper. The appropriation of such perception can be group and individual.

Modern psychologists argue that the behavior that is considered normal for the environment is inherent not in a healthy person, but in a neurotic. With this fact, they associate an ever-increasing number of people who are not forced to turn to specialists for help.

In sociology, the concept of a social role has appeared since the end of the 19th century, although officially this term appeared only at the end of the 20th century within the framework of R. Linton's theory.

This science considers a society or other organized group as a collection of individuals with a certain status and behavior pattern. What is meant by the concepts of social statuses and roles, as well as what significance they have for a person, we will describe further and give examples.

Definition

For sociology, the term "social role" means a model of behavior expected from a person that would correspond to the rights and normative duties established by society. That is, this concept considers the relationship between the function of the individual and its position in society or interpersonal relationships.

It can also be said that a social role is a certain algorithm of actions prescribed to a person by society, which he must follow in order to carry out useful activities in society. At the same time, a person tries on a model of behavior or a prescribed algorithm of actions either voluntarily or forcibly.

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 considered as one of the dynamic aspects of the status of the 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 characteristics 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 play 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 group's existence and the likelihood of its typical manifestations in the behavior of the participants. It is worth noting that it is extremely difficult to get rid of the stereotype that has developed over the years, familiar to a person and society, over time.

Considering this topic, one cannot ignore the classification according to the characteristics of each specific role. They were able to highlight the well-known sociologist from America T. Parsons in order to get the most complete idea of ​​the term "social role of the individual." For each model, he proposed four distinctive properties at once.

1. Scale. This characteristic depends on the breadth of interpersonal relationships observed between members of a particular group. The closer the communication between people, the greater the significance in such relationships. Here 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 behavior model is not so tied to characteristic manifestations specific gender 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 the changing conditions of modern society, the concept of a 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. Regarding this criterion, the social status of a person can be formed under the influence of regulatory requirements, or it can develop arbitrarily. For example, the relationship between people in the military unit is regulated by the charter, while friends are guided by personal feelings and emotions.

4. Type of motivation. Each person, when choosing a model of behavior, is guided by a personal motive. It can be financial gain, career advancement, the desire to be loved, etc. In psychology, there are two types of motivation - external, which arises under the influence of the environment, and internal, which the subject determines for himself.

The process of choosing and becoming a role

The role of a person in the social environment does not arise spontaneously. The process of its formation goes through several stages, culminating in the individual in society.

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 you grow older new information the individual will receive from his environment, from the means mass media and other sources.

An equally important component of the socialization of the individual is education. Here the main character is the person himself, choosing the most typical skills for himself and the direction for further development.

The next stage of socialization is protection. It implies a set of processes aimed at reducing the significance of factors that could injure a person in the process of his formation. Using certain social methods of protection, the subject will protect himself from the environment and conditions in which he will be morally uncomfortable.

The 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


The social role is the fixation of a certain position that this or that individual occupies in the system of social relations.

In society, there are 2 types of social relations: formal (conventional) - regulated by law and social status; informal (interpersonal) - are regulated by feelings.

A social role is a socially necessary type of social activity and a way of behaving a person who bears the stamp of social assessment.

For the first time, the concept of a social role was 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 the social role are highlighted by the American sociologist T. Parsons: scale, method of obtaining, emotionality, formalization, motivation. The scale 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 a wide range of relationships is established between husband and wife.

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 sex of a person and do not require much effort to acquire them. Other roles are achieved or even won in the course of a person's life and as a result of special efforts.

Social roles differ significantly in terms of emotionality. Each role carries 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 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 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 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.

All social roles are subject to public evaluation (not a person, but a type of activity) and are associated with rights and obligations. If there is a harmony of rights and duties, then a person has correctly mastered his social role.

The influence of social role on personality development

The influence of social role on personality development is great. The development of personality is facilitated by its interaction with persons playing a number of roles, as well as its participation in the largest possible role repertoire. The more social roles an individual is able to play, 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 single out two types of conflicts: inter-role and intra-role.



In psychology and sociology, there are many theories about personality and its attributes. The concepts of "social role" and "personal status" are used to explain human behavior in society, as they affect many aspects of the individual's functioning. His self-esteem, self-consciousness, communication, orientation largely depend on them.

