Role
Encyclopedia
A role or a social role (also spelt rôle) is a set of connected behaviours, right
s and obligation
s as conceptualised by actors in a social situation. It is an expected or free or continuously changing behaviour and may have a given individual social status
or social position
. It is vital to both functionalist and interactionist
understandings of society.
Social role posits the following about social behaviour:
or ascribed
or they can be accidental in different situations. An achieved role is a position that a person assumes voluntarily which reflects personal skills, abilities, and effort. An ascribed role is a position assigned to individuals or groups without regard for merit but because of certain traits beyond their control, , and is usually forced upon a person.
Roles can be semi-permanent ("doctor
", "mother", "child"), or they can be transitory. A well-known example is the sick role
as formulated by Talcott Parsons
in the late 1940s. In the transitory "sick role", a person is exempted from his usual roles, but is expected to conform to transitory behavioural standards, such as following doctors' orders and trying to recover.
For many roles, individuals must meet certain conditions, biological or sociological. For instance, a boy cannot take the biological role of mother. Other roles require training or experience. For instance, in many cultures doctors must be educated and certified prior to practising medicine.
Role development can be influenced by a number of additional factors, including social
, genetic
predisposition, cultural or situational.
Roles are also frequently interconnected in a role set
, that complement of role-relationships in which persons are involved by virtue of occupying a particular social status . For example, a high school football player carries the roles of student, athlete, classmate, etc.
, sees a "role" as the set of expectations that society
places on an individual. By unspoken consensus, certain behaviours are deemed "appropriate" and others "inappropriate". For example, it is appropriate for a doctor
to dress fairly conservatively, ask a series of personal questions about one's health, touch one in ways that would normally be forbidden, write prescriptions
, and show more concern for the personal wellbeing
of his clients than is expected of, say, an electrician
or a shopkeeper
.
"Role" is what the doctor does (or, at least, is expected to do), while status is what the doctor is. In other words, "status" is the position an actor occupies, while "role" is the expected behaviour attached to that position. Roles are not limited to occupational status, of course, nor does the fact that one is cast in the role of "doctor" during working hours prevent one from taking on other roles at other times: husband/wife, friend, father/mother, and so on.
George Herbert Mead
explored roles in his seminal 1934 work, Mind, self and society. Mead's main interest was the way in which children learn how to become a part of society by imaginative role-taking, observing and mimicking others. This is always done in an interactive way: it's not meaningful to think of a role for one person alone, only for that person as an individual who is both co-operating and competing with others. Adults behave similarly: taking roles from those that they see around them, adapting them in creative ways, and (by the process of social interaction) testing them and either confirming them or modifying them. This can be most easily seen in encounters where there is considerable ambiguity
, but is nevertheless something that is part of all social interactions: each individual actively tries to "define the situation" (understand their role within it); choose a role that is advantageous or appealing; play that role; and persuade others to support the role.
But while group norms have a powerful affect on behaviour, they can only guide behaviour when they are activated by obvious reminders or by subtle cues. People adhere to social norms through enforcement, internalisation, the sharing of norms by other group members, and frequent activation . Norms can be enforced through punishment or reward. Individuals are rewarded for living up to their roles (i.e. students getting an "A" on their exam) or punished for not completing the duties of their role (i.e. a salesman is fired for not selling enough product).
Social norm theory has been applied as an environmental approach, with an aim of influencing individuals by manipulating their social and cultural environments. It has been widely applied using social marketing
techniques. Normative messages are designed for delivery using various media and promotional strategies in order to effectively reach a target population. Social norms theory has also been successfully applied through strategies such as curriculum infusion, creating press coverage, policy development, and small group inventions.(Main Frame 2002)
by fighting against threats to their freedom of action when they find norms inappropriate. Attitudes and norms typically work together to influence behaviour (directly or indirectly). The theory of planned behaviour intentions are a function of three factors: attitudes about the behaviour, social norms relevant to the behaviour, and perceptions of control over the behaviour. When attitudes and norms disagree, their influence on behaviour will depend on their relative accessibility.
in individuals. Role conflict is a special form of social conflict
that takes place when one is forced to take on two different and incompatible roles at the same time. For example, a person may find conflict between her role as a mother and her role as an employee of a company when her child's demands for time and attention distract her from the needs of her employer. Similarly, role confusion occurs in a situation where an individual has trouble determining which role he or she should play, but where the roles are not necessarily incompatible. For example, if a college student attending a social function encounters his teacher as a fellow guest, he will have to determine whether to relate to the teacher as a student or a peer.
correlates with low role conflict and high role enhancement. Also certain personality traits, in particular traits linked to perceiving and seeking greater levels of support, are associated with lower inter-role conflict and increase inter-role enrichment.
