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

The status of children is usually subordinate to adults, and children are expected to be deferential to the latter. The status of soldiers is different from that of civilians; the role of soldiers is associated with risk taking and taking oaths, which is not the case for other populations. The status of women is different from that of men, and therefore they are expected to behave differently from men. Each individual can have a large number of statuses, and those around him have the right to expect him to perform roles in accordance with these statuses. In this sense, status and role are two sides of the same phenomenon: if status is a set of rights, privileges and obligations, then a role is an action within this set of rights and obligations. The social role consists of a role expectation (expectation) and the performance of this role (play).

Social roles can be institutionalized and conventional.

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

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

Cultural norms are learned mainly through role learning. For example, a person who masters the role of a military man becomes familiar with the customs, moral norms and laws characteristic of the status of this role. Only a few norms are accepted by all members of society, the adoption of most norms depends on the status of a particular person. What is acceptable for one status turns out to be unacceptable for another. Thus, socialization as a process of teaching the generally accepted ways and methods of action and interaction is the most important process of teaching role behavior, as a result of which the individual really becomes a part of society.

Types of social roles

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

Social roles are associated with social status, profession, or type of activity (teacher, student, student, salesperson). These are standardized impersonal roles based on rights and responsibilities, regardless of who plays those roles. Socio-demographic roles are distinguished: husband, wife, daughter, son, grandson ... Man and woman are also social roles, biologically predetermined and presupposing specific ways of behavior, enshrined in social norms and customs.

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

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

The main characteristics of the social role

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

By scale. Some of the roles can be severely limited, while others are blurred.

By the method of receipt. Roles are divided into prescribed and conquered (also called achievable).

By the degree of formalization. Activity can proceed both within strictly established frameworks and arbitrarily.

By types of motivation. Personal profit, public good, etc. can act as motivation.

The scope of the role depends on the range of interpersonal relationships. The larger the range, the larger the scale. For example, the social roles of spouses are very large in 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 in this social interaction are interested in the most different aspects of each other's life, their relationship is practically unlimited. In other cases, when the relationship is strictly defined by social roles (for example, the relationship between the seller and the buyer), interaction can be carried out only on a specific occasion (in this case, a purchase). Here the scale of the role is reduced to a narrow circle of specific issues and is small.

The way of getting a role depends on how inevitable the given role is for a person. So, the roles of a young man, old man, man, woman are automatically determined by the age and gender of a person and do not require special efforts to acquire them. There can only be the problem of matching your role, which already exists as a given. Other roles are achieved or even conquered in the course of a person's life and as a result of purposeful special efforts. For example, the role of a student, research assistant, professor, etc. These are almost all roles related to the profession and any achievements of a person.

Formalization as a descriptive characteristic of a social role is determined by the specifics of the interpersonal relations of the bearer of this role. Some roles presuppose the establishment of only formal relations between people with rigid regulation of the rules of behavior; others, on the contrary, are only informal; still others can combine both formal and informal relationships. It is obvious that the relationship of a traffic police representative with a traffic offender should be determined by formal rules, and the relationship between loved ones - 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 driven by different motives. Parents, caring for the welfare of their child, are guided primarily by a sense of love and care; the leader works in the name of the cause, etc.

Social status of a person- this is the social position that he occupies in the structure of society. Simply put, it is the place that an individual occupies among other individuals. For the first time this concept was used by the English lawyer Henry Maine in the middle of the 19th century.

Each person simultaneously possesses several social statuses in different social groups. Consider the main types of social status and examples:

1. Inborn status. Unchanged, as a rule, the status obtained at birth: gender, race, nationality, class or estate.
2. Acquired status. What a person achieves in the course of his life with the help of knowledge, skills and abilities: profession, position, title.
3. Prescribed status. The status that a person acquires due to factors beyond his control; for example - age (an elderly man can do nothing about the fact that he is elderly). This status changes during life and passes into another.