The concept of personality

From the point of view of sociology, a personality is an individual who, during socialization, acquires a specific set of socially significant qualities, properties, knowledge, skills and abilities. As a result of inclusion in social relations and connections, he becomes a responsible subject of volitional activity. According to psychologists, personality is an integral set of various features of biogenic and sociogenic origin, which is formed in vivo and affects human behavior and activities. In both cases, the social role and status of the individual play important role in the formation and self-realization of the individual.

Four groups of phenomena become the basis for the formation: the biological characteristics of the human body and its innate experience, the results of learning, the experience of social life and interaction with other people, the results of self-esteem, reflection and self-awareness. In the structure of personality, it is possible to distinguish groups of features that affect all human behavior.

These include such psychological traits as abilities, motivation, volitional qualities, social attitudes and stereotypes, character, orientation, emotions, temperament. Also, a personality includes a set of social features, such as social statuses and roles, a system of dispositions and various role expectations, a complex of knowledge, values ​​and beliefs, interests and worldview. The process of crystallization of personality traits often occurs under the influence of external and internal environment and flows uniquely, creating a unique integrity.

The concept of social status

At the end of the 19th century, the English scientist Henry Man introduced a new concept into circulation. Since then, social status has been much analyzed and researched. Today, it is understood as a certain place of a person in social system or a group. It is determined by a number of features: financial and family status, possession of power, functions performed, education, specific skills, nationality, special psychological characteristics and many others. Since the individual is also part of various groups, then its status in them may be different.

It not only denotes the position of a person in society, but also gives him certain rights and obligations. Usually, the higher it is, the greater the set of rights and obligations. Often in everyday consciousness the concepts of social statuses and roles are equated with the concept of prestige. It certainly accompanies status, but is not always its mandatory attribute. Status is a mobile category. A person can change it with the acquisition of new qualities or roles. Only in traditional public systems it could be inherited, fixed by law or in accordance with religious canons. Today, a person in his development can reach the desired statuses or lose them under certain circumstances.

Status hierarchy

A set of different positions of one person in society is commonly called a status set. In this structure, there is usually a dominant, main status, and a set of additional ones. The first determines the main position of the individual in this social system. For example, a child or an elderly person will have a basic status according to age. At the same time, in some patriarchal societies, a person's gender will be the main feature for determining his position in the system.

Since there is a division into main and non-main statuses, the researchers talk about the existence of a hierarchy of social positions of the individual. Social roles and status are the most important factor affecting the overall satisfaction of the individual with his life. Evaluation takes place in two directions. There are stable interactions of statuses at the horizontal and vertical levels.

The first factor is a system of interaction between people who are on the same level. social hierarchy. Vertical, respectively, communication of people at different levels. The distribution of people along the steps of the social ladder is a natural phenomenon for society. The hierarchy supports the role expectations of the individual, causing an understanding of the distribution of duties and rights, allows a person to be satisfied with his position or makes him strive for a change in status. This provides the dynamics of the individual.

Personal and social status

Traditionally, according to the size of the community in which a person functions, it is customary to distinguish between personal and proper social statuses. They function on various levels. Thus, social status is a sphere of professional and social relations. Here the professional position, education, political position, social activity are of the utmost importance. They are the signs by which a person is placed in the social hierarchy.

Social role and status also function in small groups. In this case, the researchers talk about personal status. In a family, a small circle of interests, a circle of friends, a small working group a person occupies a certain position. But to establish a hierarchy, not professional, but personal, psychological signs are used here. Leadership qualities, knowledge, skills, sociability, sincerity and other character traits allow a person to become a leader or an outsider, to receive a certain personal status. Between these two types of provisions in social group there is a significant difference. They allow a person to realize himself in various fields. So, a petty clerk, who occupies a low position in the work team, can play a significant role, for example, in the society of numismatists, thanks to his knowledge.

Types of social statuses

Since the concept of status covers an extremely wide area of ​​social activity of the individual, that is, there are many varieties of them. Let's highlight the main classifications. Depending on the dominance of different signs, the following statuses are distinguished:

  1. Natural, or socio-demographic. These statuses are established according to characteristics such as age, kinship, gender, race and health status. An example would be the situation of a child, a parent, a man or a woman, a Caucasian, a disabled person. The social role and status of a person in communication are reflected in this case by vesting the individual with certain rights and obligations.
  2. proper social status. It can only take shape in society. Usually, economic statuses are distinguished, depending on the position held, the availability of property; political, according to the views and social activity, also a sign of the allocation of status is the presence or absence of power; sociocultural, which include education, attitude to religion, art, science. In addition, there are legal, professional, territorial statuses.

