Concept and types of social statuses. Diversity of social groups

Good afternoon, dear friends! Today I prepared a cool material about what it is social status. Anyone taking the Unified State Exam in social studies needs to know this topic, because it is basic for understanding how social sphere, as well as other areas. In the last post we discussed. But the topic is so necessary that I decided to write a separate post.

Concept of social status

Social status is a person’s fixed position in society. A very simple definition. Society is a layer cake of social strata. Each person occupies a fixed position in one country or another, which can, however, be changed.

For example, student status at school. The student may be a first-grader (first grader), a 10th-grader, or a high school graduate. Each of these statutes assumes a different position in the school and in society. There are much more demands from teachers on a school graduate than on a first-grader, and there is more responsibility.

The status of a child implies that the child must obey his parents, go to kindergarten, school, exploring the world, and fulfilling their household duties.

The same applies to other aspects of social life. At any enterprise there are specialists who have been working here for 10-20 years. And there are interns who were hired recently. An intern and a specialist have a different share of responsibility and different functions.

The teacher must develop in his students the necessary for their professional life competencies. It’s normal for a driver to drive a bus or car so that passengers don’t feel like they’re riding in a cattle truck, etc.

In addition to responsibilities, status gives its owner rights. For example, if you are a bus driver, your annual leave must be at least 35 days, and if a teacher - then at least 56 :)

Thus, status has the following characteristics: the scope of responsibilities in relation to society, the scope of rights, status symbols (for example, among the military), its social role.

Types of social statuses

In order to cover this topic in more detail, I took this information card from my bins:

Download this info card in full size

If you understand the types of statuses, then I think everything is clear too.

Primary or main social status- the one that is significant to you in your life. It is clear that if you are a Hollywood star, like Mat Damon (shown on the info card), then you can’t escape him. Your life will be connected with him. If you are a doctor, then it is clear that your main job is treating patients.

Secondary- we change several times a day: a bus passenger, a buyer in a store, etc. Of course, we identify ourselves with him much less weakly than with our main social status. For example, when you go out onto the street, you will not feel like a pedestrian until you reach the traffic light.

Ascriptive- which is assigned to you regardless of your desire and your will. If you were born into a Bashkir family, you will be a Bashkir; if you were born into a Buryat family, you will be a Buryat. If you were born a boy, you will be uh... well, in most cases, a boy; if you were born a girl, you will most likely remain that way :)

Achieved social status- which you achieve as you go through life. It can be professional, basic, etc.

Mixed status- assigned when your position on the social ladder is unclear. Perhaps you have become a lumpen or a social outsider. To become familiar with these terms, read the article. Examples: the Pepsi generation, the thumb generation... well, this is when you constantly press the buttons on your phone so that your thumb became more flattened.

Your child will be born with a normal, flattened finger, so that it is more convenient to press the phone :) This is the generation of the thumb.

Personal social status the one you get in a social group. Usually it can be both formal (direction manager, director, foreman, etc.) and informal (diver, bespectacled - the one who wears glasses; macho, dude, chick, homeless, scourge, loser, healthy or unhealthy - teremnoe).

I hope the topic has become clearer. Subscribe to new articles, share this material with your friends on social networks!

