Prescribed social status. The meaning of the term "status

13.02.2021

Social status concept

The most important element of the life and activity of any individual is his social status. It determines the status of a person, his social roles, directions of activity. The influence of members of society on each other, their vital activity, development and improvement depends on it.

Definition 1

Social status is the status of an individual due to his marital status, official and professional role, origin, gender, social role.

The social position is formed on the basis of the financial condition of the individual, his age, gender, education, existing abilities and skills, creative potential.

Also, the social position that an individual receives in society can be determined based on the customs and traditions of a particular nation or state as a whole.

Remark 1

It should be noted that social status does not determine a person's belonging to a particular social group. Members of the same social group can have completely different social status.

Depending on the position held, a person is assigned to a certain social class.

The social position is characterized by a hierarchical structure i.e. there are several levels that a person can occupy in society.

Consider the levels of social status:

Inborn position. This is the status of an individual that he received at birth. This includes: gender, race, nationality. These criteria determine a certain social role that a person will perform throughout his life. The innate social position is stable and unchanging.
Acquired position. This is a status that a person acquires in the course of his life. This includes his career and achievements in it, the level of financial support, the position held. A person achieves this position by his efforts, intellectual and physical qualities, and the presence of talents. This situation is unstable, i.e. it can change during the life process, both for the better and for the worse.
Prescribed position. It is provided to a person, regardless of his aspirations and interests, actions and deeds. This situation can be determined based on the age-specific characteristics of personality development, or reflect its origin. The status of such a person can be either innate or acquired.

Types of social statuses

In the study of social status, you need to distract from the qualitative assessment of the individual and her behavioral reactions.

Social status is a social-formal-structural characteristic of a subject.

The following types of social statuses are distinguished:

The main or leading status. He occupies a dominant position among all personality statuses, determining the social position of the individual and his role functions in the social environment (family, professional). In addition, this status indicates the manners that the individual must comply with, determines his standard of living. Such status of a person can be personal, innate, attainable, attributed.
Natural and prescribed status. Any individual acquires this status automatically when he is born. He does not depend on his desires and needs, or on the direction of his activities. (gender, nationality, race, daughter, brother, son).
Prescribed status. A person receives this status as a result of the accomplishment of some events. In fact, it is given without the desire of a person, without showing him the initiative (son-in-law, mother-in-law, daughter-in-law).
Achieved status. This status is achieved by a person independently. He wants and strives to get a certain social position, so he follows him, making efforts. The social team can also assist in achieving this type of status: non-basic statuses predetermined by a short-term situation (patient, passer-by, spectator, witness).
Personal status. It is implemented with the participation of the individual in small social groups (work collective, family, circle of close people) and depends on its specific features and development criteria.
Group status. It is implemented in large social groups - representatives of the profession, confession, nation.

The achieved statuses can be determined by:

rank (People's Artist, Lieutenant Colonel, Honored Teacher, etc.);
position (manager, manager, director);
professional affiliation (honored master of sports or people's artist);
scientific degree (professor, candidate of science, doctor of science).

Imagine social environment it is impossible without statuses.

The statuses are always present. In case of loss of one status, the person immediately acquires a new one.

Since each person can be a member of several social groups, then he can have several statuses. They are determined by his collective affiliation and functional role in it (by position - the director, in the family - the wife, for the children - the mother, for the parents - the daughter).

However, such statuses are not equally significant. Leading social status indicates the position that a person occupies in society. It is based on professional affiliation and position held.

The achieved and prescribed statuses have a special connection with each other: as a rule, a person receives the achieved statuses in a competitive struggle, and some of them become a consequence of the assigned statuses.

If the status that a person has achieved is high, then this compensates for his prescribed low status. Society values real achievements, skills and aspirations of an individual.

Status hierarchy

Social status is considered in two orientations (R. Budon):

horizontal - a status built on a system of social contacts, real and permissible, assigned between the bearer of the status and other individuals who are in an identical social position;
vertical - a status built on a system of social contacts and mutual exchanges developing between status bearers and people of a social level of another level.