Social status gives a person certain rights and responsibilities. For example, having achieved the status of a father, a person receives the responsibility to take care of his child.

The totality of all the statuses of a person that he possesses at the moment is called status dialing.

There are situations when a person in one social group occupies a high status, and in another - a low one. For example, on the football field you are Cristiano Ronaldo, and at the desk you are a poor student. Or there are situations when the rights and obligations of one status interfere with the fulfillment of the rights and obligations of another. For example, the president of Ukraine, who is engaged in commercial activities, which he has no right to do under the constitution. Both of these cases are examples of status incompatibility (or status mismatch).

Social role concept.

Social role is a set of actions that a person is obliged to perform in accordance with the achieved social status. More specifically, it is a pattern of behavior that follows from the status associated with this role. Social status is a static concept, and social role is dynamic; as in linguistics: status is the subject, and the role is the predicate. For example, the best football player in the world in 2014 is expected to play great. Great acting is a role.

Types of social role.

The generally accepted system of social roles developed by the American sociologist Talcott Parsons. He divided the types of roles according to four main characteristics:

By the scale of the role (that is, by the range of possible actions):

• broad (the roles of husband and wife imply a huge number of actions and varied behavior);
• narrow (the roles of the seller and the buyer: gave money, received the goods and change, said "thank you", a couple more possible actions and, in fact, that's all).

By the way you get a role:

• prescribed (roles of man and woman, young man, old man, child, etc.);
• achievable (the role of a pupil, student, employee, employee, husband or wife, father or mother, etc.).

By the level of formalization (formality):

• formal (based on legal or administrative norms: police officer, civil servant, official);
• informal (emerging spontaneously: the role of a friend, "the soul of the company", a merry fellow).

By motivation (according to the needs and interests of the individual):

• economic (the role of an entrepreneur);
• political (mayor, minister);
• personal (husband, wife, friend);
• spiritual (mentor, educator);
• religious (preacher);

In the structure of the social role, an important point is the expectation by those around him of a certain behavior from a person in accordance with his status. In case of non-fulfillment or one's role, various sanctions are provided (depending on a specific social group) up to depriving a person of his social status.

Thus, the concepts social status and role inextricably linked, since one follows from the other.

Social role - sample the behavior of a person that society recognizes as appropriate for the holder of this status.

Social role is a set of actions that must be performed by a person holding a given status. A person must fulfill certain material values ​​in social system.

This is a model of human behavior, objectively set by the social position of an individual in the system of social, social and personal relations. In other words, a social role is "the behavior that is expected of a person holding a certain status." Modern society requires an individual to constantly change his behavior model in order to fulfill specific roles. In this regard, such neo-Marxists and neo-Freudians as T. Adorno, K. Horney and others in their works made a paradoxical conclusion: the "normal" personality of modern society is a neurotic. Moreover, in modern society, role conflicts are widespread, arising in situations when an individual is required to simultaneously perform several roles with conflicting requirements.

Irving Hoffman in his studies of rituals of interaction, accepting and developing the basic theatrical metaphor, paid attention not so much to role-playing prescriptions and passive adherence to them, but to the very processes of active construction and maintenance of "appearance" in the course of communication, to zones of uncertainty and ambiguity in interaction , mistakes in the behavior of partners.

The concept " social role"Was proposed independently by American sociologists R. Linton and J. Mead in the 1930s, and the former interpreted the concept of" social role "as a unit of social structure described in the form of a system of norms assigned to a person, the latter in terms of direct interaction of people , "Role-playing game", during which, due to the fact that a person imagines himself in the role of another, the assimilation of social norms takes place and the social is formed in the personality. Linton's definition of the 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 ​​the social role as a nodal point at which the individual and society meet, individual behavior turns into social, and the individual properties and inclinations of people are compared with the normative attitudes prevailing in society, depending on what the selection of people takes place. 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.

Types of social roles in society

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

• Social roles related to social status, profession or type of activity (teacher, student, student, salesperson). These are standardized impersonal roles based on rights and responsibilities, regardless of who plays those roles. Socio-demographic roles are distinguished: husband, wife, daughter, son, grandson ... Man and woman are also social roles that presuppose specific ways of behavior, enshrined in social norms and customs.
• Interpersonal Roles associated with interpersonal relationships that are regulated on an emotional level (leader, offended, neglected, family idol, loved one, etc.).

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

Characteristics of social roles

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

• By scale... Some of the roles can be severely limited, while others are blurred.
• By way of receiving... Roles are divided into prescribed and conquered (also called achievable).
• By the degree of formalization... Activity can proceed both within strictly established frameworks and arbitrarily.
• By types of motivation... Personal profit, public good, etc. can act as motivation.

Role scope depends on the range of interpersonal relationships. The larger the range, the larger the scale. For example, the social roles of spouses are very large in 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 in this social interaction are interested in the most different aspects of each other's life, their relationship is practically unlimited. In other cases, when the relationship is strictly defined by social roles (for example, the relationship between the seller and the buyer), interaction can be carried out only on a specific occasion (in this case, a purchase). Here the scale of the role is reduced to a narrow circle of specific issues and is small.

How to get a role depends on how inevitable this role is for a person. So, the roles of a young man, old man, man, woman are automatically determined by the age and gender of a person and do not require special efforts to acquire them. There can only be the problem of matching your role, which already exists as a given. Other roles are achieved or even conquered 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 practically 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 the interpersonal relations of the bearer of this role. Some roles involve the establishment of only formal relations between people with rigid regulation of the rules of behavior; others, on the contrary, are only informal; still others can combine both formal and informal relationships. It is obvious that the relationship of a traffic police representative with a traffic offender should be determined by formal rules, and the relationship between loved ones - 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.

These are socialization mechanisms. The concepts of social status, role and role behavior are distinguished.

Social status is the position of the subject in the system of interpersonal relations, which determines his duties, rights and privileges. It is established by society. Social relationships are confusing.

The social role is associated with status, these are the norms of behavior of a person holding a certain status.

Role behavior is the specific use of a social role by a person. Here his personal characteristics are reflected.

He proposed the concept of Mead's social role at the end of the 19th - 20th centuries. A person becomes a Personality when they learn to enter the role of another person.

Any role has a structure:

1. Model of human behavior from the side of society.
2. The system of representing a person how he should behave.
3. The actual observed behavior of a person occupying this status.

In the event of a mismatch between these components, a role conflict arises.

1. Inter-role conflict. A person is a performer of many roles, the requirements of which are not compatible or he does not have the strength, the time to fulfill these roles is good. This conflict is based on illusion.

2. Intra-role conflict. When different representatives of social groups have different requirements for the performance of one role. The presence of an intra-role conflict is very dangerous for the Personality.

The social role is the fixation of a certain position that this or that individual occupies in the system of social relations. A role is understood as “a function, a normatively approved pattern of behavior, expected from everyone occupying a given position” (Kon). These expectations do not depend on the consciousness and behavior of a particular individual; their subject is not the individual, but society. Essential here is not only and not so much the fixation of rights and obligations, but the connection of the social role with certain types of social Activity of the Person. A social role is "a socially necessary type of social Activity and a way of behavior of a Person" (Buyeva). A social role always bears the stamp of social assessment: society can either approve or disapprove of certain social roles, sometimes approval or disapproval can be differentiated among different social groups, the assessment of a role can acquire completely different meanings in accordance with the social experience of a particular social group ...

In reality, each individual fulfills not one, but several social roles: he can be an accountant, a father, a member of a trade union, etc. A number of roles are assigned to a person at birth, others are acquired during life. However, the role itself does not determine the Activity and the behavior of each concrete carrier in detail: it all depends on how much the individual learns and internalizes the role. The act of internalization is determined by a number of individual psychological characteristics of each specific bearer of a given role. Therefore, social relations, although they are in essence role-playing, impersonal relations, in reality, in their concrete manifestation, acquire a certain “personal coloring”. Each social role does not mean an absolute set of patterns of behavior, it always leaves a certain “range of possibilities” for its performer, which can be conventionally called a certain “style of role performance”.