Best regards, Andrey Puchkov

The whole history of people's lives is the history of their relationships and interactions with other people. During these interactions, social communities and groups are formed.
Most general concept is social community- a set of people united by common conditions of existence, regularly and steadily interacting with each other.
In modern sociology, several types of communities are distinguished.
First of all, nominal communities- a collection of people united by common social characteristics, which are established by a scientist-researcher to solve the scientific problem assigned to him. For example, people of the same hair color, skin color, who love sports, collect stamps, spend holidays at sea can be united, and all these people may never come into contact with each other.
Mass communities- these are really existing collections of people, accidentally united by common conditions of existence and without a stable goal of interaction. Typical examples of mass communities are fans of sports teams, fans of pop stars, and participants in mass political movements. The features of mass communities can be considered the randomness of their occurrence, temporariness and uncertainty of composition . One type of mass community is a crowd . The French sociologist G. Tarde defined a crowd as a multitude of people gathered at the same time in a certain place and united by feeling, faith and action. In the structure of the crowd, the leaders stand out, on the one hand, and everyone else, on the other.
According to sociologist G. Le Bon, the behavior of the crowd is due to a certain infection that provokes collective aspirations. People infected with this infection are capable of thoughtless, sometimes destructive actions.
How to protect yourself from such an infection? First of all, people who are highly cultured and well informed about political events are immune to it.
In addition to the crowd, sociologists operate with such concepts as audience and social circles.
By audience we mean a collection of people united by interaction with a specific individual or group (for example, people watching a performance in a theater, students listening to a lecture by a teacher, journalists attending a press conference of a statesman, etc.). The larger the audience, the weaker the connection with the unifying principle. Please note that when broadcasting a meeting of a large group of people, the television camera may pick out someone in the audience who has fallen asleep, someone who is reading a newspaper or drawing figures in his notebook. The same situation often occurs in student audiences. Therefore, it is important to remember the rule formulated by the ancient Romans: “It is not the speaker who is the measure of the listener, but the listener is the measure of the speaker.”
Social circles- communities created for the purpose of exchanging information between their members. These communities do not set any common goals and do not make joint efforts. Their function- exchange information. For example, discuss changes in the exchange rate of the dollar against other currencies, the performance of the national team in the qualifying round for the World Cup, reforms planned by the government in the field of education, etc. A variety of such social circles is the professional circle, for example, scientists, teachers, artists, painters. The most compact in composition is the friendly circle.
Social circles can nominate their leaders, shape public opinion, and be the basis for the formation social groups.
The most common concept in sociology is the social group.
A social group is understood as a set of people united on the basis joint activities, common goals and having an established system of norms, values, and life guidelines. Science identifies several characteristics of a social group:
composition stability;
duration of existence;
certainty of composition and boundaries;
general system values and norms;
awareness of belonging to the group by each individual;
voluntary nature of the association (for small groups);
association of individuals external conditions existence (for large social groups).
In sociology, there are a number of bases for classifying groups. For example, according to the nature of the connections, groups can be formal and informal. Based on the level of interaction within the group, they distinguish primary groups(family, group of friends, like-minded people, classmates), which are characterized by a high level of emotional connections, and secondary groups who have almost no emotional ties (work collective, political party).
Let us give an example of the classification of social groups according to for various reasons in table form:
Types of social groups

Basis of classification of groups	Group type	Examples
By number of participants	small medium large	family, group of friends, sports team, board of directors of the company, workforce, residents of the microdistrict, university graduates, ethnic groups, religions, programmers
By the nature of relationships and connections	formal informal	political party, labor collective, cafe visitors
At the place of residence	settler	townspeople, villagers, residents of the metropolitan metropolis, provincials
Depending on gender and age	demographic	men, women, children, old people, youth
By ethnicity	ethnic (ethnosocial)	Russians, Belarusians, Ukrainians, Vepsians, Maris
By income level	socio-economic	rich (people with high level income), the poor (people with low level income), middle strata (people with average income)
By nature and occupation	professional	programmers, operators, teachers, entrepreneurs,

This list can go on and on. It all depends on the basis of the classification. For example, a certain social group can be considered all users of personal computers, mobile phone subscribers, the totality of metro passengers, and so on.
The unifying, group-forming factor is also citizenship- a person’s belonging to the state, expressed in the totality of their mutual rights and obligations. Citizens of one state are subject to the same laws and have common state symbols. Belonging to one or another political party or organization establishes ideological affinity. Communists, liberals, social democrats, nationalists have different ideas about the future and the correct structure of society. In this respect, they are very similar to political communities and religious associations (confessions), only they pay more attention not to external changes, but inner world people, their faith, good and evil deeds, interpersonal relationships.
Special groups formed by people with common interests. Sports fans from different cities and countries share a passion for their favorite sport; fishermen, hunters and mushroom pickers - searching for prey; collectors - the desire to increase their collection; poetry lovers - worries about what they read; music lovers - impressions of music and so on. We can easily spot all of them in a crowd of passers-by - fans wear the colors of their favorite team, music lovers walk around with players and are completely absorbed in music, etc. Finally, students all over the world are united by the desire for knowledge and education.
In our country now there are almost all of the above social groups. The most a big problem Russian society - a huge gap between a small group of super-rich people and the bulk of the population living on the brink of poverty . Developed modern societies are characterized by the presence of a so-called middle class. It is made up of people who have private property, an average level of income and a certain independence from the state. Such people are free to express their views, it is difficult to put pressure on them, and they do not allow their rights to be violated. How more representatives this group, the more prosperous the society as a whole. It is believed that in a stable society, representatives of the middle class should make up 85–90%. Unfortunately, this group is just being formed, and ensuring its rapid growth is one of the main objectives of state policy.

Social status

In any society, regardless of its historical and geographical framework, a hierarchy develops, an order in which groups of people are located. Somewhere this order is determined by birth, somewhere by education, somewhere by wealth. Everyone's position specific person in such a hierarchy can be called social status.
Social status - the position of a person in society, occupied by him in accordance with age, gender, origin, profession, marital status, and a certain set of rights and responsibilities associated with this.