The status hierarchy is inherent in any social group, the interaction of whose members is real only due to their acquaintance. At the same time, the official structure of the organization may differ from the unofficial one. Official social status is largely determined by qualifications, personal qualities, charm, etc.

Remark 2

Functional dissonance can arise between functional and hierarchical status.

Confusion of statuses is a parameter of social disorganization, as a result of the development of which deviant behavior can develop.

Violation of status functioning and interaction can take two forms (E. Durkheim):

on the basis of the social position of the individual, his expectations acquire the character of uncertainty and the reciprocal expectations of other people also become uncertain;
the instability of social status affects the degree of individual satisfaction with life and the structure of social rewards.

Social status structure

Social status, regardless of its species, has the following structure:

the rights and obligations of a person, determined by his status. They imply characterization of actions that can and should be performed by a person of a certain status;
the status range is the boundaries of what is permitted. A person of a certain status has rights and obligations limited by the status framework;
status symbolism - the presence of distinctive external laws, by which you can find out the status of a person. An example would be a police uniform, a business suit;
a status model is an idea of how a representative of a particular status should act, what manners to adhere to, how to dress;
status identification. It reflects the level of compliance of a person with her social status.

Social role

In connection with the social position of a person, his social status, other members of society expect him to behave in a certain way, to perform specific functions and activities. This socially expected behavior is called a social role.

Remark 3

A social role is a way of realizing a person's practical activities, due to his social position and status in the structure of social relationships.

Social role is a mobile characteristic of social status. This means that social roles can change in time and space, depending on the change in the status of the individual, or social development.

One and the same social status presupposes the fulfillment of several social roles at once. They depend on the direction of a person's activity, his living conditions and professional situation, a specific situation.

Each social role consists of several leading components, the joint functioning of which determines the role.

The main elements of a social role are:

the type of behavior appropriate to the given role;
norms that reflect the requirements of society for a particular role and its implementation;
monitoring role performance. An assessment is made of the effectiveness of a person's implementation of their role functions;
reward or punishment to stimulate optimal role performance

Social roles are used by society as models of behavior for representatives of various statuses. If a person wants to be the bearer of this or that social status, then he must qualitatively fulfill all the requirements of the social role corresponding to this status.

Introduction

The word "sociology" literally means "the science of society" (socio - society, logic - science, knowledge).

Georg Simmel believed that all reality was already "divided" between different sciences, and therefore sociology is a special view of phenomena that do not belong to it.

Sociology studies people, social phenomena, social processes, causal relationships between social phenomena and people, and, consequently, ways of influencing society.

It has long been known that mental and psychophysiological disorders often take a person out of social life and outside the scope of social laws: a person simply turns out to be unable to act in accordance with norms or loses such ability.

In what relation do prescribed or desirable actions relate to a person? This question can be answered if we focus on the concepts of social status and social role.

Social statuses.

The meaning of the term "status"

Social status is the place in the social system that a particular person occupies; it is a set of roles that a person is forced to perform while occupying a certain position in society.

There are two main meanings of the term "status":

1. Social status can be viewed as a kind of brick, that is, an important element of any social system, since the latter is necessarily a set of statuses that are in certain relationships with each other. This understanding of the status was proposed by R. Linton.

2. The concept of "status" can be associated with notions of authority, honor and prestige. In this case, it can underlie the stratification of society (stratification within society) based on the concept of class. This use of this concept was proposed by M. Weber.

Usually a person has several statuses, but there is only one that really determines a person's position in society; as a rule, this is a person's profession, or rather, the position he occupies (for example, teacher, professor, banker, courier). This status is called integral.

Types of statuses

One person has many statuses, as he participates in many groups and organizations. He is a man, father, husband, son, teacher, professor, doctor of sciences, middle-aged man, member of the editorial board, Orthodox, etc. One person can hold two opposite statuses, but in relation to different people: he is a father for his children, and a son for his mother. The totality of all statuses occupied by one person is called a status set (this concept was introduced into science by the American sociologist Robert Merton).

