Basic social role of a person. What is a social role and its significance for a person
In sociology, the concept of social role has appeared since the end of the 19th century, although this term officially appeared only at the end of the 20th century within the framework of the theory of R. Linton.
This science considers society or other organized group as a collection of individuals with a certain status and behavior pattern. What is meant by the concepts of social statuses and roles, as well as what meaning they have for a person, we will describe further and give examples.
Definition
For sociology, the term “social role” means a model of behavior expected from a person that would correspond to the rights and normative responsibilities established by society. That is, this concept considers the connection between the function of an individual and its position in society or interpersonal relationships.
We can also say that a social role is a certain algorithm of actions prescribed to a person by society, which he must follow in order to carry out useful activities in society. In this case, a person tries on a model of behavior or a prescribed algorithm of actions either voluntarily or forcibly.
Usually this concept is considered as one of the dynamic aspects of an individual’s status. When acting as a member of a society or group and accepting responsibility for performing certain functions, a person must follow the rules established by that very group. This is what the rest of the community expects from him.
If we consider the concept of a social role using the example of an organization, we can understand that the manager of an enterprise, training staff, and persons receiving knowledge are an active organized community, the norms and rules of which are prescribed for each participant. IN educational institution the principal gives orders that teachers must obey.
For each participant in role relationships, the prescribed regulatory requirements and the individual shades of the status he has received are known. Therefore, the model of human behavior in a particular social circle is expected for other members of this group. This means that other members of the community can to a large extent predict the nature of the actions of each of its members.
Classification and varieties
Within its scientific direction This concept has its own classification. Thus, social roles are divided into types:
In turn, this type is divided into basic socio-demographic patterns of behavior, where there are such social roles in the family as husband and wife, daughter, son, granddaughter, grandson, etc. If we take the biological component as a basis, we can also distinguish such social roles of the individual as woman/man.
2. Interpersonal – roles determined by the relationships between people in limited conditions and the individual characteristics of each of them. These include any relationship between people, including conflict, arising from emotional manifestations. In this case, the gradation may look like this: idol, leader, ignored, privileged, offended, etc.
These types of social roles exist in every organized community, and there is a clear connection between the duration of the group's existence and the likelihood of typical manifestations in the behavior of its participants. It is worth noting that it is extremely difficult to get rid of a stereotype that has developed over the years, familiar to a person and society, over time.
Considering this topic, we cannot ignore the classification according to the characteristics of each specific role. The famous American sociologist T. Parsons was able to identify them in order to get the most complete understanding of the term “social role of the individual.” For each model, he immediately proposed four distinctive properties.
1. Scale. This characteristic depends on latitude interpersonal relationships observed between members of a particular group. The closer the communication between people, the more significance there is in such relationships. Here you can give a clear example of the relationship between a husband and wife.
A person’s gender ideas regarding his role are reinforced by school. Biological features 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 as tied to the characteristic manifestations of a particular gender than before. Thus, the social role of women now includes not only the duties of mother and housewife, but also extends to other areas.
These are models prescribed by society for every person who will not have to make any effort to receive justification from the environment. The achieved roles can be considered the results of an individual’s activities, indicating his social status (for example, career growth).
3. The degree of formalization on which the formation of personality and its functions depends. Regarding this criterion, the social status of an individual can be formed under the influence of regulatory requirements, or it can develop arbitrarily. For example, relationships between people in a military unit are regulated by regulations, while friends are guided by personal feelings and emotions.
4. Type of motivation. Each person, when choosing a model of behavior, is guided by a personal motive. This could be financial gain, career advancement, the desire to be loved, etc. In psychology, there are two types of motivation - external, which arises under the influence of the environment, and internal, which is determined by the subject himself.
The process of choosing and becoming a role
A person's role in a social environment does not arise spontaneously. The process of its formation goes through several stages, culminating with the individual in society.
At the next stage of development social personality education awaits. Throughout almost his 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 individual socialization is education. Here the main character is the person himself, choosing the most typical skills for himself and the direction for further development.
The next stage of socialization is protection. It implies a set of processes aimed at reducing the significance of factors that could traumatize a person in the process of his formation. Using certain social methods of protection, the subject will protect himself from the environment and conditions in which he will be morally uncomfortable.
The processes by which the social role and social status of an individual are determined are very complex. But without them, a person cannot become a full-fledged person, which is why they are so significant in everyone’s life. Sociologists argue that there are two phases that contribute to an individual’s adaptation to his social role:
- Adaptation. During this period, a person learns the rules and norms of behavior established by society. By mastering new laws, a person begins to behave accordingly.
- Interiorization. It provides for the acceptance of new conditions and rules while simultaneously abandoning old principles.