All statuses are divided into two large groups - initial (prescribed, innate) and achieved. Among the first are usually gender, race and age. Sometimes nationality and religious affiliation are also included here (this is typical for traditional societies). Little girls play with dolls and help their mother with housework, while boys spend more time outdoors, prefer outdoor games and are afraid of being branded “mama’s boys.” With age, these differences move to another level. The achieved status is secured only taking into account the individual qualities of a person, thanks to his choice, talent, activity, abilities, diligence or luck.
Previously, they played a huge role in society innate (given) statuses. A person's life largely depended on the position of his parents in society, and his own talents, education and skills did not play a decisive role. For example, a representative of the clergy or a nobleman in medieval France belonged to the privileged classes, and they were granted all basic rights. And, on the contrary, the third estate - the absolute majority of the country's inhabitants - was deprived civil rights.
In modern society, everyone can achieve high status, much depends on the individual himself. To some extent, statuses and roles are similar to each other, but main difference The difference between them is that status presupposes the assessment of others, and the role is performed by the person himself.
Social scientists also distinguish other types of statuses. Among the most important of them: main(most typical for this person the status by which others distinguish him or with which they identify him); social(a person’s position as a representative of a large social group); personal (individual)(the position that a person occupies in a small group, depending on how he is assessed by his individual qualities(leader, outsider, etc.)).

Social status includes: 1) Attributive characteristics - belonging to a team, class, social group. 2) Functional characteristics 3) Evaluative (prestige, etc.) 4) Normative characteristics - a person’s compliance with behavioral norms.
Social status shows what a person can do and what he does. What are the results of her actions? Social connections between people are formed on the basis of their fulfillment social functions. Social status of the individual- the position of a person in society, which he occupies in accordance with age, gender, profession, marital status, etc. An individual has not only a certain social status, but also a role set. He is constantly evaluated by other individuals, groups, and societies. These ratings are called prestige. The degree to which society recognizes personal and business qualities is defined as authority. Social status, authority and prestige of an individual are determined by: 1) Education 2) Material well-being 3) Qualification 4) Personal qualities of a person.

Social roles

One of the most significant concepts in modern sociology is the concept of social role. It took root in domestic science not so long ago, but in foreign, especially American, sociological thought, a similar concept was introduced more than half a century ago.
You probably have favorite actors. Why are they loved? Of course, not only for appearance. They make us worry, believe in what is happening on the screen or stage.
The ancient Greeks said that life is a theater, and a person in it is an actor. Let's look at ourselves from the point of view of the roles that are played on the stage called " everyday life" You wake up early in the morning, and your parents feed you breakfast, give you instructions and advice, and help you choose clothes. Here you play the role of a son or daughter. On the way, as a comrade, you can chat with a friend from a neighboring school. Then you turn into a high school student and study certain subjects, and during the break you become just a student at school, because there is no division into classes. After staying in educational institution sometimes you have to become a buyer or a passenger, and on the street - a football player, a fan, a music lover, a passer-by, and so on ad infinitum. Each person is simultaneously capable of performing a whole set of social roles: he can be a family member (son, grandson, father, grandfather), employee large enterprise, member political party, a fan of the football team, a member of the board of trustees of the school where his children study, a friend, and so on. A number of roles are typical for young people and less typical for adults. For example, guys more often become regulars at discos, members of fan clubs of popular artists, and amateur clubs. computer games. Only adults can be conscripts or voters elected to public office.
At the same time, there are a number of roles that teenagers and adults can perform equally. Here are some examples: an Internet user, a football fan, a shopper in a store, a visitor to a library or museum.
How is the social role in science interpreted? Social role is understood as a way of behavior that corresponds to the norms accepted in a given society, expressed in the expectations of surrounding people. Also, a role can be considered as a set of requirements that are put forward in relation to a person occupying a certain position.
Each of these roles requires specific behavior - what is allowed to be done as a football player is not appropriate for a passenger, and the behavior of a buyer cannot be transferred to school. For example, in the role of a car driver, the director of an enterprise cannot order other drivers, even if among them are his subordinates. Each role has its own rules, requirements, rights, and expected behavior. Students also have them.
Of course, over time, the same social roles change. Historical and national characteristics significantly influence the social structure of society, because the role, for example, of a husband today and the role of a husband in Ancient China completely different, as are the roles of children, old people, military men, writers, etc.
An important problem is the correlation between the social role and the personal “I”. Sometimes a person is forced to go against his own aspirations in the name of following the generally accepted cliches and expectations that are presented to him by society.
A person’s position is further complicated by the fact that some of his roles may conflict. Thus, a criminal may well feel like a caring parent, but sooner or later he will have to make a choice: solving a crime entails punishment and excommunication from his own children, which means that one of the roles must supplant the other in the event of a conflict.
The social roles of the modern Russian teenager are numerous. He simultaneously acts as a family member (grandson or granddaughter, son or daughter, brother or sister), a member of a school team, a member of a friendly company in the yard or in the country, a member of a fan association of a football club, a regular at an Internet cafe, etc. There are roles that only adults or only children can perform.. For example, the role of a conscript soldier can only be played by a young man who has already reached the age of 18. Only from the age of 15 can a teenager register for temporary work under the contract, to acquire the social role of a worker, an employee. Only an adult can drive a car. The role of the student high school is typical for a child, but it is extremely rare for adults to study in secondary (evening) school.
And, on the contrary, There are roles that are equally performed by both children and adults. Football fans, visitors to an Internet cafe, a concert of a popular rock band, or fans of a fashion writer can be people of different genders and ages.