In the status set, there is sure to be the main one. The main status is the status most characteristic of a given person, with which he is identified (identified) by other people or with which he identifies himself. For men, the main thing is most often the status associated with the main place of work (bank director, lawyer, worker), and for women - with the place of residence (housewife). Although other options are possible. This means that the main status is relative - it is not unambiguously associated with gender, race or profession. The main thing is always the status that determines the style and way of life, circle of acquaintances, demeanor.

There are also social and personal statuses. Social status - the position of a person in society, which he occupies as a representative of a large social group (profession, class, nationality, gender, age, religion). Personal status is called the position of an individual in a small group, depending on how he is evaluated and perceived by members of this group (acquaintances, relatives) in accordance with his personal qualities. To be a leader or an outsider, the soul of a company or an expert means to occupy a certain place in the structure (or system) of interpersonal relations (but not social ones).

Attributed and achievable statuses are types of social status.

Attributed is the status in which a person is born (innate status), but which later is necessarily recognized as such by a society or group. It includes gender, nationality, race. The Negro is an inborn status in the sense that it is impossible to change the color of the skin and the associated physiological characteristics of the body.

However, a Negro in the USA, South Africa and Cuba has different social statuses. In Cuba, the Negro, a representative of the indigenous population, who constitutes the absolute majority, has equal rights with others. In South Africa, as in Cuba, blacks represent the majority of the population, but during the apartheid period they were subjected to political and social discrimination. In the United States, blacks constitute a minority of the population, but the legal situation at a certain historical period resembled the situation in South Africa.

Thus, the Negro is not only a born (given by nature), but also an attributed status. Attributed and inborn statuses include: "member of the royal family", "descendant of a noble family", etc. They are born because the child is endowed with royal and noble privileges by inheritance, like a blood relative. However, the elimination of the monarchical system, the abolition of the privileges of the nobility testify to the relativity of such statuses. Inborn status must be reinforced in public opinion, social structure society. Only then will he be born and attributed at the same time.

Illustrative example

The attributed status of the shaman. They are not made, but born. One must have a special predisposition to the spell of diseases and evil spirits.

Previously, some positions could only be occupied by men, for example, policeman, soldier, general. These are attributed statuses. But when women were allowed to serve in the police and the army, the status became attainable. Pope - only a man's office.

The kinship system gives a whole set of inborn and attributed statuses: son, daughter, sister, brother, mother, father, nephew, aunt, cousin, grandfather, etc. They are received by blood relatives. Non-blood relatives are called relatives-in-law. Mother-in-law is a mother-in-law, a father-in-law is a father-in-law. These are attributed, but not innate statuses, because they are acquired through marriage. These are the statuses of a stepson and stepdaughter obtained through adoption.

In the strict sense, ascribed is any status, obtained not of their own free will, over which the individual has no control. In contrast to him, the achieved status is acquired as a result of free choice, personal efforts and is under the control of a person. These are the statuses of the president, banker, student, professor, Orthodox, member of the Conservative Party.

The statuses of husband, wife, godfather and mother are attainable, because they are obtained at will. But sometimes the kind of status is difficult to determine. In such cases, they speak of a mixed status that has the features of the ascribed and achievable. Let's say the status of unemployed if it is not obtained voluntarily, but as a result of a massive reduction in production, an economic crisis.

So, let's summarize what has been said: status is the position of an individual in a group or society. Therefore, there are personal and social statuses. In addition to them, there is the main one (with which you identify yourself), attributed (given by circumstances beyond your control), attainable (by your free choice) and mixed.

Social status- the social position occupied by a social individual or social group in society or a separate social subsystem of society. It is determined according to the characteristics specific to a particular society, which can be economic, national, age and other characteristics. Social status is characterized by power and / or material capabilities, less often by specific skills or abilities, charisma, education.

Concept

The concept in a sociological sense was first used by the English historian and lawyer Henry Maine.