But “failures” in the process of socialization of the individual are also possible. Often they occur against the background of the subject’s reluctance or inability to fulfill the conditions and requirements that the social role of a person in society provides for.
The definition of conflict in this case is tantamount to a complex of complex emotional states. They can arise in a subject due to a discrepancy or contradiction in the demands placed on him by different social circles of which he is a member.
At the same time, all a person’s roles are very important to him. At the same time, he can identify the significance of each of them in completely different ways. The individual manifestation of social roles by the subject has a specific shade, which directly depends on the acquired knowledge and experience, as well as on the desire and desire of the person to meet the expectations of the society of which he is a member. Author: Elena Suvorova
Social role is a status-role concept that is one of the most popular theories in sociology. Any person is part of society, society and, in accordance with it, performs a number of functions, and therefore, in this concept, the individual is a subject. Famous American sociologists laid the foundations of the concept of personality, they were R. Minton, J. Mead and T. Parson, of course, each has individual merits for the contribution of their efforts and potential to the development of the status-role concept.
Social status and social role are the main two concepts that describe a person. An individual, occupying a certain place in society, is fixed public position and has certain rights and obligations. It is this position that defines a person. At the same time, a person has several statuses, one of which is main or basic, that is, the main status is the person’s profession or position.
The social role is that he performs within the framework of his social status in a particular social system. And given that one person has several statuses, then, accordingly, he performs several roles. The totality within one social status is a social set. A person performs more social roles if he has a much higher status and position in society.
The social role of a person working in a security agency is radically different from the role set of the President of the country, this is all clear and easy. In general, the American sociologist T. Parson was the first to systematize roles, thanks to whom five main categories were identified that make it possible to qualify individual social roles:
- A social role is something that is regulated in some cases. For example, the social role of a civil servant is strictly outlined, and the role of the fact that this employee is a man is highly blurred and individual.
- Some roles are extremely emotional, while others require rigor and restraint.
- Social roles may differ in the way they are obtained. This depends on the social status that is prescribed or achieved by the person independently.
- The scale and scope of authority within one social role is clearly defined, while in others it is not even established.
- The performance of a role is motivated by personal interests or for the sake of public duty.
It is important to remember that a social role is a pattern of behavior that is balanced between role expectations and a person's character. That is, it is not the exact mechanism and pattern expected of a particular social role, but role behavior is specific depending on individual characteristics person. Let us once again establish that the social role of a person is determined by a specific social status, expressed by a certain profession, field of activity. For example, teacher, musician, student, salesman, director, accountant, politician. The social role of the individual is always assessed by society, approved or condemned. For example, the role of a criminal or a prostitute has social censure.
Certain social roles and statuses characterize various relationships and determine people’s behavior.
A social role is a way of behavior of people that corresponds to accepted norms, depending on their status or position in society, in the system of interpersonal relations. Every human behavior is stimulated by something or someone, has its own direction, and is accompanied by some actions (physical, mental, verbal, etc.).
Mastering social roles is part of the process of socialization of the individual, an indispensable condition for a person to “grow into” the society of his own kind. Socialization is the process and result of an individual’s assimilation and active reproduction of social experience, carried out in communication and activity. By mastering social roles, a person assimilates social standards of behavior, learns to evaluate himself from the outside and exercise self-control. Thus, developed personality can use role behavior as a tool for adaptation to certain social situations, while at the same time not merging or identifying with the role.
Social roles are divided into institutionalized ones, i.e. institution of marriage, family; social. the roles of mother, daughter; wife and conventional: accepted by agreement, although a person may not accept them.
Describing the role-based sociotypical behavior of an individual, sociologists and social psychologists characterize the individual precisely as a representative of one or another group, profession, nation, class, one or another social whole. Depending on how the group acts for the individual, how involved the individual is in certain relationships with the group, what the goals and objectives of the group’s joint activities mean for it, various personality traits are manifested.
Social roles are diverse, and the larger the set, the more complex the society. However, the roles are not a simple heap, devoid of internal harmony. They are organized, connected to each other by countless threads. There are two main levels of organization and ordering of roles: institutions and communities. Thanks to these social entities roles are connected with each other, their reproduction is ensured, guarantees of their stability are created, specific norms regulating role interactions are formed, sanctions are developed, and complex systems of social control arise.
The social role “focuses attention on the universal, general requirements for the behavior of a person in a certain social position.” Moreover, these two concepts describe the same phenomenon from different points of view. Status describes a person's position in the social structure, while role defines its dynamic aspect. Role is a dynamic aspect of status. Education, as an established system, offers a set of ready-made statuses and roles that can fluctuate within a certain scale of acceptable invariants.