Social status- the position of a person in society, occupied by him in accordance with age, gender, origin, profession, marital status, and a certain set of rights and responsibilities associated with this. All statuses are divided into two large groups - initial (prescribed, innate) and achieved. Among the first are usually gender, race and age. Sometimes nationality and religious affiliation are also included here (this is typical for traditional societies). Little girls play with dolls and help their mother with housework, while boys spend more time outdoors, prefer outdoor games and are afraid of being branded “mama’s boys.” With age, these differences move to another level. The achieved status is secured only taking into account the individual qualities of a person, thanks to his choice, talent, activity, abilities, diligence or luck.

Previously, innate (given) statuses played a huge role in society. A person's life largely depended on the position of his parents in society, and his own talents, education and skills did not play a decisive role. For example, a representative of the clergy or a nobleman in medieval France belonged to the privileged classes, and they were granted all basic rights. And, on the contrary, the third estate - the absolute majority of the country's inhabitants - were deprived of civil rights.

In modern society, everyone can achieve high status, much depends on the individual himself. To some extent, statuses and roles are similar to each other, but the main difference between them is that status involves the assessment of others, and the role is performed by the person himself.

Social scientists also distinguish other types of statuses. Among the most important of them: main(the most characteristic status for a given person, by which others distinguish him or with which they identify him); social(a person’s position as a representative of a large social group); personal (individual)(the position that a person occupies in a small group, depending on how he is assessed based on his individual qualities (leader, outsider, etc.)).

6.4. Social role

One of the most significant concepts in modern sociology is the concept of social role. It took root in domestic science not so long ago, but in foreign, especially American sociological thought, a similar concept was introduced more than half a century ago.

You probably have favorite actors. Why are they loved? Of course, not only for appearance. They make us worry, believe in what is happening on the screen or stage.

The ancient Greeks said that life is a theater, and a person in it is an actor. Let's look at ourselves from the point of view of the roles that are played on the stage called “everyday life”. You wake up early in the morning and your parents feed you breakfast, give you instructions and advice, and help you choose clothes. Here you play the role of a son or daughter. On the way, as a comrade, you can chat with a friend from a neighboring school. Then you turn into a high school student and study certain subjects, and during the break you become just a student at school, because there is no division into classes. After being in an educational institution, sometimes you have to become a buyer or a passenger, and on the street - a football player, a fan, a music lover, a passer-by, and so on ad infinitum. Each person is simultaneously capable of fulfilling a whole set of social roles: he can be a member of a family (son, grandson, father, grandfather), an employee of a large enterprise, a member of a political party, a fan of a football team, a member of the board of trustees of the school where his children study, a friend and etc. A number of roles are typical for young people and less typical for adults. For example, guys more often become regulars at discos, members of fan clubs of popular artists, and clubs for computer game enthusiasts. Only adults can be conscripts or voters elected to public office.

At the same time, there are a number of roles that teenagers and adults can perform equally. Here are some examples: an Internet user, a football fan, a shopper in a store, a visitor to a library or museum.

How is the social role in science interpreted? Under social role is understood as a way of behavior that corresponds to the norms accepted in a given society, expressed in the expectations of surrounding people. Also, a role can be considered as a set of requirements that are put forward in relation to a person occupying a certain position.

Each of these roles requires a certain behavior - what is allowed to do as a football player is not suitable for a passenger (playing a ball even on an empty bus is indecent), and the behavior of a buyer cannot be transferred to school (although some often try to bargain over a mark , as if they were at the market). For example, in the role of a car driver, the director of an enterprise cannot order other drivers, even if among them are his subordinates. Each role has its own rules, requirements, rights, and expected behavior. Students also have them.

Of course, over time, the same social roles change. Until recently, the role of stepmother meant a soulless, lazy, rude woman who hates her husband’s children and tries to drive them away from the world. A bunch of folk tales they paint just such an image. Now even the words “stepmother”, “stepdaughter” and “stepson” are practically not used, family relationships have changed. Therefore, it is difficult to imagine a situation where a new wife turns her husband’s daughter into a housekeeper or sends her son to work. Thus, we can talk about the significant influence of historical and national characteristics on the social structure of society, because the role, for example, of a husband today and the role of a husband in Ancient China are completely different, as well as the roles of children, old people, military men, writers, etc.