Social status - the place or position of an individual, correlated with the position of other people; this is the place of the individual in a hierarchically organized social structure, his objective position in it; it is an inexhaustible human resource that gives a person the opportunity to influence society and receive through it privileged positions in the system of power and distribution of material wealth. Each person occupies a range of positions in society, each of which implies a range of rights and responsibilities. Social statuses are structural elements social organization societies that provide social ties between the subjects of social relations. Society not only creates social positions - statuses, but also provides social mechanisms for the distribution of members of society according to these positions.

Social status is the place that an individual occupies in the social system (society) and which is characterized by a certain set of rights and obligations.

Types of statuses

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

inborn status- the status received by a person at birth (gender, race, nationality, biological stratum). In some cases, innate status can change: the status of a member of the royal family - from birth until 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- the status that a person acquires, regardless of his desire (age, status in the family), over the course of life, it can change. Prescribed status is either innate or acquired.

Criteria for determining the social status of a person or group

Most sociologists take a multidimensional approach, taking into account such characteristics as:

own
income level
Lifestyle
relations between people in the system of social division of labor
distribution relations
consumption relations
a person's place in the hierarchy of the political system
the level of education
ethnic origin, etc.

In addition, in sociology there is a so-called main status, i.e. the most characteristic status for a given individual with which he identifies himself or with which other people identify him. He determines the style, way of life, circle of acquaintances, demeanor. For representatives of modern society, the main status is most often associated with professional activity.

Status incompatibility

The incompatibility of statuses arises only under two circumstances:

when an individual occupies a high rank in one group, and a low one in the second;
when the rights and obligations of one status of a person contradict or interfere with the fulfillment of the rights and obligations of his other status.

Social status

Each person occupies a certain position in society. This position in sociology is denoted by the concept of status. This term was first used by an English historian G. Maine , and he was introduced into sociology by the American sociologist R. Linton ... When characterizing the social status of a person, they usually indicate her rights and obligations, as well as her position in the social hierarchy.

Social status- This is a certain position in the social structure of society, associated with other positions through the system of rights and obligations. Social statuses are interconnected, but do not interact with each other. Only status carriers, that is, people, interact and enter into relations with each other. Each person has many statuses, as he participates in many groups and organizations. The totality of all statuses occupied by one person is status dialing... Among the many social statuses, as a rule, one stands out, which determines the position of a person in society. It is called the main or integrated status. The main status is the most characteristic status for a given person, with which he is identified by other people or himself. The main status is relative, but it is he who determines the style and way of life, social circle and demeanor, for example, for men, the main status is usually determined by the place of work, profession or position. There are also social and personal statuses. If social is the position of a person in society, which he occupies as a representative of a large social group (profession, class, nationality, gender, age), then personal, status is called the position of an individual in a small group from the point of view of the members of this group.

Social group- This is the position of an individual in society, which he occupies as a representative of a large social group (race, nation, gender, class, stratum, religion, profession, etc.). Personal status is the position of an individual in a small group (family, classroom, student group, peer community, etc.). Social group status depends on the position of a particular social group in the social stratification of society. Personal status is determined by the individual qualities of the individual and depends on how the members of the small group evaluate and perceive it.

Sociologists distinguish prescribed (ascriptive) and acquired (achieved) statuses. The prescribed status is imposed by society, regardless of the efforts and merit of the individual, it is determined by ethnic origin, place of birth, family, and so on. The acquired status, that is, achieved, is determined by the efforts of the person himself, it is acquired by the individual as a result of free choice and purposeful efforts.

Also stand out natural and professional status .

Natural status personality assumes existing and relatively stable characteristics of a person. Professional-official is the basic status of an individual. For an adult, it is most often the basis of an integrated status, it fixes the socio-economic and production-technical position (banker, lawyer, engineer).

Social status denotes a specific place that a person occupies in a given social system. The aggregate of the requirements imposed on an individual by society in accordance with his certain status, forms the concept of a social role.

Social role- This is a set of actions that must be performed by a person holding a given status in the social system. Thus, a social role is a status-oriented behavior model characterized by prescribed rules of behavior (social norms).

Social roles and social norms refer to a system of interaction and describe the dynamics of society. And social statuses are associated with social relations and characterize the statics of society. Like a status set, there is also a role set - a set of roles that is associated with a certain status. The role-playing set describes all types and all the variety of roles (behavior patterns) assigned to one status.