Right
Rights are legal, social, or ethical principles of freedom or entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people, according to some legal system, social convention, or ethical theory...
s and obligation
Obligation
An obligation is a requirement to take some course of action, whether legal or moral. There are also obligations in other normative contexts, such as obligations of etiquette, social obligations, and possibly...
s as conceptualised by actors in a social situation. It is an expected or free or continuously changing behaviour and may have a given individual social status
Social status
In sociology or anthropology, social status is the honor or prestige attached to one's position in society . It may also refer to a rank or position that one holds in a group, for example son or daughter, playmate, pupil, etc....
or social position
Social position
Social position is the position of an individual in a given society and culture. A given position may belong to many individuals. Social position influences social status...
. It is vital to both functionalist and interactionist
Interactionism
In sociology, interactionism is a theoretical perspective that derives social processes from human interaction. It is the study of individuals and how they act within society. Interactionist theory has grown in the latter half of the twentieth century and has become one of the dominant...
understandings of society.
Social role posits the following about social behaviour:
- The division of labour in society takes the form of the interaction among heterogeneous specialised positionsPositionsPositions is a book by French philosopher Jacques Derrida, published in 1972. It consist of a collection of interviews. Derrida talks about his earlier works and their relationships. He said that his 1962 essay, Edmund Husserl's Origin of Geometry: An Introduction, already contained many elements...
, we call roles. - Social roles included appropriate and permitted forms of behaviour, guided by social normsNorm (sociology)Social norms are the accepted behaviors within a society or group. This sociological and social psychological term has been defined as "the rules that a group uses for appropriate and inappropriate values, beliefs, attitudes and behaviors. These rules may be explicit or implicit...
, which are commonly known and hence determine the expectations for appropriate behaviour in these roles. - Roles are occupied by individuals, who are called actors.
- When individuals approve of a social role (i.e., they consider the role legitimate and constructive), they will incur costs to conform to role norms, and will also incur costs to punish those who violate role norms.
- Changed conditions can render a social role outdated or illegitimate, in which case social pressures are likely to lead to role change.
- The anticipation of rewardsReinforcementReinforcement is a term in operant conditioning and behavior analysis for the process of increasing the rate or probability of a behavior in the form of a "response" by the delivery or emergence of a stimulus Reinforcement is a term in operant conditioning and behavior analysis for the process of...
and punishmentPunishmentPunishment is the authoritative imposition of something negative or unpleasant on a person or animal in response to behavior deemed wrong by an individual or group....
s, as well as the satisfaction of behaving prosocially, account for why agents conform to role requirements.
Determinants and characteristics of social role
Roles may be achievedAchieved status
Achieved status is a sociological term denoting a social position that a person can acquire on the basis of merit; it is a position that is earned or chosen. It is the opposite of ascribed status. It reflects personal skills, abilities, and efforts...
or ascribed
Ascribed status
Ascribed status is the social status a person is assigned at birth or assumed involuntarily later in life. It is a position that is neither earned nor chosen but assigned...
or they can be accidental in different situations. An achieved role is a position that a person assumes voluntarily which reflects personal skills, abilities, and effort. An ascribed role is a position assigned to individuals or groups without regard for merit but because of certain traits beyond their control, , and is usually forced upon a person.
Roles can be semi-permanent ("doctor
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
", "mother", "child"), or they can be transitory. A well-known example is the sick role
Sick role
Sick role is a term used in medical sociology concerning the social aspects of falling ill and the privileges and obligations that accompany it. It is a concept created by American sociologist Talcott Parsons in 1951.-Concept:...
as formulated by Talcott Parsons
Talcott Parsons
Talcott Parsons was an American sociologist who served on the faculty of Harvard University from 1927 to 1973....
in the late 1940s. In the transitory "sick role", a person is exempted from his usual roles, but is expected to conform to transitory behavioural standards, such as following doctors' orders and trying to recover.
For many roles, individuals must meet certain conditions, biological or sociological. For instance, a boy cannot take the biological role of mother. Other roles require training or experience. For instance, in many cultures doctors must be educated and certified prior to practising medicine.
Role development can be influenced by a number of additional factors, including social
Social
The term social refers to a characteristic of living organisms...
, genetic
Genetics
Genetics , a discipline of biology, is the science of genes, heredity, and variation in living organisms....
predisposition, cultural or situational.
- Societal influence: The structure of society often forms individuals into certain roles based on the social situations they choose to experience. Parents enrolling their children in certain programs at a young age increases the chance that the child will follow that role.
- Genetic predisposition: People take on roles that come naturally to them. Those with athletic ability generally take on roles of athletes. Those with mental genius often take on roles devoted to education and knowledge. This does not mean that people must choose only one path, multiple roles can be taken on by each individual (i.e. Evelyn can be the point guard on the basketball team and the editor of her school newspaper).