An important problem is the correlation between the social role and the personal “I”. Sometimes a person is forced to “step on the throat of his own song”, to go against his own aspirations in the name of following the generally accepted cliches and expectations that society places on him.

A person’s position is further complicated by the fact that some of his roles may conflict. Thus, a criminal may well feel like a caring parent, but sooner or later he will have to make a choice: solving a crime entails punishment and excommunication from his own children, which means that one of the roles must supplant the other in the event of a conflict.

The social roles of the modern Russian teenager are numerous. He simultaneously acts as a family member (grandson (granddaughter), son or daughter, brother or sister), a member of a school team, a member of a friendly company in the yard or in the country, a member of a fan association of a football club, a regular at an Internet cafe, etc. There are roles that only adults or only children can perform. For example, the role of a conscript soldier can only be played by a young man who has already reached the age of 18. Only from the age of 15 can a teenager take up temporary work under a contract and acquire the social role of a worker, an employee. Only an adult can drive a car. The role of a secondary school student is typical for a child, but it is extremely rare for adults to study in secondary school (evening school).

And, on the contrary, there are roles that are equally performed by both children and adults. Football fans, visitors to an Internet cafe, a concert of a popular rock band, or fans of a fashion writer can be people of different genders and ages.

Social status- the position of an individual or social group in social system.

Status Rank- the position of the individual in the social hierarchy of statuses, on the basis of which the status worldview is formed.

Status set- a set of several status positions that an individual simultaneously occupies.

Ideas about social status

The concept of “social status” was first used in science by an English philosopher and lawyer of the 19th century. G. Main. In sociology, the concept of status (from the Latin status - position, state) is used in different meanings. The dominant idea is of social status as the position of an individual or social group in a social system, which is characterized by certain distinctive features (rights, responsibilities, functions). Sometimes social status denotes a set of such distinctive features. In ordinary speech, the concept of status is used as a synonym for prestige.

In modern scientific and educational literature it is defined as: o the position of the individual in the social system, associated with certain rights, responsibilities and role expectations;

the position of the subject in the system of interpersonal relations,
defining his rights, duties and privileges;
the position of the individual in the system of interpersonal relations, determined by his psychological influence on group members;
the relative position of the individual in society, determined by his functions, responsibilities and rights;
the position of a person in the structure of a group or society, associated with certain rights and responsibilities;
an indicator of the position occupied by an individual in society;
the relative position of an individual or social group in a social system, determined by a number of characteristics characteristic of a given system;
the position occupied by an individual or a social group in society or a separate subsystem of society, determined by characteristics specific to a particular society - economic, national, age, etc.;
the place of an individual or group in the social system in accordance with their characteristics - natural, professional, ethnic, etc.;
structural element social organization society, which appears to the individual as a position in the system of social relations;
the relative position of an individual or group, determined by social (economic status, profession, qualifications, education, etc.) and natural characteristics (gender, age, etc.);
a set of rights and responsibilities of an individual or social group associated with their performance of a certain social role;
prestige characterizing the positions of an individual or social groups in a hierarchical system.

Each person in society performs certain social functions: students study, workers produce material goods, managers manage, journalists report on events taking place in the country and the world. To perform social functions, certain responsibilities are imposed on the individual in accordance with his social status. The higher a person’s status, the more responsibilities he has, the more stringent the requirements of society or a social group for his status responsibilities, the more Negative consequences from their violation.

Status set is a set of status positions that each individual occupies simultaneously. In this set, the following statuses are usually distinguished: ascriptive (assigned), achieved, mixed, main.

The social status of an individual was relatively stable due to the class or caste structure of society and was secured by the institutions of religion or law. In modern societies, individuals' status positions are more fluid. However, in any society there are ascriptive (assigned) and achieved social statuses.

Assigned status- this is a social status received “automatically” by its bearer due to factors beyond his control - by law, birth, gender or age, race and nationality, consanguinity system, socio-economic status of parents, etc. For example, you cannot get married, participate in elections, get driver license without reaching the required age. Ascribed statuses are of interest to sociology only if they are the basis for social inequality, i.e. influence social differentiation and social structure of society.

Achieved status - it is a social status acquired by its bearer through his own efforts and merits. Level of education, professional achievements, career, title, position, socially successful marriage - all this affects the social status of an individual in society.

There is a direct connection between ascribed and achieved social statuses. Achieved statuses are acquired mainly through competition, but some achieved statuses are largely determined by ascriptive ones. Thus, the opportunity to obtain a prestigious education, which in modern society is a necessary prerequisite for high social status, is directly related to the advantages of family origin. On the contrary, the presence of high achieved status largely compensates for the low ascriptive status of the individual due to the fact that no society can ignore the real social successes and achievements of individuals.

Mixed social statuses have signs of being ascribed and achieved, but achieved not at the request of a person, but due to a combination of circumstances, for example, as a result of job loss, natural disasters or political upheavals.