People identify themselves to varying degrees with their statuses and their respective roles. Sometimes they literally merge with their role and automatically transfer the stereotype of their behavior from one status to another. So, a woman who holds the position of a boss at work, when she comes home, continues to communicate in a commanding tone with her husband and other relatives. The maximum fusion of the individual with the role is called role identification.

But a person does not identify with all roles in the same way. Research shows that with personally significant roles (most often associated with the main status), identification is also carried out more often. Other roles are not significant to humans. Often there is also distancing from the role, when a person consciously behaves contrary to the requirements of norms and expectations of people.

Example: if the boss comes to work in a strict suit - he associates himself with the role, if in a tracksuit and allows his subordinates to call himself on you - then this is distancing from the role. If a person does not play a role in accordance with expectations, then he enters into a certain conflict with the group or society. For example, parents should take care of children, a close friend should be not indifferent to our problems. If a parent does not show such concern, then society condemns him, if we turn to a close friend for help or sympathy and do not receive them from him, then we are offended and may even break off relations with him.

The term "reduction of interstate distance" characterizes the relationship between carriers of different, but functionally related statuses, for example, a boss - a subordinate. Each person has their own role-playing set, but not with all roles he identifies himself the same. With some (socially significant) more strongly, with others, there is distancing from the role. Identification with the role or distance from it was studied by the great directors who created their schools of play: K. Stanislavsky, B. Brecht.

E. Bern in the famous bestseller Games People Play, People Who Play Games examines in detail how people perceive roles, identify with them, and how they build their destiny depending on the role they choose. Some adapt the role to themselves, build their own destiny according to the principle "I am a hero, I am a prophet", others adapt to the role - "amoeba personality."

Examples of a person's social status

Living in society, one cannot be free from it. Throughout life, a person comes into contact with a large number of other individuals and groups to which they belong. Moreover, in each of them, he occupies his own definite place. To analyze the position of a person in each group and society as a whole, they use concepts such as social status and social role. Let's take a closer look at what it is.

The meaning of the term and general characteristics

The word "status" itself dates back to ancient Rome. Then it bore more of a legal connotation, rather than sociological, and denoted the legal status of any organization.

Now social status is the position of a person in a particular group and society as a whole, giving him certain rights, privileges, and responsibilities in relation to other members.

It helps people to interact better with each other. If a person of a certain social status does not fulfill his duties, then he will be responsible for this. So, an entrepreneur who sews clothes to order, if the deadline is missed, will pay a forfeit. In addition, his reputation will be damaged.

Examples of the social status of one person are schoolchildren, son, grandson, brother, sports club member, citizen, and so on.

This is a certain characteristic of a person in terms of his professional qualities, material and marital status, age, education and other criteria.

A person can simultaneously enter several teams at once and, accordingly, play not one, but many different roles. Therefore, they talk about status sets. Each person has it unique and individual.

Types of social statuses, examples

Their range is wide enough. There are statuses obtained at birth, and there are statuses acquired during life. Those that society ascribes to a person, or those that he achieves through his own efforts.

Allocate the basic and passing social status of a person. Examples: the main and universal, in fact, the person himself, then comes the second - this is the citizen. The list of main statuses also includes consanguineous, economic, political, and religious. The list goes on.

Episodic - this is a passer-by, a patient, a participant in a strike, a buyer, a visitor to an exhibition. That is, such statuses for the same person can change quite quickly and repeat periodically.

Prescribed social status: examples

This is what a person receives from birth, biologically and geographically given characteristics. Until recently, it was impossible to influence them in any way and change the situation. Examples of social status: gender, nationality, race. These preset parameters remain with a person for life. Although in our progressive society they have already swung themselves at changing sex. So one of the listed statuses, to some extent, ceases to be prescribed.

Much of what is related to kinship will also be considered a prescribed kind. This is a father, mother, sister, brother. And husband and wife are already acquired statuses.

