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Social role- a model of human behavior, objectively specified by the social position of the individual in the system of social (public and personal) relations. In other words, a social role is “the behavior that is expected of a person occupying a certain status.” Modern society requires an individual to constantly change his behavior pattern to perform specific roles. In this regard, such neo-Marxists and neo-Freudians as T. Adorno, K. Horney and others in their works made a paradoxical conclusion: the “normal” personality of modern society is a neurotic. Moreover, in modern society Role conflicts that arise in situations where an individual is required to simultaneously perform several roles with conflicting requirements have become widespread.

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

Types of social roles

Types of social roles are determined by diversity social groups, types of activities and relationships in which the individual is involved. Depending on the public relations distinguish social and interpersonal social roles.

§ Social roles connected with social status, profession or type of activity (teacher, student, student, seller). These are standardized impersonal roles, built on the basis of rights and responsibilities, regardless of who plays these roles. There are socio-demographic roles: husband, wife, daughter, son, grandson... Man and woman are also social roles, biologically predetermined and presupposing specific modes of behavior, enshrined in social norms and customs.

§ Interpersonal roles associated with interpersonal relationships that are regulated by emotional level(leader, offended, neglected, family idol, beloved, etc.).

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

[edit]Characteristics of a social role

The main characteristics of the social role were highlighted by the American sociologist Talcott Parsons. He proposed the following four characteristics of any role:

§ By scale. Some roles may be strictly limited, while others may be blurred.

§ By method of receipt. Roles are divided into prescribed and conquered (they are also called achieved).

§ According to the degree of formalization. Activities can take place either within strictly established limits or arbitrarily.

§ By type of motivation. Personal profit may serve as motivation, public good etc.

Scope of the role depends on range interpersonal relationships. The larger the range, the larger the scale. For example, the social roles of spouses have a very large scale, since the widest range of relationships is established between husband and wife. On the one hand, these are interpersonal relationships based on a variety of feelings and emotions; on the other hand, relationships are regulated regulations and in a certain sense are formal. Participants of this social interaction They are interested in various aspects of each other’s lives, their relationships are practically unlimited. In other cases, when relationships are strictly defined by social roles (for example, the relationship between a seller and a buyer), interaction can only be carried out for a specific reason (in this case, purchases). Here the scope of the role is limited to a narrow range of specific issues and is small.

How to get a role depends on how inevitable the role is for the person. Yes, roles young man, old man, man, woman are automatically determined by the age and gender of a person and do not require special efforts to acquire them. There can only be a problem of compliance with one’s role, which already exists as a given. Other roles are achieved or even won during the course of a person's life and as a result of targeted special efforts. For example, the role of a student, researcher, professor, etc. These are almost all roles related to the profession and any achievements of a person.

Formalization as a descriptive characteristic of a social role is determined by the specifics of interpersonal relationships of the bearer of this role. Some roles involve the establishment of only formal relationships between people with strict regulation of rules of behavior; others, on the contrary, are only informal; still others may combine both formal and informal relationships. It is obvious that the relationship between the traffic police representative and the rule violator traffic should be determined by formal rules, and relationships between close people should be determined by feelings. Formal relationships are often accompanied by informal ones, in which emotionality is manifested, because a person, perceiving and evaluating another, shows sympathy or antipathy towards him. This happens when people have been interacting for a while and the relationship has become relatively stable.

Motivation depends on the needs and motives of the person. Different roles are driven by different motives. Parents, caring for the well-being of their child, are guided primarily by a feeling of love and care; the leader works for the sake of the cause, etc.

[edit]Role conflicts

Role conflicts arise when the duties of a role are not fulfilled due to subjective reasons(unwillingness, inability).

Motivation is divided into externally organized and internally organized (or, as Western psychologists write, external and internal). The first is associated with the influence on the subject’s formation of the motive for the action or deed of other people (with the help of advice, suggestion, etc.). The extent to which this intervention will be perceived by the subject depends on the degree of his suggestibility, conformity and negativism.

Suggestibility- this is the subject’s tendency to uncritical (involuntary) compliance with the influences of other people, their advice, instructions, even if they contradict his own beliefs and interests.