Main social status The individual is determined primarily by his position in society and his way of life.

manner of behavior. When talking about a stranger, we first ask: “What does this person do? How does he make a living? The answer to this question says a lot about a person, therefore in modern society the main status of an individual is, as a rule, professional or official.

Personal status manifests itself at the level small group, for example, family, work team, circle of close friends. In a small group, the individual functions directly and his status is determined by personal qualities and character traits.

Group status characterizes an individual as a member of a large social group as, for example, a representative of a nation, religion or profession.

Concept and types of social status

The substantive difference between them boils down to the fact that they perform a role, but have a status. In other words, the role implies the opportunity qualitative assessment the extent to which an individual meets role requirements. Social status - This is the position of a person in the structure of a group or society, which determines certain rights and obligations. Speaking about status, we abstract from any qualitative assessment of the person who occupies it and his behavior. We can say that status is a formal-structural social characteristic subject.

Like roles, there can be many statuses and, in general, any status presupposes a corresponding role and vice versa.

Main status - key of the entire set of social statuses of an individual, primarily determining his social position and significance in society. For example, the main status of a child is age; in traditional societies, the main status of a woman is gender; in modern society, as a rule, the main status becomes professional or official. In any case, the main status acts as a decisive factor in the image and standard of living and dictates behavior.

Social status can be:

prescribed- received from birth or due to factors independent of its bearer - gender or age, race, socio-economic status of parents. For example, by law you cannot obtain a driver's license, get married, vote in elections or receive a pension before reaching the required age;
achievable- acquired in society thanks to the efforts and merits of the individual. A person’s status in society is affected by the level of education, professional achievements, career, and a socially successful marriage. No society can ignore the real successes of an individual, therefore the existence of an achieved status carries the opportunity to significantly compensate for the low ascribed status of the individual;
private- manifests itself at the level of a small group in which the individual functions directly (family, work team, circle of close friends), it is determined by his personal qualities and character traits;
group- characterizes an individual as a member of a large social group - a representative of a class, nation, profession, a bearer of certain gender and age characteristics, etc.

Based on sociological surveys, it has been established that the majority of Russians are currently more satisfied with their position in society than dissatisfied. This is a very significant positive trend recent years, since satisfaction with one’s position in society is not only an essential prerequisite for social stability, but also a very important condition for people to feel comfortable in their socio-psychological state as a whole. Among those who rate their place in society as “good,” almost 85% believe that their lives are going well. This figure depends little on age: even in the group over 55 years old, about 70% share this opinion. Among those who are dissatisfied with their social status, the picture turned out to be the opposite - almost half of them (with 6.8% of the population as a whole) believe that their life is going badly.

Status hierarchy

The French sociologist R. Boudon considers social status as having two dimensions:

horizontal, which the system forms social contacts and mutual exchanges, both real and simply possible, that develop between the bearer of status and other individuals located at the same level of the social ladder;
vertical, which is formed by contacts and exchanges that arise between the bearer of status and individuals located at higher and lower levels.

Based on this idea, Boudon defines social status as a set of equal and hierarchical relationships maintained by an individual with other members of society.

Status hierarchy is characteristic of any organization. Indeed, without responsibility, organization is impossible; It is precisely due to the fact that all members of the group know the status of each that the links of the organization interact. However, the formal structure of an organization does not always coincide with its informal structure. Such a gap between hierarchies in many organizations does not require sociometric research, but is visible to a simple observer, since the establishment of a status hierarchy is the answer not only to the question “Who is the most important here?”, but also to the question “Who is the most authoritative, the most competent, the most popular among employees? Real status is largely determined by personal qualities, qualifications, charm, etc.

Many modern sociologists pay attention to the functional dissonance that arises due to the discrepancy between hierarchical and functional statuses. Such a discrepancy may arise due to individual compromises, when management orders acquire the character of a “stream of consciousness,” providing subordinates with a “zone of free action.” The result can be generally positive and manifest itself in increased flexibility of the organization's response, or negative, expressed in functional chaos and confusion.

Status confusion acts as a criterion for social disorganization and, possibly, as one of the reasons for deviant behavior. The connection between violations of the status hierarchy and the state of anomie was considered by E. Durkheim and suggested that discord in the status hierarchy in industrial society takes two forms.

Firstly, the expectations of the individual in connection with his position in society and the counter expectations of other members of society directed towards the individual become largely uncertain. If in a traditional society everyone knew what to expect and what awaited them, and in accordance with this was well aware of their rights and responsibilities, then in an industrial society, due to the growing division of labor and instability labor relations the individual is increasingly faced with situations for which he did not foresee and for which he is not prepared. For example, if in the Middle Ages studying at a university automatically meant a sharp and irreversible increase in social status, now no one is surprised by the abundance of unemployed university graduates willing to take any job.