Achievable status

This is what a person achieves for himself. By making efforts, making choices, working, learning, each individual eventually arrives at certain results. His successes or failures are reflected in the attribution of the well-deserved status to him by the society. Doctor, filmmaker, company president, professor, thief, homeless person, vagabond.

Almost every achieved social status of a person has its own insignia. Examples:

the military, security officials, employees of the internal troops - uniform and shoulder straps;
doctors have white coats;
people who have broken the law have tattoos on their bodies.

Roles in society

The social status of a person will help to understand how this or that object will behave. We constantly find examples and confirmation of this. Expectations in the behavior and appearance of an individual, depending on his belonging to a particular class, are called a social role.

So, the status of a parent obliges you to be strict but fair to your child, be responsible for him, teach, give advice, prompt, help in difficult situations. The status of a son or daughter is, on the contrary, a certain subordination to parents, legal and material dependence on them.

But, despite some patterns of behavior, each person has a choice of how to act. Examples of social status and its use by a person do not fit one hundred percent into the proposed framework. There is only a scheme, a certain template, which each individual implements according to his abilities and ideas.

It often happens that it is difficult for one person to combine several social roles. For example, the first role of a woman is mom, wife, and her second role is a successful business woman. Both roles involve an investment of effort, time, full dedication. A conflict arises.

Analysis of the social status of a person, an example of his actions in life allow us to conclude that it reflects not only the internal position of a person, but also affects the appearance, the manner of dressing, speaking.

Consider examples of social status and standards attached to it in appearance. Thus, the director of a bank or the founder of a reputable company cannot appear at the workplace in sweatpants or rubber boots. And the priest - come to church in jeans.

The status that a person has achieved makes him pay attention not only to appearance and behavior, but also to choose a circle of friends, place of residence, study.

Prestige

Not the least role in the fate of people is played by such a concept as prestige (and a positive, from the point of view of the majority, social status). We can easily find examples in the questionnaire that students of all senior classes write before entering higher educational institutions. They often make their choice based on the prestige of a particular profession. Nowadays, few boys dream of becoming an astronaut or pilot. And once it was a very popular profession. They choose between lawyers and financiers. So the time dictates.

Conclusion: a person develops as a person in the process of mastering different social statuses and roles. The brighter the dynamics, the more adapted to life the individual will become.

/ sociology

Non-state educational institution

Higher professional education

"University of the Russian Academy of Education"

Chelyabinsk branch

Faculty of Humanities

Department of Foreign Languages

Abstract on the topic:

"Social status and social role"

Performed: student gr. LP-131

Goncharenko Valentina

Checked by: Ermakov V.I.

Chelyabinsk

Introduction

1. Concept and definition of social status

2. Concept and definition of social role

Conclusion

Bibliography

Introduction

The topic "The concept of social status and social role" in this work was considered on the basis of a textbook edited by Professor A.G. Efendiev's "General Sociology", which provides an opportunity for an accessible (understandable) presentation of the fundamental analysis of the basic branch of social science - modern sociological science.

Every day we communicate and interact with various people and social groups (family, work collective, etc.). It is difficult to imagine the same interaction in different social groups and with different people, of course, we behave differently, since in different interactions our position depends on relationships with others, we select options for behavior, mastering in one way or another the required qualities.

The world consists of many positions in constant self-renewing interactions. And when entering this world, each person seeks to establish himself in a certain social position. Let us consider how and to what extent the system of social interactions affects human behavior.

Each person, joining the system of social interactions, must perform certain social functions: a teacher - to teach, a student - to study, an entrepreneur - to organize and manage production, etc.

To perform specific functions in the course of social interactions, certain (functional) duties are imposed on a person; at the same time, a person is endowed with certain rights, privileges, and powers of authority. A person, performing this or that function, within the framework of the system of interactions, takes (or claims to) a certain social position - this position is called social status.

1. Concept and definition of social status

Status (from Lat. - position, state)

E. Giddens: " Status (status). Social recognition or prestige that a certain group of individuals receives from the rest of society. Status groups usually differ in their style of life - in the ways of behavior characteristic of the individuals of this group. Status privileges can be both positive and negative "

Social status is a characteristic of social position in the social system of interactions. Social status has an internally meaningful side, a dispositional-spatial dimension and an external-nominational form.