In relation to social stratification, education plays a dual role. Social stratification describes the social inequality of people, records the structural inequality of people, “the conditions under which social groups have unequal access to such social benefits as money, power, prestige, education, information, professional career, self-realization, etc.” Thus, education as a synonym for the word “diploma” is one of the criteria for building the social stratification of a particular society. Based on the degree of accessibility of individual members of society to education, we can talk about a qualitative characteristic of the inequality prevailing in a particular society. On the other hand, education is a separate stratum of society. The social stratum has a certain qualitative homogeneity. It is a collection of people who occupy a similar position in the hierarchy and lead a similar lifestyle. Belonging to a stratum has two components - objective (the presence of objective indicators characteristic of a given social stratum) and subjective (identifying oneself with a certain stratum).
Social status as an element of the social organization of society is complexly coordinated and ranked relative to the dominant system of values, which gives them special significance in public opinion. Social mobility characterizes “changes in social status, i.e. movement of an individual (or social group) between different positions in a system of social stratification. A number of researchers consider educational institutions to be the main means of stimulating and perpetuating social inequality. Nevertheless, there is no doubt that in modern conditions of social development (acceleration of scientific progress, intensification of the rate of knowledge updating, increase in the volume of incoming information) a high-quality education is required.
These categories allow us to describe the vertical movement of an individual. But education appears at all levels: global, national, regional. Such consideration allows us to identify the presence of additional functions performed by education.
However, this model of education as a social institution turns out to be quite schematic, since it does not reflect the conditions in which a particular institution is located. In addition, it is built synchronously and does not allow us to identify the dynamics of the development of education in a time perspective.
The modern social, economic, political, cultural context in which education is located is characterized from the point of view of two processes: regionalization and globalization. It is customary to view them as multidirectional and leading to different results. However, this opinion can also be accused of schematism.
behavior expected of someone who has a certain social status. Limited to a set of rights and obligations corresponding to this status.
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ROLE SOCIAL
a set of requirements imposed by the company on persons occupying certain social positions. positions. These requirements (instructions, wishes and expectations of appropriate behavior) are embodied in specific social networks. standards Social system sanctions of a positive and negative nature are aimed at ensuring proper execution of the requirements related to R.s. Arising in connection with a specific social position given in society. structure, R.s. at the same time, it is a specific (normatively approved) method of behavior that is mandatory for individuals performing the corresponding R.s. Work performed by an individual becomes a decisive characteristic of his personality, without, however, losing its socially derivative and, in this sense, objectively inevitable character. In the aggregate, R.s performed by people are personified by the dominant societies. relationship. Social by their genesis, the role requirements become structural element human personality in the course of socialization of individuals and as a result of internalization (deep internal assimilation) of the norms characterizing R.s. To internalize a role means to give it your own, individual (personal) definition, evaluate and develop a certain attitude towards social life. position that forms the corresponding R.s. During the internalization of the role, socially developed norms are assessed through the prism of attitudes, beliefs, and principles shared by the individual. The society imposes R.s on the individual, but its acceptance, rejection, or implementation always leaves an imprint on the person’s actual behavior. Depending on the nature of the requirements contained in the normative structure of R.s., the latter are divided into at least three categories: norms of proper (mandatory), desirable and possible behavior. Compliance with mandatory regulatory requirements of R.s. is ensured by the most serious sanctions of a negative nature, most often embodied in laws or other legal regulations. character. Role norms that embody desirable (from society's point of view) behavior are most often ensured by negative sanctions of an extra-legal nature (failure to comply with the charter of a public organization entails exclusion from it, etc.). In contrast, role standards, which formulate possible behavior, are ensured primarily by positive sanctions (the voluntary performance of the duties of those who need help entails an increase in prestige, approval, etc.). In the normative structure of a role, four constructive elements can be distinguished: a description (of the type of behavior required of a person in a given role); prescription (requirement in connection with such behavior); assessment (cases of fulfillment or non-compliance with role requirements); sanction (favorable or unfavorable social consequences of an action within the framework of the requirements of R.s). See also: Role theory of personality, Role theory. Lit.: Yakovlev A.M. Sociology of economic crime. M., 1988; Soloviev E.Yu. Personality and law//The past interprets us. Essays on the history of philosophy and culture. M, 1991. S, 403-431; Smelser N. Sociology M., 1994. A.M. Yakovlev.
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Interacting with society, each person plays a large number of social roles.
Human understanding and acceptance social "rules of the game"- an important way of self-awareness of the individual, the choice of an effective strategy of existence.
But the incompatibility of different role settings can cause conflicts and even tragedy for a person.
How to determine a person's social age? Find out about this from ours.
Concept in psychology
Human community, society - complex combination of rules and relationships, the established system, traditions and.