Secondly, status instability affects the structure of social rewards and the level of individual satisfaction with one’s life.

To understand what determines the status hierarchy in traditional - pre-industrial - societies, one should turn to modern societies of the East (except for caste ones). Here you can find three important elements that influence the social position of an individual - gender, age and membership in a certain “class”, which assign to each member of society his rigid status. At the same time, the transition to another level of the status hierarchy is extremely difficult due to a number of legal and symbolic restrictions. But even in traditionalist-oriented societies, the spirit of entrepreneurship and enrichment, the personal favor of the ruler influence the distribution of statuses, although the legitimation of status occurs through reference to the traditions of ancestors, which in itself reflects the weight of the ascribing elements of status (the antiquity of the clan, the personal valor of the ancestors, etc. ).

In modern Western society, the status hierarchy can be viewed from the standpoint of either meritocratic ideology as fair and inevitable recognition of personal merit, talents and abilities, or holistic sociologism as a result strictly determined by social processes. But both theories offer a very simplified understanding of the nature of status, and there remain aspects that cannot be explained in the context of either of them. For example, if status is entirely determined by personal qualities and merits, then how can we explain the presence of formal and informal status hierarchies in almost any organization?

Within an organization, this duality refers to the discrepancy between competence and power observed in various forms and at various levels, when decisions are made not by competent and impartial experts, but by “capitalists” who are guided by the logic of personal gain, or “soulless technocrats.” The discrepancy between professional qualifications and material and status remuneration is also inexplicable. Inconsistencies in this area are often denied or suppressed in the name of the meritocratic ideal of “merit status.” For example, in modern Russian society, the situation of low material remuneration and, as a consequence, low prestige and status of highly educated and highly intelligent people has become typical: “The profession of physicist in the USSR in the 1960s. enjoyed high prestige, while accountants enjoyed low prestige. In modern Russia they have changed places. IN in this case prestige is strongly linked to the economic status of these occupations.”

Because systems are more complex and subject to faster evolution, the mechanism for assigning status remains uncertain. Firstly, the list of criteria involved in determining status is very extensive. Secondly, it is becoming increasingly difficult to reduce the totality of various status attributes belonging to each individual to a single symbol, as in traditional societies, where it was enough to say “this is the son of such and such” for the person’s social status, his material level, circle of acquaintances and friends. In traditional societies, personality and status were very closely linked. These days, personality and status tend to diverge. Personal identity is no longer given: she herself builds it with her own efforts throughout her life. Therefore, our perception of ourselves as individuals is split into many aspects in which our social status is manifested. Personal identity is felt not so much through connection with a fixed status, but through a sense of self-worth and uniqueness.

A person, being a part of society, is inevitably covered with a persistent patina of social statuses that determine his duties and privileges. You can get rid of some of them by replacing them with more suitable ones, while others will haunt their owner until death. For example, having been born a boy, a child cannot somehow change this fact, remaining a male throughout his life. Each person has a whole bunch of social statuses that belong to different groups and may vary depending on the situation. The role of these “labels” is fundamental in modern society.

Social status. Concept. Kinds

Naturally, labeling occurs in different ways. Therefore, social statuses are divided into prescribed and achieved. A person receives his prescribed status at birth, having almost no opportunity to change it during his life. The individual makes no effort to obtain such social status. Examples: gender, race, noble title, age, etc. From early childhood, a person is taught to conform to the prescribed status: “a man should not cry,” “a girl should be beautiful,” and other behavioral stereotypes are designed to raise a harmonious member of society.

Personal status is the result of efforts aimed at obtaining it. Often, any type of social status reflects a person’s merits in a certain area. For example: master of sports, candidate of sciences, professor, husband, alcoholic, ballerina, etc. Often it is one of the achieved statuses that is fundamental in a person’s life and most fully reflects his aspirations and talents.

Group social status

Not only individual people, but also entire groups of people have their status in society. Castes, classes, all kinds of associations and professions are by no means equal to each other - each of them occupies its own unique niche in the hierarchy. No matter how modern cultural figures and politicians shout about equality, this is just a sweet lie designed to hide the harsh reality. After all, no one will argue that the social status of miners is immeasurably lower than that of politicians or businessmen.

As soon as a person becomes a member of a group, he immediately receives a lot of rights and responsibilities inherent in it. For example, when joining the police, an employee receives a number of privileges not available to ordinary citizens, but this status obliges him to act if he sees an offense, even if he is not on duty. The status of a social group obliges him to do this. Many groups are at the same level in the hierarchical ladder, while some are unattainably high for mere mortals. At the same time, the benefits that representatives of a profession or association bring to society do not in any way affect their rank in it.