The presence of an internally meaningful side means that social status characterizes what rights, duties, privileges, powers are assigned to those who perform this or that function.

Knowing these rights, duties, privileges, as well as with whom a person is obliged to interact, who obeys, and who is subordinate to him, will help us determine the disposition (location) of a particular status in the coordinate system of a given social space.

The presence of an external nominational form means that social status has its own nomination: teacher, doctor, president, artist, grandfather, grandson, etc. But in sociology, these nominations acquire a different meaning, for example, the status of a daughter is a nomination not just of family ties, but also of a certain subordination to parents, the obligation to listen to their opinion, material, legal dependence on parents.

Therefore, in sociology, any socio-positional name (position, profession, related position) is comprehended in unity with the internally meaningful aspects and receives a dispositional dimension (horizontally or vertically): what are the individual's rights, duties, dependencies, privileges, powers, to whom he obeys, who obeys him and in what way, etc.

Another characteristic of status is the status-role theory of personality. This is the relevant theory describing social behavior personality. It was developed by American sociologists R. Minton, R. Merton, T. Parsons, and describes the social behavior of an individual with two basic concepts: "social status" and "social role." American explorer R. Linton, one of the authors of the concept of social status and social role, emphasized that for science the concept of "status" is inseparable from the concept of "role" - these are essentially two sides of the same coin. If the status is the fixation of a certain social position (its content, dispositional, nominal aspects), i.e. status is static, then a role is a dynamic characteristic that determines how a person who has this or that status should behave. In other words, status is a set of rights, privileges and obligations, then a role is an action within this set of rights and obligations.

Status, as a static characteristic at the same time, gives rise to a lot social problems personal collisions. People are not indifferent to their status; striving to obtain a certain status, they deeply experience their failures along the way.

Since social statuses are unequal (located differently in the "coordinate system"). Depending on the position of social status in society relative to the position of other statuses, a person (personality) is given the opportunity to determine rights and obligations. For example, the status of parents arises only when the status of children exists.

Thus, a person is included in many social institutions, interacting with other people for different reasons, performing different functions each time.

The world of statuses is diverse, let's consider only the typology.

Statuses can be formalized or non-formalized.

The former, as a rule, are better enshrined and protected by law (the status of a factory director, a city governor, etc.). A person holding such a status has precisely specified rights, privileges, advantages and duties. Such a status arises within the framework of formal institutions, groups and has tangible advantages over informal statuses (the status of a leader of a company of friends, an informal leader of a team, etc.), which are usually diffuse in nature, they may or may not arise. The rights, duties, powers of such a status are based not on laws, instructions, but on public opinion, which often makes them fragile. Hence the desire of people to be "protected" by formalized statuses - this is how a scientist strives to confirm his qualifications with a scientific degree, title, in order to acquire legal rights and privileges.

But besides them, there are many, so to speak, non-basic, episodic, statuses temporarily acquired by a person for the implementation of certain actions. These are the statuses of a pedestrian, a passer-by, a patient, a witness, a reader, a listener, a TV viewer, a participant in a demonstration, a strike, a crowd, etc. As a rule, these are temporary conditions. The rights and obligations of the bearers of such social statuses are often not registered in any way. They are generally difficult to identify, say, from a passer-by. But they are. Although they affect not the main, but the secondary traits of behavior and thinking. So the status of a doctor of sciences determines a lot in the life of a given person, but his temporary status as a passer-by does not. Thus, a person has basic (determining his life activity) and non-basic (affecting the details of behavior) statuses.

Statuses can be prescribed (ascriptive) and achievable (acquired) statuses.

The prescribed (ascriptive) social status is determined by society, regardless of the efforts and merit of the individual. It is determined by ethnicity, place of birth, family, etc. For example, a person born with black skin acquires the status of a Negro. Children who grow up in very wealthy (rich) families acquire the status of "golden youth".