In this system, per person, as a participant in the life of a social group, certain expectations are imposed: how exactly he should behave in one capacity or another in order to correspond to the prevailing ideas of people about the positive, correct, successful.
The primary definition of “social role” was proposed almost simultaneously, but independently of each other, in the first half of the 20th century by American scientists - anthropologist, sociologist Ralph Linton and philosopher-psychologist George Herbert Mead.
Linton presented the social role as a system of norms and rules given to a person by society. Mead- as a publicly or secretly established social game, by joining which a person assimilates the laws of society and becomes its “cell.”
Despite all the differences in definitions, they subsequently formed general concept, in which the social role is “cohesion” of the individual and society, combination in human behavior of manifestations of a purely individual and formed under the influence of society.
Social role is the expectation of society that a person, as a bearer of some kind of social function, will behave in a certain way.
Classification: list
Since the life and functionality of a person among his own kind is diverse, the classification of roles in society a bunch of.
Roles, determining the individual’s place in the complex hierarchy of human contacts:
- by gender- women's, men's;
- by professional affiliation;
- according to the age- child, adult, elderly person.
Relationships between people can also be described as social roles:
- husband, wife, mother, father ();
- leader, leader, leader;
- rejected by society, outcast, outsider;
- everyone's favorite, etc.
A person in a social system is a “performer” of many social roles. They can be distributed officially, consciously, or arise spontaneously, depending on the development of a particular life situation.
For example, regulations adopted in the work organization, will dictate certain rules of the game to its employees.
Each everyday situation makes a person a participant in numerous “human games”, already colored by the formed expectations of society.
Species and types
The first systematization of social roles belongs to one of the founders of modern sociology, the American Talcott Parsons.
Any role of an individual in society, the sociologist argued, can be succinctly described by just five main characteristics:
Absolutely any role of a person in society can be described in detail using the listed characteristics.
Examples from life
Training in compliance with social norms norms, stereotypes(game rules) starts with early childhood person:
People, knowing about the status of a particular person in society, present a certain established, expected set of requirements for his behavior.
In society there are already long-established standards successfully or, conversely, poorly performed social model behavior for a specific case.
Although, of course, a person has freedom in relation to his “social game”. As a result, each individual is free to fulfill a social role (or reject it altogether) in accordance with his own concepts and ideas about life, individual characteristics.
What are they connected to?
"Standard" set of roles associated with the main spheres of human life in society.
In psychology, a distinction is made between social and interpersonal types of roles.
Social are associated with a certain set of rights and responsibilities expected of a person, which, in the understanding of society, this status imposes on him:
- social status;
- professional affiliation, type of activity;
- gender, etc.
Interpersonal roles are individual and consist of specific relationships in a couple, group, community of people (for example, everyone’s favorite in the family).
Since each individual is a “carrier” of a large number of social roles associated with one status, the concept of a role set (complex) is highlighted in psychology.
Inside the complex they share typical social roles of the individual and those that arise depending on the situation.
To the typical basic social roles include those that form the backbone of an individual’s personality:
Unlike basic (permanent) social roles situational arise spontaneously and end with a change in the “plot”.
So, for example, during one day a person manages to be a passenger, a driver, a buyer, or a pedestrian.
Theory
George Mead, one of the founders of role theory, was the first to show in his works the process of awareness of one’s own self by an individual, which occurs precisely in interaction with society.
The baby initially lacks self-awareness. Communicating within his social group (usually a family), the child tries on the “ready-made” roles of its participants offered to him.
He faces daily ready-made models and learns how mother and father behave towards each other, how they communicate with friends, neighbors, work colleagues, other family members, and with him personally.
This is how he gets his first experience of social contacts. “Trying on” those offered to him behavioral stereotypes, the child begins to recognize himself as a member of society (social subject).
This is how personality develops - in playing some roles.
Mead argued that "role entity"- the main mechanism of personality, the backbone of its structure.
A person’s actions are connected primarily with the social attitudes he has internalized, as well as the expectations of society and the individual himself to obtain a specific result from performing a particular role in society.
How to determine yours?
Defining your social roles is very simple. It is enough to “fit” yourself into the existing system of your own relationships with society.
A person’s social role exists where he has responsibilities(society's expectations) to behave in a certain way:
Often to fulfill different roles from a person requires constant change of behavior patterns.
Expectations that a person will successfully fulfill several social roles, the requirements of which contradict each other, lead to a situation called in psychology.
In an adult member of society set of dominant social roles(the way he performs them) is already formed. Their totality constitutes a kind of social “dossier” of a person, his individual, but for others - a typical and familiar (expected, predictable) image.
Social roles of people: