Social role and its features. A social role is a person's behavior in society associated with social status

Social role functions

In sociology, functions indicate what consequences (for society, for its individual members) the actions performed by this or that person have.

Personality behavior, priorities and attitudes, choices and emotions are determined by a number of factors:

• position in society;
• environmental conditions;
• the type of activity carried out;
• internal personality traits, the spiritual world.

Due to the fact that people need each other to satisfy their individual needs, certain relationships and interactions are established between them. At the same time, each person plays his own social role.

Throughout life, the individual masters many social roles, which are often forced to play at the same time. This allows us to make the coexistence of different people in one society as comfortable and possible as possible.

The social role has a number of important functions:

1. Sets certain rules of the game: duties and norms, rights, plots of interaction between roles (boss-subordinate, boss-client, boss-tax inspector, etc.). Social adaptation implies mastering and studying the rules of the game - the laws of a given society.
2. Allows you to realize various aspects of your personality. Different roles (friend, parent, boss, public figure, etc.) enable a person to show different qualities. The more roles an individual masters, the more multifaceted and rich his personality becomes, the better he will understand others.
3. It makes it possible to manifest and develop the qualities potentially inherent in a person: softness, toughness, mercy, etc. Only in the process of fulfilling a social role can a person discover his capabilities.
4. Allows you to explore the resources of the personal capabilities of each person. Teaches you to use the best combination of qualities for adequate behavior in a given situation.

The relationship between social role and social status

Social status affects the behavior of the individual. Knowing the social status of a person, one can predict what qualities are characteristic of him, what actions can be expected from him. The expected behavior of an individual associated with his status is called a social role.

Definition 2

A social role is a pattern of behavior that is recognized as the most appropriate for an individual of a given status in society. Role indicates exactly how to act in a given situation.

Any individual is a reflection of the totality of social relations of his historical period.

The social role and social status in communication perform the functions:

• regulatory function - helps to quickly select the necessary scenario of interaction, without spending large resources;
• adaptation function - allows you to quickly find a suitable model of behavior when changing social status;
• cognitive function - the ability to find out your personal potential, to carry out the processes of self-knowledge;
• the function of self-realization is the manifestation of the best qualities of a person, the achievement of the desired goals.

The process of teaching social roles allows you to assimilate cultural norms. Each status of a given role is characterized by its own norms and laws, customs. Acceptance of most of the norms depends on the status of the individual. Some norms are accepted by all members of society. The norms and rules that are acceptable for one status may not be acceptable for another. Socialization teaches role behavior, allows the individual to become part of society.

Remark 1

From the many social roles and statuses offered to the individual by society, he can choose those that will most fully help to apply his abilities and realize plans. Acceptance of a certain social role is greatly influenced by biological and personal characteristics, social conditions. Any social role only outlines the scheme of human behavior; the individual chooses the ways of performing the role himself.

Every person living in a society is included in many different social groups (family, study group, friendly company, etc.). In each of these groups, he occupies a certain position, has a certain status, and certain requirements are imposed on him. Thus, one and the same person should behave in one situation as a father, in another - as a friend, in the third - as a boss, i.e. perform in different roles. A social role is a way of people behaving in accordance with accepted norms, depending on their status or position in society, in the system of interpersonal relations. Mastering social roles is part of the process of socialization of the individual, an indispensable condition for a person's "growing" into a society of his own kind. Socialization is the process and result of assimilation and active reproduction of social experience by an individual, carried out in communication and activity. Examples of social roles are also gender roles (male or female behavior), professional roles. Observing social roles, a person learns social standards of behavior, learns to evaluate himself from the outside and exercise self-control. However, since in real life a person is involved in many activities and relationships, is forced to perform different roles, the requirements for which may be contradictory, there is a need for some mechanism that would allow a person to maintain the integrity of his "I" in conditions of multiple connections with the world (i.e. (i.e., be yourself, playing various roles). The personality (or rather, the formed substructure of direction) is precisely that mechanism, a functional organ 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 not only in a separate social group, but also in life in general, to develop the meaning of their existence, to abandon one in favor of the other. Thus, a developed personality can use role behavior as an instrument of adaptation to certain social situations, at the same time not merging, not identifying with the role. The main components of the social role make up a hierarchical system in which three levels can be distinguished. The first is peripheral attributes, i.e. such, the presence or absence of which does not affect either the perception of the role by the environment, or its effectiveness (for example, the civic state of a poet or a doctor). The second level involves attributes of the role that influence both perception and its effectiveness (for example, long hair in a hippie or poor health in an athlete). At the top of the three-level gradation are the attributes of the role, which are decisive for the formation of a person's identity. The role concept of personality emerged in American social psychology in the 1930s. (C. Cooley, J. Mead) and became widespread in various sociological trends, primarily in structural and functional analysis. T. Parsons and his followers consider personality as a function of the multitude of social roles that are inherent in any individual in a particular society. Charles Cooley believed that personality is formed on the basis of many interactions of people with the outside world. In the process of these interactions, people create their own "mirror self", which consists of three elements: 1. how, in our opinion, others perceive us ("I am sure that people pay attention to my new hairstyle"); 2. how we think they react to 3. what they see ("I'm sure they like my new hairstyle"); 4. How we respond to the perceived reaction of others ("Apparently, I will always comb my hair like this"). This theory places great importance on our interpretation of the thoughts and feelings of others. American psychologist George Herbert Mead went further in his analysis of the development of our "I". Like Cooley, he believed that "I" is a social product, formed on the basis of relationships with other people. In the beginning, as young children, we are unable to explain to ourselves the motives behind the behavior of others. Having learned to comprehend their behavior, children thereby take the first step in life. By learning to think about themselves, they can think about others; the child begins to acquire a sense of his "I". According to Mead, the process of personality formation includes three different stages. The first is imitation. At this stage, children copy the behavior of adults without understanding it. This is followed by the play stage, when children understand behavior as the performance of certain roles: doctor, firefighter, race car driver, etc .; in the course of the game, they reproduce these roles.