This is an unconscious change in one’s behavior under the influence of suggestion. Suggestible subjects are easily infected by the moods, views and habits of other people. They are often prone to imitation. Suggestibility depends both on the stable properties of a person - a high level of neuroticism, weakness nervous system(Yu. E. Ryzhkin, 1977), and from his situational states - anxiety, self-doubt or emotional arousal.

Suggestibility is influenced by such personal characteristics as low self-esteem and feelings of inferiority, humility and devotion, an undeveloped sense of responsibility, timidity and shyness, gullibility, increased emotionality and impressionability, daydreaming, superstitiousness and faith, a tendency to fantasize, unstable beliefs and uncritical thinking ( N. N. Obozov, 1997, etc.).

Increased suggestibility is typical for children, especially 10-year-olds. This is explained by the fact that their critical thinking is still poorly developed, which reduces the degree of suggestibility. True, at the age of 5 and after 10, especially among older schoolchildren, there is a decrease in suggestibility (A.I. Zakharov (1998), see Fig. 9.1). By the way, the latter was noted among older adolescents at the end of the 19th century. A. Binet (1900) and A. Nechaev (1900).

The degree of suggestibility of women is higher than that of men (V. A. Petrik, 1977; L. Levenfeld, 1977).

Another stable personality characteristic is conformity, the study of which was initiated by S. Asch (1956).

Conformity- this is a person’s tendency to voluntarily consciously (arbitrarily) change his expected reactions in order to get closer to the reaction of others due to the recognition that they are more right. At the same time, if the intention or social attitudes that a person had coincide with those of those around him, then we are no longer talking about conformity.

The concept of “conformity” has many meanings in Western psychological literature. For example, R. Crutchfield (1967) speaks of “internal conformity,” which is described as close to suggestibility.

Conformity is also called intragroup suggestion or suggestibility (note that some authors, for example, A.E. Lichko et al. (1970) do not equate suggestibility and conformity, noting the lack of dependence between them and the difference in the mechanisms of their manifestation). Other researchers distinguish between two types of conformity: “acceptance,” when an individual changes his views, attitudes, and corresponding behavior, and “agreement,” when a person follows the group without sharing its opinion (in national science this is called conformism). If a person tends to constantly agree with the opinion of the group, he is a conformist; if he tends to disagree with the opinion imposed on him, then he is a nonconformist (the latter, according to foreign psychologists, includes about a third of people).

There are external and internal conformity. In the first case, a person returns to his previous opinion as soon as the group pressure on him disappears. With internal conformity, he retains the accepted group opinion even after the pressure from the outside has ceased.

The degree of a person’s subordination to a group depends on many external (situational) and internal (personal) factors, which (mostly external) were systematized by A. P. Sopikov (1969). These include:

Age and gender differences: among children and youth there are more conformists than among adults (maximum conformity is noted at 12 years of age, its noticeable decrease is after 1-6 years); women are more susceptible to group pressure than men;

Difficulty of the problem being solved: the more difficult it is, the more the individual submits to the group; how more difficult task and the more ambiguous the decisions made, the higher the conformity;

A person’s status in a group: the higher he is, the less this person shows conformity;

The nature of the group affiliation: the subject entered the group of his own free will or under duress; in the latter case, his psychological subjugation is often only superficial;

The attractiveness of the group for the individual: the subject lends himself more easily to the reference group;

Goals facing a person: if his group competes with another group, the subject's conformity increases; if group members compete with each other, it decreases (the same is observed when defending a group or personal opinion);

The presence and effectiveness of a connection that confirms the correctness or incorrectness of a person’s conforming actions: when an action is wrong, a person can return to his point of view.

With pronounced conformism, a person’s decisiveness increases when making decisions and forming intentions, but at the same time, the feeling of his individual responsibility for an act committed together with others weakens. This is especially noticeable in groups that are not socially mature enough.

Although the influence of situational factors often prevails over the role of individual differences, there are still people who are easily persuaded in any situation (S. Hovland, I. Janis, 1959; I. Janis, P. Field, 1956).