- Cultural influence: Different cultures place different values on certain roles based on their lifestyle. For instance, soccer players are regarded higher in European countries than in the United StatesUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, where soccer is less popular. - Situational influence: Roles can be created or altered based on the situation a person is put in outside their own influence.
Roles are also frequently interconnected in a role set
Role set
A role set is a situation where a single status may have more than one role attached to it. This multiplicity of roles is what sociologists termed it as such. Consider a student for instance, involves one role as a pupil, another as a user of university library, and another as a member of a...
, that complement of role-relationships in which persons are involved by virtue of occupying a particular social status . For example, a high school football player carries the roles of student, athlete, classmate, etc.
Role theory
Role theory is the sociological study of role development, concerned with explaining what forces cause people to develop the expectations of their own and others' behaviours. According to sociologist Bruce Biddle (1986), the five major models of role theory include:- Functional Role Theory, which examines role development as shared social norms for a given social position,
- Symbolic Interactionist Role Theory, which examines role development as the outcome of individual interpretation of responses to behaviour,
- Structural Role Theory, which emphasises the influence of society rather than the individual in roles and utilises mathematical models,
- Organizational Role Theory, which examines role development in organisations, and
- Cognitive Role Theory, which is summarised by Flynn and Lemay as "the relationship between expectations and behaviours"
Role in functionalist and consensus theory
The functionalist approach to role theory, which is largely borrowed from anthropologyAnthropology
Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...
, sees a "role" as the set of expectations that society
Society
A society, or a human society, is a group of people related to each other through persistent relations, or a large social grouping sharing the same geographical or virtual territory, subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations...
places on an individual. By unspoken consensus, certain behaviours are deemed "appropriate" and others "inappropriate". For example, it is appropriate for a doctor
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
to dress fairly conservatively, ask a series of personal questions about one's health, touch one in ways that would normally be forbidden, write prescriptions
Medical prescription
A prescription is a health-care program implemented by a physician or other medical practitioner in the form of instructions that govern the plan of care for an individual patient. Prescriptions may include orders to be performed by a patient, caretaker, nurse, pharmacist or other therapist....
, and show more concern for the personal wellbeing
Quality of life
The term quality of life is used to evaluate the general well-being of individuals and societies. The term is used in a wide range of contexts, including the fields of international development, healthcare, and politics. Quality of life should not be confused with the concept of standard of...
of his clients than is expected of, say, an electrician
Electrician
An electrician is a tradesman specializing in electrical wiring of buildings, stationary machines and related equipment. Electricians may be employed in the installation of new electrical components or the maintenance and repair of existing electrical infrastructure. Electricians may also...
or a shopkeeper
Shopkeeper
A shopkeeper is an individual who owns a shop. Generally, shop employees are not shopkeepers, but are often incorrectly referred to as shopkeepers. Today, a shopkeeper is usually referred to as a manager, though this term could apply to larger firms .*In many south asian languages like Hindi, Urdu,...
.
"Role" is what the doctor does (or, at least, is expected to do), while status is what the doctor is. In other words, "status" is the position an actor occupies, while "role" is the expected behaviour attached to that position. Roles are not limited to occupational status, of course, nor does the fact that one is cast in the role of "doctor" during working hours prevent one from taking on other roles at other times: husband/wife, friend, father/mother, and so on.
Role in interactionist or social action theory
In interactionist social theory, the concept of role is crucial. The interactionist definition of "role" pre-dates the functionalist one. A role, in this conception, is not fixed or prescribed but something that is constantly negotiated between individuals in a tentative, creative way. PhilosopherPhilosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
George Herbert Mead
George Herbert Mead
George Herbert Mead was an American philosopher, sociologist and psychologist, primarily affiliated with the University of Chicago, where he was one of several distinguished pragmatists. He is regarded as one of the founders of social psychology and the American sociological tradition in general.-...
explored roles in his seminal 1934 work, Mind, self and society. Mead's main interest was the way in which children learn how to become a part of society by imaginative role-taking, observing and mimicking others. This is always done in an interactive way: it's not meaningful to think of a role for one person alone, only for that person as an individual who is both co-operating and competing with others. Adults behave similarly: taking roles from those that they see around them, adapting them in creative ways, and (by the process of social interaction) testing them and either confirming them or modifying them. This can be most easily seen in encounters where there is considerable ambiguity
Ambiguity
Ambiguity of words or phrases is the ability to express more than one interpretation. It is distinct from vagueness, which is a statement about the lack of precision contained or available in the information.Context may play a role in resolving ambiguity...