The topic of personal growth is very popular now. A lot of different trainings and methods of personality development have been created. It is expensive, and the efficiency is catastrophically low, it is difficult to find a qualified specialist.

Let's understand the concepts to avoid wandering in search of the most effective way to become more successful. The process of personality development includes the development of social roles and communication skills (creating, maintaining and developing quality relationships).

It is through various social roles that personality manifests itself and develops. Mastering a new role can be life-changing. Successful implementation of the social roles that are fundamental for a person creates a feeling of happiness and well-being. The more social roles a person is able to reproduce, the better he is adapted to life, the more successful he is. After all, happy people have a good family, they successfully cope with their professional duties. They take an active and conscious part in the life of society. Friendly companies, hobbies and hobbies significantly enrich a person's life, but they cannot compensate for failures in the implementation of significant social roles for him.

The lack of realization of significant social roles, misunderstanding or their inadequate interpretation creates in a person's life a sense of guilt, low self-esteem, a feeling of being lost, self-doubt, meaninglessness of life.
Observing and mastering social roles, a person assimilates standards of behavior, learns to evaluate himself from the outside, to exercise self-control.

Social role

- This is a model of human behavior, objectively set by the position of the individual in the system of social and personal relations.

Let's just say that a certain impersonal pattern of expected behavior is set in society, within the framework of which something is considered permissible, and something is outside the norm. Thanks to this standard, the performer of the social role is expected to behave quite predictably, which others can orient themselves to.

This predictability allows interaction to be maintained and developed. The consistent performance of a person's social roles creates orderliness in everyday life.
A family man plays the role of son, husband, father, brother. At work, he can simultaneously be an engineer, a foreman of a production site, a member of a trade union, a boss and a subordinate. In social life: a passenger, a driver of a private car, a pedestrian, a customer, a client, a patient, a neighbor, a citizen, a benefactor, a friend, a hunter, a traveler, etc.

Of course, not all social roles are equal for society and are equal for the individual. Family and household, professional and socio-political roles should be singled out as significant.

What social roles are important to you?

In the family: husband / wife; father mother; son daughter?

In the profession and career: a conscientious employee, an expert and specialist in his field, a manager or an entrepreneur, a boss or a business owner?

In the socio-political sphere: a member of a political party / charitable foundation / church, non-partisan atheist?

Without what social role will your life be incomplete?

Wife, mother, business woman?

Every social role has meaning and meaning.

For a society to function and develop normally, it is important that all its members master and fulfill social roles. Since patterns of behavior are laid down and passed down from generation to generation in the family, let's look at family roles.

According to the study, the majority of men get married in order to have a permanent partner for sex and entertainment. In addition, a wife for a man is an attribute of success that supports his status. Hence, the meaning of the social role of the wife to share the hobbies and interests of her husband, to look decent at any age and at any period of life. If a man does not receive sexual satisfaction in marriage, he will have to look for a different meaning of the marriage relationship.

The social role of the mother provides for the care of the child: health, nutrition, clothing, home comfort and education of a full-fledged member of society. Often women in marriage substitute the role of a mother for the role of a wife, and then wonder why the relationship is destroyed.