Such people have certain personality traits. It has been revealed, for example, that the most conforming children suffer from an “inferiority complex” and have insufficient “ego strength” (Hartup, 1970). They tend to be more dependent and anxious than their peers, and are sensitive to the opinions and hints of others. Children with such personality traits tend to constantly control their behavior and speech, i.e. they have high level self-control. They care about how they look in the eyes of others, they often compare themselves with their peers.

According to F. Zimbardo (1977), shy people who have low self-esteem are easily persuaded. It is no coincidence that a connection has been identified between a person’s low self-esteem and his easy susceptibility to outside persuasion (W. McGuire, 1985). This happens due to the fact that they have little respect for their opinions and attitudes, therefore, their motivation to defend their beliefs is weakened. They consider themselves wrong in advance.

R. Nurmi (1970) provides data according to which conformers are characterized by rigidity and a weak nervous system.

It should, however, be kept in mind in what situation conformity manifests itself - in a normative or informational one. This may also affect its connections with other personality traits. In an information situation, there is a noticeable tendency to connect conformity with extraversion (N. N. Obozov, 1997).

Some people confuse this concept with status. But these terms mean absolutely different manifestations. The concept of role was introduced by psychologist T. Parsons. K. Horney and I. Hoffman used it in their works. They revealed the characteristics of the concept in more detail and conducted interesting studies.

Social role - what is it?

According to the definition, a social role is behavior that society has deemed acceptable for people in a particular status. A person's social roles change depending on who he is in this moment. Society dictates that a son or daughter behave in one way than, say, a worker, a mother, or a woman.

What is included in the concept of social role:

1. Human behavioral reactions, his speech, actions, actions.
2. The appearance of the individual. He must also conform to the norms of society. A man wearing a dress or skirt in a number of countries will be perceived negatively, just like an office manager who comes to work in a dirty robe.
3. Individual motivation. The environment approves and reacts negatively not only to a person’s behavior, but also to his inner aspirations. Motives are assessed based on the expectations of other people, which are built on the generally accepted understanding. Bride getting married material benefits, in certain societies will be perceived negatively; love and sincere feelings are expected from her, and not commercialism.

The importance of social role in human life

Changing behavioral responses can be costly for an individual. Our social roles are determined by the expectations of other people; if we fail to meet them, we risk remaining outcasts. A person who decides to break these peculiar rules is unlikely to build relationships with other members of society. They will condemn him and try to change him. In some cases, such an individual is perceived as mentally abnormal, although the doctor did not make such a diagnosis.

Signs of a social role

This concept is also associated with the profession and type of human activity. This also affects how the social role is manifested. We expect different appearance, speech and actions from a university student and from a schoolchild. A woman, in our understanding, should not do what is included in the concept of normal behavior of a man. And a doctor does not have the right to act in a work environment in the same way as a salesman or engineer would act. Social role in the profession manifests itself in appearance, the use of terms. By violating these rules, you can be considered a bad specialist.

How are social status and social role related?

These concepts mean completely different things. But at the same time, social statuses and roles are very closely related. The first gives a person rights and responsibilities, the second explains what behavior society expects from him. A man who becomes a father must support his child, and he is expected to devote time to communicating with his offspring. The expectations of the environment in this case can be very precise or vague. It depends on the culture of the country where the person lives and is raised.

Types of social roles

Psychologists divide the concept into 2 main categories - interpersonal and status-related. The first are associated with emotional relationships - the leader, the favorite in the team, the soul of the company. The social roles of the individual, depending on the official position, are more determined by profession, type of activity and family - husband, child, salesman. This category is impersonal; behavioral reactions in them are more clearly defined than in the first group.

Each social role is different:

1. By the degree of its formalization and scale. There are those where the behavior is very clearly defined and those where the expected actions and reactions by the environment are described vaguely.
2. By method of receipt. Achievements are often associated with a profession, awarded with marital status, physiological characteristics. An example of the first subgroup is a lawyer, a leader, and the second is a woman, daughter, mother.