Social differentiation is inherent in all forms of human existence. The behavior of the Personality is explained by social inequality in society. It is influenced by:

• social origin;
• ethnicity;
• the level of education;
• position;
• prof. affiliation;
• power;
• income and wealth;
• lifestyle, etc.

The performance of the role is individual. Linton proved that role has a socio-cultural condition.

There is also a definition that the social role is the social function of the Personality.

It should be noted that there are several points of view:

1. Shebutani is a conventional role. Dilutes the concepts of a conventional role and a social role.
2. A set of social norms that society encourages or compels to master.

Varieties of roles:

• psychological or interpersonal (in the system of subjective interpersonal relationships). Categories: leaders, preferred, not accepted, outsiders;
• social (in the system of objective social relations). Categories: professional, demographic.
• active or actual - currently executing;
• latent (hidden) - a person is potentially a carrier, but not at the moment
• conventional (official);
• spontaneous - arise in a specific situation, not conditioned by requirements.

Role and Behavior Relationship:

F. Zimbardo (1971) conducted an experiment (students and prison) and found that the role strongly influences the behavior of the person. The phenomenon of absorption of a person's personality into a role. Role prescriptions shape human behavior. The phenomenon of deindividualization is the absorption of the Personality into a social role, the Personality loses control over its individuality (for example, the jailers).

Role behavior - individual performance of a social role - society sets the standard of behavior, and the performance of the role has a personal connotation. Mastering social roles is part of the process of socialization of the Personality, an indispensable condition for the “growth” of the Personality in a society of their own kind. In role behavior, role conflicts can arise: inter-role conflicts (a person is forced to perform several roles at the same time, sometimes contradictory), intra-role conflicts (they arise when different requirements are imposed on the carrier of the same role from different social groups). Sex roles: male, female. Professional roles: boss, subordinate, etc.

Jung. Person - role (ego, shadow, self). Not to merge with the "persona" so as not to lose the personal core (self).

Andreeva. The social role is the fixation of a certain position that this or that individual occupies in the system of social relations. A number of roles are prescribed from birth (to be a wife / husband). A social role always has a certain range of possibilities for its performer - the "role playing style". Learning social roles, a person learns social standards of behavior, learns to evaluate himself from the outside and exercise self-control. The personality acts (is) the mechanism that allows you to integrate your “I” and your own life activity, to carry out a moral assessment of your actions, to find your place in life. It is necessary to use role behavior as a tool for adaptation to certain social situations.

5. The classical period in the development of sociology. Its specificity and main representatives

6. Spencer's organic theory. Evolution principle

8.Materalistic understanding of society. The basis and superstructure of the doctrine of the socio-economic formation.

9.Sociological method of E. Durkheim. Mechanical and organic solidarity.

10. Understanding sociology of M. Weber. Ideal type concept.

11. Sociological analysis of M. Weber and F. Tennis of traditional and modern types of society. The doctrine of bureaucracy.

12. Contribution to the development of sociology of F. Tennis, G. Simmel and V. Paretto

13.Modern macrosociological theories and their main representatives

14. Microsocial approach to the consideration of the interaction of man and society.

15. Prerequisites and originality of Russian sociological thought.

16. The main representatives of Russian sociology.

17. The contribution of Russian sociology to the development of world sociological thought.

18. PA Sorokin as a prominent representative of world sociology.

21. Survey and non-poll methods of sociological research.

22. Requirements for the construction of the questionnaire and sample population.

23. Concept and structure of social action.

24. The main types of social action according to M. Weber and Yu. Habermas.

25.Social contacts and social interaction.

26. The structure of social interaction according to Comrade Parsons, I. Schepansky, E. Bern. Types of social interaction.

27.Social relationships. Their place and role in the life of society

28.Social control and social behavior. External and internal social control.