According to another classification, prescribed, achieved and mixed statuses are distinguished in accordance with the method of obtaining it. Prescribed statuses are those that are assigned upon birth. A person receives them involuntarily, without doing anything for this.

Achieved, on the contrary, are acquired as a result of efforts, often significant. These include professional, economic, cultural positions in society. Mixed - those that combine the two previous types. An example of such statuses can be various dynasties, where, by birthright, a child receives not only a position in society, but a predisposition to achievements in a certain field of activity. There are also formal and informal statuses. The first are fixed officially, in any documents. For example, when taking office. The latter are assigned by the group behind the scenes. A prime example is the leader in a small group.

The concept of social role

In psychology and sociology, the term "social role" is used, which refers to the expected behavior dictated by social position and other members of the group. Social role and status are closely related. The status imposes the duties of the right on the person, and they, in turn, dictate a certain type of behavior to the person. Any person, due to his sociality, must constantly change behavior patterns, therefore, each individual has a whole arsenal of roles that he plays in different situations.

Social role determines social status. Its structure includes role expectation, or expectation, performance, or play. A person finds himself in a typical situation where participants expect a certain model of behavior from him. So he starts putting it into practice. He does not need to think about how to behave. The model dictates his actions. Each person has his own role set, i.e. a set of roles on different cases life according to their status.

Psychological characteristics of social roles

It is believed that the role in society determines social status. However, the sequence is reversed. Receiving the next status, a person develops options for behavior. Each role has two psychological components. Firstly, it is a symbolic-informational part, which is the scenario of a typical performance. It is often presented in the form of instructions, memos, principles. Each individual has unique traits that make the role unique and subjective. Secondly, it is the imperative-control component, which is the mechanism for launching the game. The imperative component is also associated with values ​​and norms. He dictates how to act, based on cultural stereotypes and moral norms of society.

The social role has three psychological parameters by which it can be assessed and classified:

  • Emotionality. different degree manifestations of sensuality is characteristic of each role. So, the leader must be restrained, and the mother can be emotional.
  • Formalization. Roles can be formal or informal. The first are described by a specific scenario, fixed in some form. For example, the role of a teacher is partially described in job description, as well as fixed in the stereotypes and beliefs of society. The latter arise in specific situations and are not fixed anywhere, except for the psyche of the performer. For example, the role of ringleader in the company.
  • Motivation. Roles are always closely related to the satisfaction of various needs, each of them has one or more initial needs.

Types of social roles

Society is infinitely diverse, so there are many types of roles. The social status and social role of a person are interrelated. Therefore, the former often duplicate the latter and vice versa. So, they distinguish natural roles (mother, child) and achieved ones (leader, leader), formal and informal. Social role and status, examples of which everyone can find in their personality structure, have a certain sphere of influence. Among them, there are status roles that are directly related to a certain position in society and interpersonal roles that follow from the situation, for example, the role of a loved one, offended, etc.

Functions of social roles

Society constantly needs mechanisms to regulate the behavior of its members. The social role and status in communication perform primarily a regulatory function. They help to quickly find an interaction scenario without spending large resources. Also, social roles perform an adaptive function. When a person's status changes, or he finds himself in a certain situation, he needs to quickly find a suitable behavior model. Thus, the social role and status of the nation allow it to adapt to a new cultural context.

Another function is self-realization. The performance of roles allows a person to show his various qualities and achieve the desired goals. The cognitive function lies in the possibilities of self-knowledge. A person, trying on various roles, learns his potential, finds new opportunities.

Social role and status: ways of interaction

In the structure of personality, roles and statuses are closely intertwined. They allow a person to solve various social problems, achieve goals and satisfy requirements. The social role and status of the individual in the group are important for motivating her to work. Wishing to raise the status, the person begins to study, work, be improved.

Groups are a dynamic entity and there is always room for redistribution of statuses. A person using the assortment of his roles can change his status. And vice versa: changing it will lead to a change in the role set. The social role and status of the individual in the group can be briefly characterized as driving force personality on the way to self-realization and achievement of goals.