Chapter 10: Status and Role PDF

## Chapter 10: Status and Role ### Key Features | Feature | Page Number | |---|---| | What is Status? | 164 | | Types of Status | 166 | | Status, Office, Station and Stratum | 167 | | What is Role? | 169 | | Role Conflict | 171 | | Role Set | 173 | | Distinction between Status and Role | 174 | S...

## Chapter 10: Status and Role ### Key Features | Feature | Page Number | |---|---| | What is Status? | 164 | | Types of Status | 166 | | Status, Office, Station and Stratum | 167 | | What is Role? | 169 | | Role Conflict | 171 | | Role Set | 173 | | Distinction between Status and Role | 174 | Since Ralph Linton (1936) wrote about status and role, they've become key concepts in sociology. To Linton, **status** meant a position in a social system with designated rights and obligations. A **role** is behavior oriented to others' expectations and patterns. Each person in society occupies **multiple statuses**, each with an associated role. Every society and group has some function or activity where each member possesses some degree of power or prestige. What someone does or performs is their **role**. The degree of prestige or power is their **status**. Thus **roles** are related to **statuses** and are synonyms for the same phenomenon. Linton explained: "role is the dynamic aspect of status." ### What Is Status? A **status** is a socially defined position in a group or social system, such as: * Female * Student * Teacher * Child * Mother * Father A status occupant's behavior is expected by others to be in a specific way. Position is relative and implies a group. Each status has certain **privileges, rights, and duties**. Most sociologists use **position** and **status** synonymously. **Position** denotes one's situation in the role-structure, which is subjective, while **status** refers to how others see it, making it an objective term: * **High status** * **Low status** Harry M. Johnson (1960) defined three related concepts: * **Role** * **Status** * **Position** He defined a **social position** as something an individual member of a social system fills. It consists of : 1. Expectations and obligations the other members have concerning the behavior of the position incumbent. 2. Rights or legitimate expectations of the position incumbent concerning the behavior of others. Johnson called the first **the role of a position**, whereas the second is **the status of a position**. Prestige is what it denotes. According to Kingsley Davis (1949), **status** is a position in the general institutional system recognized and supported by the entire society. Horton and Hunt (1964) define it as the rank or position of an individual in a group. Weber theorizes that **status** refers to the esteem or "social honor" given to individuals and groups. **Status** simply indicates the position someone holds in a group. **Social status**, on the other hand, denotes the degree of honor and prestige someone receives from the community and society as a whole. It signifies not only their position, but their relative social standing. Social status embraces all the individual's statuses and roles that determine their social standing. Social status is very general in nature (gender roles) or very specific (occupational positions). Factors that influence someone's **social status** range widely and include: * Original nature * Physical Characteristics * Accidental conditions * Physique * Mentality * Temperament * Sex * Age * Race * Caste * Class * Economic Position These factors influence a person's **social standing** within a community. ### Types of Status Linton (1936) classified statuses into two types: 1. **Ascribed Status**: These statuses are given at birth, such as: * Age * Sex * Kinship * Race * Caste These are assigned by society without regard for personal talents or characteristics. They are determined by the cultural situation, over which the individual has no control initially. Ascribed statuses are generally based on: 1. **Sex dichotomy**: male-female 2. **Age difference**: child, youth, adult 3. **Kinship**: son, brother, sister 4. **Social factors**: divorcee, widow In traditional societies, statuses are mostly ascribed. 2. **Achieved status**: This is a social position held as a result of personal accomplishment in open formal competition or the market. The individual attains it through individual effort, choice, and competition. This is secured through one's ability, performance, and possibly good or ill fortune. Examples include: * Collector * Policeman * Husband * Father * College graduate * Teacher Achieved status requires individuals to make choices about: * Friends * Marital partners * Place of Residence * Schools * Colleges * Organizations Achieved status is based on: 1. **Property**: Jagirdar, Zamindar 2. **Occupation**: doctor, engineer 3. **Education**: graduate, illiterate 4. **Specialization and division of labor**: foreman, mechanic 5. **Political power**: Prime Minister, President 6. **Marital relations**: husband, wife, sister-in-law 7. **Achievements**: good sportsman, musician Societies differ in the relative distribution of ascribed and achieved statuses. Ascribed statuses dominate in simple, traditional societies, while achieved statuses are more important in modern, industrial societies. ### Status, Office, Station and Stratum Kingsley Davis (1949) distinguishes the basic concepts: * **Status** * **Office** * **Station** * **Stratum** **Status** denotes a position in the general institutional system, recognized and supported by the entire society, spontaneously evolved, rather than deliberately created. An **office** denotes a position in a deliberately created organization, governed by specific rules and limited to a specific group. Positions are generally achieved rather than ascribed. Examples include: * Principal of a college * Professor of Psychology in a University **Station** denotes a cluster of statuses and offices that are combined in one person and recognized as a whole. It embodies a person's generalized status - the sum total of their major positions in social structures. **Stratum** refers to a group of people in a society who share roughly the same station. Individuals within a stratum tend to have the same outlook towards the world, share similar interests, attitudes and problems. ### What Is Role? The concept of role is based on the theatrical settings, with actors playing parts in a stage production. William Shakespeare's famous lines: > "All the world's a stage, > > And all the men and women merely players; > > They have their exits and their entrances; > > And one man in his time plays many parts." Sociologists, like Erving Goffman (1959), use a **dramaturgical approach** to sociology, seeing social life as a theatre drama, with individuals acting out roles on different stages. Role is vital as it shows how individual activity is socially influenced and follows patterns. Two main approaches to role theory are: 1. **Mead** (1934): roles are analyzed as the outcome of interaction that is tentative and creative, a key proponent of **symbolic interactionism**. 