29.Social norms as regulators of social behavior.

30. Concepts of anomie and deviant behavior.

31. Types of deviant behavior.

32. Stages of development of deviant behavior. The concept of stigma.

33. Basic approaches to the definition of society. Society and community.

34. A systematic approach to the consideration of society. The main spheres of society.

36. The concept of social organization.

37. The structure and basic elements of social organization.

38. Formal and informal organizations. The concept of a bureaucratic system.

39. Globalization. Its causes and effects.

40. Concepts of economic globalization, imperialism, catch-up development and the world system.

41. The place of Russia in the modern world.

42. The social structure of society and its criteria.

43. Cultural globalization: pros and cons. Glocalism concept.

44.Social status and social role.

46.Social mobility and its role in modern society

47. Channels of vertical mobility.

48. Marginal and marginality. Causes and Effects.

49. Social movements. Their place and role in modern society.

50. Group as a factor of personality socialization.

51. Types of social groups: primary and secondary, "we" - a group about "they" - a group, small and large.

52.Dynamic processes in a small social group.

53. The concept of social change. Social progress and its criteria.

54. Reference and non-reference groups. The concept of a team.

55. Culture as a social phenomenon.

56. The main elements of culture and its functions.

57. The main approaches to the study of the formation of personality.

58. Personality structure. Social personality types.

59. Personality as an object and subject of social relations. Socialization concept.

60. R. Darendorf's theory of conflict. The concept of phenomenology.

Conflict model of society r. Dahrendorf

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 according to the characteristics specific to a particular society, which can be economic, national, age and other characteristics. Social status is divided by skills, skills, education.

Each person, as a rule, has not one, but several social statuses. Sociologists distinguish between:

inborn status- the status received by a person at birth (gender, race, nationality, biological stratum). In some cases, innate status can change: the status of a member of the royal family - from birth until the monarchy exists.

acquired (achieved) status- the status that a person achieves thanks to his mental and physical efforts (work, connections, position, post).

prescribed (attributed) status- the status that a person acquires, regardless of his desire (age, status in the family), over the course of life, it can change. Prescribed status is either innate or acquired.

Social role- This is a set of actions that must be performed by a person holding a given status in the social system. Each status usually includes a number of roles. The set of roles resulting from a published status is called a role set.

The social role should be considered in two aspects: role expectation and role-playing... There is never a complete overlap between the two. But each of them is of great importance in the behavior of the individual. Our roles are determined 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 expectations, then he enters into a certain conflict with society.

For example, a parent should take care of children, a close friend should be partial to our problems, etc.

Role requirements (prescriptions, positions 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.

Since each person plays several roles in many different situations, conflict can arise between the 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 the same role.

For example, a working wife finds that the demands of her main job may conflict with her domestic responsibilities; or a married student must reconcile the requirements for him as a husband with the requirements for him as a student; or the police officer sometimes has to choose between doing his job and arresting a close friend. An example of a conflict that occurs within one role is the position of a leader or a public figure who publicly proclaims one point of view, and in a narrow circle declares himself to be 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 internal installations.

As a result, we can say that every person in modern society, due to inadequate role training, as well as constantly occurring cultural changes and the multiplicity of roles played by her, experiences role tension and conflict. However, it has mechanisms of unconscious protection and conscious involvement of social structures to avoid the dangerous consequences of social role conflicts.

45. Social inequality. Ways and means of overcoming 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 different positions in society. But over time, natural inequality is complemented by social inequality, which consists in the possibility of obtaining social benefits, unrelated to the 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 social. inequality is a tool to help ensure that the most important and responsible tasks are accomplished by talented and prepared people. Proponents of the theory of conflicts believe that the views of functionalists are an attempt to justify the statuses that have developed in society and the situation in which people, under whose control are social values, had 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, approving or condemning the processes taking place in society. The second position (objective) is based on the principle of equivalence, i.e. mutual retribution in relationships between people.