, but is nevertheless something that is part of all social interactions: each individual actively tries to "define the situation" (understand their role within it); choose a role that is advantageous or appealing; play that role; and persuade others to support the role.
Social norms theory
Social norms theory states that much of people's behaviour is influenced by their perception of how other members of their social group behave. When individuals are in a state of deindividuation, they see themselves only in terms of group identity, and their behaviour is likely to be guided by group norms alone.But while group norms have a powerful affect on behaviour, they can only guide behaviour when they are activated by obvious reminders or by subtle cues. People adhere to social norms through enforcement, internalisation, the sharing of norms by other group members, and frequent activation . Norms can be enforced through punishment or reward. Individuals are rewarded for living up to their roles (i.e. students getting an "A" on their exam) or punished for not completing the duties of their role (i.e. a salesman is fired for not selling enough product).
Social norm theory has been applied as an environmental approach, with an aim of influencing individuals by manipulating their social and cultural environments. It has been widely applied using social marketing
Social marketing
Social marketing is the systematic application of marketing, along with other concepts and techniques, to achieve specific behavioral goals for a social good. Social marketing can be applied to promote merit goods, or to make a society avoid demerit goods and thus to promote society's well being as...
techniques. Normative messages are designed for delivery using various media and promotional strategies in order to effectively reach a target population. Social norms theory has also been successfully applied through strategies such as curriculum infusion, creating press coverage, policy development, and small group inventions.(Main Frame 2002)
The theory of planned behaviour
People display reactanceReactance
Reactance is the opposition of a circuit element to a change of electric current or voltage, due to that element's capacitance or inductance. A built-up electric field resists the change of voltage on the element, while a magnetic field resists the change of current...
by fighting against threats to their freedom of action when they find norms inappropriate. Attitudes and norms typically work together to influence behaviour (directly or indirectly). The theory of planned behaviour intentions are a function of three factors: attitudes about the behaviour, social norms relevant to the behaviour, and perceptions of control over the behaviour. When attitudes and norms disagree, their influence on behaviour will depend on their relative accessibility.
Team Role Theory
As described in Working in Groups by Engleberg and Wynn, team role theory is when “members assume roles that are compatible with their personal characteristics and skills. Dr. Meredith Belbin, a psychologist, first explored the concept of team-role theory in the 1970s when he and his research team went about observing teams and wanted to find out what made teams work and what did not. According to Belbin and his research team “the research revealed that the difference between success and failure for a team was not dependent on factors such as intellect, but more on behavior” (Belbin). They began to identify separate clusters of behaviors and found that behavior was more influential on a team than anything else. These separate clusters of behaviors are known as the “Team Roles”. The nine “team roles” are as follows: coordinator/chairperson, shaper, innovator, resource investigator, monitor/evaluator, implementer, teamworker, completer/finisher, and specialist.Role conflict and role confusion
There are situations where the prescribed sets of behaviour that characterise roles may lead to cognitive dissonanceCognitive dissonance
Cognitive dissonance is a discomfort caused by holding conflicting ideas simultaneously. The theory of cognitive dissonance proposes that people have a motivational drive to reduce dissonance. They do this by changing their attitudes, beliefs, and actions. Dissonance is also reduced by justifying,...
in individuals. Role conflict is a special form of social conflict
Social conflict
Social conflict is the struggle for agency or power in society.Social conflict or group conflict occurs when two or more actors oppose each other in social interaction,reciprocally exerting social power in an effort to attain scarce or incompatible goals and prevent the opponent from attaining them...
that takes place when one is forced to take on two different and incompatible roles at the same time. For example, a person may find conflict between her role as a mother and her role as an employee of a company when her child's demands for time and attention distract her from the needs of her employer. Similarly, role confusion occurs in a situation where an individual has trouble determining which role he or she should play, but where the roles are not necessarily incompatible. For example, if a college student attending a social function encounters his teacher as a fellow guest, he will have to determine whether to relate to the teacher as a student or a peer.
Role enhancement
Role enhancement or role enrichment refers to a situation in which roles which are held by a person are compatible and moreover enacting one role has beneficial spillover effects on the enactment of the other role. An example which has been studied in depth is the enhancement among roles of breadwinner and caretaker (work–family enrichment). There is evidence to indicate that role conflict and role enhancement can occur simultaneously. Further evidence suggests that mental healthMental health
Mental health describes either a level of cognitive or emotional well-being or an absence of a mental disorder. From perspectives of the discipline of positive psychology or holism mental health may include an individual's ability to enjoy life and procure a balance between life activities and...
correlates with low role conflict and high role enhancement. Also certain personality traits, in particular traits linked to perceiving and seeking greater levels of support, are associated with lower inter-role conflict and increase inter-role enrichment.