2. **Linton** (1936), later elaborated by functionalism, sees roles as prescribed and static expectations of behavior dictated by society's norms. Ogburn and Nimkoff (1958) defined a **role** as a set of socially expected and approved behavior patterns consisting of duties and privileges associated with a particular position in a group. Kingsley Davis (1949), however, confused role with **role performance**. Davis believed **role** refers to the actual behavior of a status incumbent, while **role performance** is acting a set of duties and privileges following the requirements of the position. H.M. Johnson (1960) defined **role** as expectations and obligations held by other members concerning the behavior of the position incumbent. Ely Chinoy (1954) agreed with Johnson. He believed **role** refers to expectations and obligations. What people anticipate or expect is different from what they actually do. Thus, **role** refers to expected behavior, while **role performance** denotes what people actually do.. Role performance may not always match role expectations. Alex Inkles (1965) defines **role** as the set of expected rights and obligations given to people who are generally felt to be incumbent in recognizable statuses by other members of the same social system. Anthony Giddens (2000) defines **role** as "socially defined expectations that a person in a given social position follows." A **role** can be viewed as a set of norms and expectations about the behavior of the incumbent in a particular position. Roles reflect what is expected or the beliefs and values of performers. Much of social interaction is guided by **role expectations**. **Role expectations** add predictability to life as shared expectations are developed among those with specific social identifications. They are often paired, where the role is not only held by members of society, but by those capable of playing reciprocal roles. ### Role Conflict **Role conflict** is the clash of expectations concerning aspects of a single role. Several forms can occur, including: * **Role collision** * **Role confusion** * **Role incompatibility** * **Inadequate role preparation** * **Failure in role performance** Two or more roles may conflict with one another or a single role may have conflicting duties and pressures. * **Role collision** is when two individuals have roles that conflict. * **Role incompatibility** occurs when a single individual plays multiple roles that have contradictory expectations. * **Role confusion** occurs when there is a lack of agreement among group members about the expectations for a given role. **Role conflict** can occur when: * **Duties are unclear** * **Duties are too difficult** * **Duties are disagreeable** Ill-defined roles, such as those of parents or friends, often lead to conflict. Linton emphasized that everyone plays multiple roles simultaneously. This is why discrepancies can exist between behavior that is expected (role) and what is actually done. Modern society is full of conflicting role demands. For example, the expectations of being an employee and a parent can clash. When conflicting roles are associated with two different statuses it is called **status strain** or **inter-role conflict**. When conflicting roles attach to the same status it is known as **role strain** or **intra-role conflict**. We try to minimize or resolve **role conflict** through: * Choosing the most important role and violating the other * Leaving one of the statuses that create the conflict * Role segregation, separating role partners * Role distance, detaching oneself from the role ### Role Set While we might assume that each social position has a clearly defined role, in reality, there are many roles associated with each position. Merton (1957) termed this **role set**, the complement of **role-relationships** involved in a particular social status. The **role set** consists of the various roles performed in relation to different role partners. For example, a medical student not only is a student in relation to their teachers, but also has other roles: * Relating to other students. * Relating to physicians * Relating to nurses * Relating to medical technicians * Relating to social workers A school teacher fulfills various roles in relation to: * Pupils * Colleagues * Headmaster * Parents * Members of the school board * Professional associations **Role conflict** can arise within these **role sets**. For example, what a parent feels should constitute a child's education might differ from what the headmaster or school board believes. ### Distinction between Status and Role * **Status** is a sociological concept, while **role** is a social psychological concept. * **Status** is a structural phenomenon, while **role** is a behavioral phenomenon. * **Status** is based upon the social structure, while **role** is based upon an individual's personalities and capabilities * **Status** is dynamic and constantly changing as it is dependent upon the norms of society. * **Role** is also dynamic, as it is tied to status and can change as well. While closely linked, **status** and **role** are not mutually exclusive. For example, there can be statuses without roles and roles without statuses. The term **status role** combines both concepts. It is a status accompanied by a set of norms. When these norms are used, a person occupies a particular status, like that of a husband, a father, a teacher, or a doctor.