Individual role

Each person has several functions at the same time. Performing each of them, he is forced to behave in a certain way. The individual social role of a person is related to the interests and motives of a person. Each of us perceives ourselves somewhat differently from how other people see us, so our own assessment of behavior and other people's perception of it can differ greatly. Let's say a teenager may consider himself quite mature, having the right to make a number of decisions, but for his parents he will still be a child.

Interpersonal roles of a person

This category is associated with the emotional sphere. This social role of a person is often assigned to him by a certain group of people. An individual can be considered a fun guy, a favorite, a leader, a loser. Based on the group’s perception of the individual, the environment expects a certain standard response from the person. If it is assumed that a teenager is not only a son and a student, but also a joker and a bully, his actions will be assessed through the prism of these unofficial statuses.

Social roles in the family are also interpersonal. There are often situations when one of the children has the status of a favorite. In this case, conflicts between children and parents become pronounced and arise more often. Psychologists advise avoiding assigning interpersonal statuses within the family, because in this situation its members are forced to rebuild behavioral reactions, which leads to personality changes, and not always for the better.

New social roles of youth

They appeared in connection with a change in social structure. The development of Internet communication has led to the fact that the social roles of young people have changed and become more variable. Development also contributed to this. Modern teenagers They are increasingly focusing not on official statuses, but on those that are accepted in their society - punk, vaper. The assignment of such perception can be group or individual.

Modern psychologists argue that behavior considered normal for the environment is not characteristic of a healthy person, but of a neurotic person. They associate this fact with the ever-increasing number of people who are not forced to turn to specialists for help.

44.Social status and social role.

Social status- social position occupied by a social individual or social group in society or a separate social subsystem of society. It is determined by characteristics specific to a particular society, which can be economic, national, age and other characteristics. Social status is divided according to skills, abilities, and education.

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

natural status- the status received by a person at birth (gender, race, nationality, biological stratum). In some cases, birth status may change: the status of a member of the royal family is from birth and as long as the monarchy exists.

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

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

Social role- this is a set of actions that a person occupying a given status in the social system must perform. Each status usually includes a number of roles. The set of roles resulting from a given status is called a role set.

The social role should be considered in two aspects: role expectations And role-playing. There is never a complete match between these two aspects. But each of them has great importance in personality behavior. Our roles are determined primarily by what others expect of us. These expectations are associated with the status that a given person has. If someone does not play a role in accordance with our expectations, then he enters into a certain conflict with society.

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

Role requirements (instructions, regulations and expectations of appropriate behavior) are embodied in specific social norms grouped around social status.

The main link between role expectations and role behavior is the character of the individual.

Because each person plays multiple roles in many different situations, conflict can arise between roles. A situation in which a person is faced with the need to satisfy the demands of two or more incompatible roles is called role conflict. Role conflicts can arise both between roles and within one role.

For example, a working wife finds that the demands of her day job may conflict with her household responsibilities; or a married student must reconcile the demands placed on him as a husband with the demands placed on him as a student; or a police officer sometimes must choose between fulfilling his official duty and arresting a close friend. An example of a conflict occurring within one role is the position of a leader or public figure who publicly proclaims one point of view, but in a narrow circle declares himself a supporter of the opposite, or an individual who, under the pressure of circumstances, plays a role that does not meet either his interests or his internal installations.

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

45. Social inequality. Ways and means to overcome it Inequality in society can have two sources: natural and social. People differ in physical strength, endurance, etc. These differences lead to the fact that they achieve results and thereby occupy different positions in society. But over time, natural inequality is complemented by social inequality, which consists in the possibility of obtaining social benefits unrelated to contributions to the public domain. For example, unequal pay for equal work. Ways to overcome: due to the conditional nature of social. inequality, it can and must be abolished in the name of equality. Equality is understood as personal equality before God and the law, equality of opportunity, living conditions, health, etc. Currently, supporters of the theory of functionalism believe that social. inequality is a tool that helps ensure that the most important and responsible tasks are carried out by talented and trained people. Proponents of conflict theory believe that the views of functionalists are an attempt to justify the statuses that have developed in society and a situation in which people under whose control are social values ​​had the opportunity to receive benefits for themselves. Question about social inequality is closely intertwined with the concept of social. justice. This concept has 2 interpretations: objective and subjective. Subjective interpretation comes from the attribution of social. justice to legal categories, with the help of which a person gives an assessment that approves or condemns processes occurring in society. The second position (objective) is based on the principle of equivalence, i.e. mutual retribution in relationships between people.