Father's social role is to ensure the protection and safety of their children, to be the highest authority in the assessment of their actions by children, in the skills of observing the hierarchy.

The task of parents, both father and mother - during growing up, help the child to form a personality capable of living and creating results in his life on his own. To instill moral, ethical and spiritual norms, the foundations of self-development and stress resistance, to lay down healthy models of relations in the family and society.

Sociological research claims that most women get married in order to have the status of a married woman, a reliable rear for raising children in a full-fledged family. She expects admiration and openness in relationships from her husband. Hence, the social role of the husband to have a legal marriage with a woman, to take care of his wife, to participate in the upbringing of children during the entire period of their growing up.

Social roles of adult daughters or sons imply an independent (financially independent) life from parents. In our society, it is believed that children should take care of their parents at a time when they become helpless.

The social role is not a rigid model of behavior.

People perceive and fulfill their roles differently. If a person perceives a social role as a hard mask, the stereotypes of which he is forced to obey, he literally breaks his personality and life turns into hell for him. Therefore, as in the theater, there is only one role, and each performer gives it his own original features. For example, a scientist-researcher is required to adhere to the positions and methods established by science and at the same time create and substantiate new ideas; A good surgeon is not only one who is good at conventional operations, but also one who can go for an unconventional solution, saving the patient's life. Thus, initiative and the author's signature are an integral part of the fulfillment of a social role.

Each social role has a prescribed set of rights and responsibilities.

Responsibility is what a person does on the basis of the norms of a social role, regardless of whether he likes it or not. Since duties are always accompanied by rights, fulfilling their duties in accordance with their social role, a person has the right to present his demands to a partner in interaction. If there are no responsibilities in a relationship, then there are no rights. Rights and obligations are like two sides of the same coin - one is impossible without the other. The harmony of rights and obligations presupposes the optimal performance of a social role. Any imbalance in this ratio indicates a poor-quality assimilation of a social role. For example, often in cohabitation (the so-called civil marriage), the conflict arises at the moment when the partner is presented with the requirements of the social role of the spouse.

Conflicts are embedded in the performance of social roles and, as a consequence, psychological problems.

1. Each personality has an author's performance of generally accepted social roles. It is impossible to achieve a perfect match between a given standard and a personal interpretation. A system of social sanctions ensures the proper fulfillment of requirements related to the social role. Often fear of not meeting expectations leads to self-condemnation: "I am a bad mother, useless wife, disgusting daughter" ...
2. Personality-role conflict arises if the requirements of the social role contradict the life aspirations of the individual. For example, the role of a boss requires strong-willed qualities, energy, and the ability to communicate with people in different, including critical, situations from a person. If a specialist lacks these qualities, he cannot cope with his role. People say about this: "Not a hat for Senka."
3. When a person has several social roles with mutually exclusive requirements, or he is unable to fulfill his roles in full, arises inter-role conflict... This conflict is based on the illusion that the impossible is possible. For example, a woman wants to be an ideal housewife and mother, while successfully managing a large corporation.
4. If different representatives of the social group have different requirements for the performance of one role, intra-role conflict... For example, a husband believes that his wife should work, while his mother believes that his wife should stay at home, raise children, and do housework. At the same time, the woman herself thinks that it is important for a wife to develop creatively and spiritually. Staying inside a role conflict leads to personality destruction.
5. Having matured, a person actively enters the life of society, striving to take his place in it, to satisfy personal needs and interests. The relationship between the individual and society can be described by the formula: society offers, the individual seeks, chooses his place, trying to realize his interests. At the same time, she shows, proves to society that she is in her place and will perform well the assigned role. The inability to choose a suitable social role for oneself leads to a refusal to perform any social functions - to self-elimination .
   • For men, such psychological trauma is fraught with unwillingness to have a wife and children, refusal to defend their interests; self-affirmation due to humiliation of the defenseless, a tendency to a passive lifestyle, self-admiration and irresponsibility.
   • For women, the lack of fulfillment of some social roles leads to uncontrollable aggression not only towards others, but also towards themselves and their children, up to and including abandonment of motherhood.

What can you do to avoid problems?

1. Define for yourself the SIGNIFICANT social roles and the way of their actualization.
2. Describe the model of behavior in this social role, based on the meaning and significance of this role.
3. Outline your system of thinking about how to behave in this social role.
4. Describe how people who matter to you perceive this social role.
5. Evaluate real behavior, find discrepancy.
6. Adjust your behavior so that your boundaries are not violated and your needs are met.

