What is Role? Explain the types of Role in detail
Here we will What is Role. Explain the types of Role in detail.
Role
If we think about our each day, we find that it begins with playing different roles attached to our statuses. In our daily lives, we smoothly switch from one role to another without much effort and also play distinct roles at the same time. Every individual adorning statutes to play a role as if he were dramatizing it. An individual’s role is the behaviour expected of him in his status and in the determination of his relationship with other members of his group. A role is the set of norms, values, behaviours, and personality characteristics attached to a status.
Giddens and Sutton define roles as “socially defined expectations that a person in a given social status follows”. For example, when there is traffic congestion, we expect the traffic police to manage the traffic and ease the flow of vehicles. Similarly, at a restaurant the customers expect the waitress to provide the menu, note down the orders and serve the food. Turner defines roles as a “cluster of behaviour and attitudes” and argues that roles help in organizing social behaviour both at individual and collective level. In Banton’s definition, roles are a “cluster of rights and obligations” and what is one individual’s obligation is his/her partner’s right. So in a restaurant a waitress is obliged to serve and the customer has the right to be served.
Banton further refined his definition and added that actual behaviour can be related to
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Role cognitions: individual’s own ideas of whatis appropriate or
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Expectations : to other people’s ideas about what he will do or
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Norms: to other people’s ideas about what he should do.
Take for example, the role of a chef. Sanjeev occupies the status of head chef in a hotel. As a chef, he is expected to play the role of overall supervision and coordination with cooks who have to prepare the meals. Apart from this, some general expectation from him include ensuring discipline and maintenance of hygiene standards in the regular work environment of the kitchen.
A person playing a multiple role may have to play them all concurrently or sequence-wise, according to the condition of his life or his occupation; and one of his roles may be so dominant that it will distinctly condition his individuality. A woman, for instance, plays the role of daughter, sister, student, mother, a teacher, a friend and so on. An industrialist may be so engrossed in his occupational duties that he fails to play his roles as husband or father effectively.
Meaning of Role
Simple Definition
A social role is how a person is expected to think, act, and behave in a given position in society.
Example
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Status: Teacher
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Social Role: Teaching students, maintaining discipline, evaluating performance, guiding learners.
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Status: Student
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Social Role: Attending classes, completing assignments, following rules.
Key Points
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Social roles are learned through socialization.
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One person can perform multiple roles (e.g., a woman can be a mother, employee, and daughter).
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Roles vary according to culture, time, and society.
Definitions of Social Role by Different Scholars
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Ralph Linton
“A social role is the dynamic aspect of status.”
This means a role refers to the behavior expected from a person occupying a particular status.
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Talcott Parsons
“A role is a sector of the total orientation system of an individual which is organized about expectations of others.”
Social role is based on social expectations linked to a position.
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G. H. Mead
“Role refers to the behavior of an individual which is determined by social norms.”
Social roles are shaped by social norms and interaction.
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Horton and Hunt
“A role is the behavior expected of an individual who occupies a given social status.”
Role means expected behavior, not personal choice.
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Kingsley Davis
“Role consists of the expected behavior patterns associated with a particular position in a social system.”
Emphasizes patterns of behavior connected to positions.
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Macionis
“A social role is a set of expectations for people who occupy a given social position.”
Focuses on expectations from society.
Features of Social Role
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Linked to Status
A social role is always related to a social status (e.g., teacher–student). -
Based on Social Expectations
Roles are defined by what society expects Define “Roles”. Classification of Roles in detail.from a person, not by personal wishes. -
Learned through Socialization
Individuals learn their roles through family, school, and society. -
Dynamic in Nature
Roles may change with time, situation, and social change. -
Regulated by Norms and Values
Social roles are guided by social norms, customs, and values. -
Multiple Roles
An individual performs many roles at the same time (parent, employee, citizen). -
Cultural Variation
Social roles differ from one culture to another.
Objectives of Social Role
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Maintaining Social Order
Social roles help in the smooth functioning of society.
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Guiding Individual Behavior
They provide clear guidelines for how individuals should behave. -
Promoting Cooperation
Roles encourage cooperation and coordination among people. -
Ensuring Stability
By fixing expectations, roles reduce confusion and conflict. -
Social Control
Roles act as an informal method of controlling behavior.
Aims of Social Role
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Integration of Society
To maintain unity and harmony in society. -
Efficient Functioning of Institutions
Roles help institutions like family, education, and government to function properly. -
Fulfilment of Social Needs
They help meet the basic needs of society. -
Transmission of Culture
Roles help pass values, traditions, and norms from one generation to another. -
Balance between Individual and Society
They balance personal freedom with social responsibility.
Here we will Explain the types of Role in detail.
Types of role
Roles can be classified into
1. Ascribed roles and achieved roles
Ascribed roles – Like ascribed statuses, society gives ascribed roles at birth. From the time an individual is born, role learning begins which is a part of what we know are socialization. These roles pertain to one’s gender, age, kinship, caste, class, and so on.
Achieved roles – On the other hand, individuals largely acquire achieved roles over a lifetime on the basis of merit, such as occupational roles of a farmer, salesman, banker, teacher, shopkeeper, driver, lawyer, professor etc.
2. Basic, General and Independent roles
Basic roles: Gender and age mostly determine basic roles and ascribe them to individuals.
at birth and these roles shape conduct in a large number of social contexts
General roles: The organization mostly assigns general roles on the basis of individual merit.
Independent roles:
Merit determines independent roles, and they have very few implications for other roles and on the way people respond to the person who occupies the independent roles.
Example of independent roles are leisure roles and many occupational roles.
c) Relational and Non-relational roles
Relational roles: Certain roles are complimentary in nature, and people conceive of and define them in relation to another. One good example of relational role is that of a wife, which one cannot conceive without the husband. Similarly, the role of debtor cannot exists without the role of a creditor.