A social role is a certain set of actions or a model of human behavior in social environment, which is determined by its status or position. Depending on the change in the situation (family, work, friends), the social role also changes.

Characteristic

Social role, like any concept in psychology, has its own classification. American sociologist Talcott Parsons identified several characteristics that could be used in describing the social role of an individual:

Stages of formation

A social role is not created in a minute or overnight. The socialization of an individual must go through several stages, without which normal adaptation in society is simply not possible.

First of all, a person must learn certain basic skills. These include practical skills that we learn from childhood, as well as thinking skills that improve with life experience. The main stages of education begin and take place in the family.

The next stage is education. This is a long process and we can say that it does not end throughout life. They are engaged in education educational establishments, parents, means mass media and much more. This process involves great amount factors.

Also, the socialization of the individual is not possible without education. In this process, the main thing is the person himself. It is the individual who consciously chooses the knowledge and skills that he wants to possess.

The next important stages of socialization are protection and adaptation. Protection is a set of processes that are aimed primarily at reducing the significance of any traumatic factors for the subject. A person intuitively tries to protect himself from moral discomfort, resorting to various mechanisms social protection(denial, aggression, repression and others). Adaptation is a kind of mimicry process through which an individual adapts to communicating with other people and maintaining normal contacts.

Kinds

Personal socialization is a long process during which a person acquires not only his personal experience, but also observes the behavior and reactions of the people around him. Naturally, the process of socialization takes place more actively in childhood and youth, when the psyche is most susceptible to influences environment when a person is actively looking for his place in life and himself. However, this does not mean that changes do not occur at older ages. New social roles appear, the environment changes.

There are primary and secondary socialization. Primary is the process of formation of the personality itself and its qualities, and secondary already refers to professional activity.

Agents of socialization are groups of people, individuals who have a direct influence on the search and formation of social roles. They are also called institutions of socialization.

Accordingly, agents of primary and secondary socialization are distinguished. The first group includes family members, friends, the team (kindergarten and school), as well as many other people who influence the formation of personality throughout adult life. They play the most important role in the life of every person. This can be explained not only by the informational and intellectual influence, but also by the emotional background of such close relationships. It is during this period that those qualities are laid down that will influence the future conscious choice secondary socialization.

Parents are rightfully considered one of the most important agents of socialization. Even at an unconscious age, a child begins to copy the behavior and habits of his parents, becoming similar to him. Then dad and mom become not only an example, but also actively influence the formation of personality.

Secondary agents of socialization are members of society who participate in the growth and development of a person as a professional. These include employees, managers, clients and people who are associated with the individual through his or her duties.

Processes

Personal socialization is a rather complex process. Sociologists usually distinguish two phases, which in equally are important for the search and formation of each of the social roles.

1. Social adaptation is a period during which a person becomes familiar with the rules of behavior in society. A person adapts, learns to live according to new laws;
2. The internalization phase is no less important, since this time is necessary for the complete acceptance of new conditions and their inclusion in the value system of each individual. It must be remembered that during this phase there is a denial or leveling of certain old rules and foundations. This is an inevitable process, since often some norms and roles contradict existing ones.

If a “failure” occurs at any of the phases, then in the future it is possible that role conflicts. This occurs due to the inability or unwillingness of the individual to perform his chosen role.

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

Main types of social roles

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

Characteristics of social roles

American sociologist Talcott Parsons identified the main characteristics of social roles. These include: scale, method of receipt, emotionality, motivation and formalization. Typically, the scope of a role is determined by the range of interpersonal relationships. Here it is observed directly proportional dependence. For example, the social roles of husband and wife have a very significant scope, 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. They are determined by a person's age. And other social roles can be achieved during life if certain conditions are achieved.

Social roles may also differ in their 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 ones, and still others may combine both relationships.

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