A social role is a socially necessary type of social activity and a method of personality behavior. The concept of social role was first proposed by American sociologists Mead and Linton back in the thirties of the last century.

The main types of social roles

The variety of social groups and relationships in their groups, as well as types of activities became the basis for the classification of social statuses. Currently, the types of social roles are distinguished, such as: formal, interpersonal and socio-demographic. Formal social roles are associated with the position that a person occupies in society. This refers to his occupation and profession. But interpersonal roles are directly related to different types of relationships. This category usually includes pets, outcasts, leaders. As for the socio-demographic roles, these are husband, son, sister, etc.

Characteristics of social roles

The American sociologist Talcott Parsons identified the main characteristics of social roles. These include: scale, method of obtaining, emotionality, motivation and formalization. Typically, the scope of the role is determined by the range of interpersonal relationships. A directly proportional relationship is observed here. For example, the social roles of husband and wife are very significant, because a wide range of relationships is established between them.

If we talk about the method of obtaining a role, it depends on the inevitability of this role for the individual. Thus, the roles of a young man or an old man do not require any effort to acquire them. They are determined by the person's age. And other social roles can be won over the course of life when certain conditions are achieved.

Social roles can also differ in terms of the level of emotionality. Each role is characterized by its own manifestation of emotions. Also, some roles involve the establishment of formal relationships between people, others - informal, and still others can combine both relationships.

His motivation depends on the needs and motives of a person. Different social roles can be driven by specific motives. For example, when parents take care of their child, they are guided by a sense of care and love for him. The manager works for the good of some enterprise. It is also known that all social roles can be subject to public assessment.

Certain social roles and statuses characterize various relationships and determine people's behavior.

A social role is a way of people behaving in accordance with accepted norms, depending on their status or position in society, in the system of interpersonal relations. Any human behavior is stimulated by something and someone, has its own direction, is accompanied by some kind of actions (physical, mental, verbal, etc.).

Mastering social roles is a part of the process of socialization of the individual, an indispensable condition for a person's “growing” into a society of his own kind. Socialization is the process and result of assimilation and active reproduction of social experience by an individual, carried out in communication and activity. Learning social roles, a person learns social standards of behavior, learns to evaluate himself from the outside and exercise self-control. Thus, a developed personality can use role behavior as an instrument of adaptation to certain social situations, at the same time not merging, not identifying with the role.

Social roles are subdivided into institutionalized ones, i.e. institute of marriage, family; social. roles of mother, daughter; wife and conventional: accepted by agreement, although a person may not accept them.

Describing the role-playing sociotypic behavior of a person, sociologists and social psychologists characterize a person precisely as a representative of a particular group, profession, nation, class, or another social whole. Depending on how the group acts for the person, how much the person is involved in certain relations with the group, what the goals and objectives of the group's joint activities mean for it, various personality qualities are manifested.

Social roles are diverse, and the larger their set, the more complex the society. However, the roles are not a simple jumble of inner harmony. They are organized, interconnected by countless threads. There are two main levels of organization, ordering of roles: institutions and communities. Thanks to these social formations, roles are interconnected, their reproduction is ensured, guarantees of their stability are created, specific norms are formed that regulate role interactions, sanctions are developed, complex systems of social control arise.

The social role "focuses attention on the universal, universal 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, and the role determines 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 admissible invariants.

With regard to social stratification, education plays a dual role. Social stratification describes the social inequality of people, fixes 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. According to the degree of accessibility of individual members of society to education, we can speak of 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 prevailing system of values, which gives them special significance in public opinion. Social mobility characterizes “a change in social status, i.e. movement of an individual (or social group) between different positions in the system of social stratification. A number of researchers consider educational institutions to be the main means of stimulating and consolidating social inequality. Nevertheless, there is no doubt that in the modern conditions of the development of society (acceleration of scientific progress, intensification of the rate of knowledge renewal, an increase in the volume of incoming information), high-quality education is required.

These categories allow you to describe the vertical movement of an individual. But education appears at all levels: global, national, regional. This consideration makes it possible to reveal the presence of additional functions performed by education.

However, this model of education as a social institution turns out to be rather schematic, since it does not reflect the conditions in which a particular institution finds itself. In addition, it is built synchronously and does not allow revealing the dynamics of the development of education in the time perspective.

The modern social, economic, political, cultural context in which education is located is characterized in terms of two processes: regionalization and globalization. It is customary to consider them as multidirectional and leading to different results. However, this opinion can also be accused of schematism.