Individual social status

Not only groups and associations of people have their own rank and weight. Each of them has its own ranking system, which determines the relationships between people. School experience teaches us that every class has its own bully, its own nerd, an excellent student, a joker, a leader - all this is the social status of an individual. However, each of the students has more than one status. Coming to school, children are primarily students, but at home each of them also becomes a son, sister, nephew, etc. Throughout life, everyone tries on a huge number of roles, the social status of an individual constantly changes depending on the team, in where a person finds himself, and his personal qualities.

In different circles, one and the same individual may occupy different positions. A strict and domineering boss, who holds his subordinates in an iron fist, may be under the thumb of a strict wife. It also happens the other way around, when a weak and indecisive person, unable to stand up for himself in a team, turns into a ruthless tyrant as soon as he crosses the threshold of his home. If a person's statuses are different groups differ significantly, then an internal contradiction arises, which often becomes the cause of conflicts.

Role conflict

In cases where a person occupies a high rank in one group, and in another is at the very bottom of the hierarchical ladder, conflict is inevitable. It can be internal, when an individual silently experiences discomfort, or it can develop into a clash with colleagues. Examples of role conflicts are ubiquitous, such as when old man is an errand boy for a young boss. Or when this boss is relaxing with friends who treat him with some disdain, not at all like his subordinates.

If a person’s social status is high, then he will try with all his might to maintain it. Naturally, there will always be people who are not satisfied with their rank, who want to rise higher and gain more weight in society. This gives rise to competition within the group, which allows the fittest and strongest members of society to rise to the top.

Resolving internal conflicts

Often, contradictions between roles lead to internal confrontation, which takes up a lot of time and effort. For example, during a natural disaster, a rescuer will first go to save his own family, obeying the role of parent and spouse. And only after he is convinced that his family is safe will it be time to perform his official duties.

The same thing happens with dealers selling alcohol or other drugs. As a parent, he does not want his child to be poisoned by this muck, but as a businessman, this person is unable to resist the sweet call of profit. Types of social statuses vary in their significance for the owner. The main thing is to choose the role that is the main one for this moment, thereby completely destroying the impending internal contradictions.

Social status of the family

Not only does an individual person occupy his own rank in the social hierarchy, each family also has its own status. Usually the position of a social unit depends on material well-being, but this is not always the case. The family of a military man or official occupies special position in society, even if they are not burdened with wealth. In those countries where noble titles or castes have been preserved, belonging to a noble dynasty decides a lot.

In ancient times, wealthy merchants often married representatives of a poor but titled family in order to share with them the high social status of the family. Such a far-sighted move opened many doors for the rich merchant that were closed to commoners.

The influence of social status on personality

Roles in society are rarely superficial. These can only be those types of social statuses that are assigned for a short period of time: passerby, patient, buyer.

Basically, belonging to a certain role leaves a deep imprint on a person’s entire life. A special influence is exerted by the status to which the subject gives highest value. For example, professor, musician, athlete, Serial killer etc. Having taken on a serious role, a person gradually begins to change, acquiring the character traits and skills necessary to fulfill it.

Doctor, if he for a long time Having worked in this area, he evaluates people completely differently than a police officer. The surgeon will evaluate the person according to his parameters, formed by his professional activity. Likewise, an investigator, having worked for years among hardened criminals, will never be the same.

Expectations of others

By taking on a certain role, we in some way become its hostages. Since the social status of an individual is fixed, those around him know what to expect from this person. The stereotype will cling to you like a tick, not allowing you to take a single step to the side. After all, as soon as your behavior goes beyond what is expected, the pressure will begin to return the lost sheep to the fold. An excellent tool for keeping people on track is a system of rewards and punishments.

Unfortunately, some types of social status are inevitable. There is no way to get rid of the status of a child, an old person, a man or a woman. From childhood, girls are taught to clean, cook, run a household, take care of themselves, and are instilled with the idea that they can only become successful as individuals by getting married successfully. If a young lady dreams of becoming a boxing or auto racing star, she will immediately encounter misunderstanding or ridicule; few will take her dream seriously. The same is true with age. No one will take seriously a child's attempts to go into business, and an old man trying to meet a young girl will cause disapproval from others.

The meaning of social status

Nowadays it is very fashionable to talk about how everyone around is equal, that everyone has the same rights and responsibilities. Of course, this is not true. Until now, the determining factor in the life of every member of society is social status. Examples of this are found everywhere.

Therefore, all types of social statuses - both group and personal - are as relevant today as they were a thousand years ago. However, do not forget that society puts labels on you, so they are only valid where there are people. Compliance with social status is just one of the quirks modern world, and not a monumental law of the universe. You can only play your role without getting used to it. From childhood we are taught that achieving prestige and high status in society is of paramount importance. But it is not at all necessary to accept such rules of the game. A man of low standing in society will go to prison for a trivial theft, while a banker can defraud millions of people with only a formal warning.