That is, the prescribed social status (along with all the rights, duties and privileges), as a rule, is acquired from birth - nationality, gender, relationship status, age characteristics, etc. There may be other prescribed statuses - disabled. It is obvious that the prescribed social status can significantly influence the person's personality.

The achieved, acquired social status is determined by the efforts of the person himself, by his actions (writer, director, academician, spouse, officer, emigrant), i.e. a status to achieve which requires special efforts.

The example of the emigrant very clearly shows the principle of the achieved status. A person who emigrated (that is, who made certain efforts and performed certain actions) to live in another country acquires the achieved status of an emigrant.

Some statuses combine prescribed and achieved elements. For example, earning a Ph.D. in mathematics is an achievement. But once a new status is received, it remains forever, defining all the intentions and goals of a person as a prescribed status.

In a traditional society, whose social institutions are characterized by ascriptiveness, the main statuses of society have an ascriptive, inherited (and not attainable) character.

In such societies, ascriptiveness, as an initial motivational principle, is recognized by all strata of society as the main basis for social status claims. The king, the shepherd, the plowman, and the blacksmith consider their position justified and prepare their children to take their place.

The range and freedom of different statuses is an important characteristic of each of the statuses. Any individual decision regarding one's own destiny lies in the constant choice of ways to overcome specific social inequality and in the desire to have the appropriate conditions that ensure its competitiveness in life.

Social status, both providing certain rights and privileges, and imposes a significant number of obligations. With the help of statuses, relations between people are ordered, regulated.

The inequality of statuses is subject to change, so in the 90s in our society there was a change in significance - some social statuses, such as qualifications, education, skill, creativity, and an increase in the importance of others, such as wealth, financial resources, the opportunity to "live beautifully" ...

V modern society the leading importance is acquired by the achieved statuses, the mastery of which is not inherited, but requires education, victory over competitors. Increasing the role of achieved statuses in the organization public life- this is an increase in demand for energetic, competent people, an increase in the dynamics of social processes.

At the same time, a person sometimes achieves the achieved status with the help of unattainable principles; great importance in this case is attached not to a person's abilities and knowledge, but to his loyalty, personal devotion to the leader, and the presence of connections.

Traditionalist-ascriptive culture resists, makes social life mimic, as a result of which statuses are achievable in form, and ascriptive motivations play a leading role in mastering them.

A person can have several statuses, but more often than not only one predetermines his position in society - the main status, which is reflected both in the external behavior and appearance of a person, and in the internal position.

It is a difficult task to determine the main status of a person, but it is the main status that first of all determines and, which is no less important, self-defines a person socially (“who am I, what have I achieved?”).

In most cases, the status of the individual associated with work, profession is of particular importance; property status can be of considerable importance. However, the signs listed above in an informal company of friends may be of secondary importance - here the cultural level, education, sociability can play a decisive role.

Therefore, one should distinguish between the basic, general hierarchy of personality statuses, which works in most situations in a given society, and a specific one, used in special conditions, for special people.

Having a specific hierarchy can lead to serious collisions. The status of a person, determined by society as the main one for a given person, does not always coincide with the status, being guided by the generally accepted hierarchy, the person himself considers the main thing. For example, an entrepreneur, being confident that the main thing in his social characteristics is his property, financial position, encounters rejection by the upper circles, where he seeks to get, by other components, such as his "nobility", level of education, culture.

You can consider a place in the hierarchy of statuses called rank. This is a place in the invisible hierarchy of social relations, characterized by public opinion, in which over time it is developed, transmitted, maintained, but, as a rule, the hierarchy of statuses and social groups is not recorded in any documents, where some are valued and respected more than others. The rank is high, medium, or low.

A high-paid official (high professional rank) is likely to be the owner of the same high family rank as a person who ensures the material well-being of the family. But this does not automatically mean that he will have high ranks in other groups - among friends, relatives, colleagues.

In addition to the main status, primarily associated with the profession, work (more precisely, its prestige), it is permissible to talk about a generalized status, otherwise called the index of social position, the value of which helps to make a holistic assessment of the social position of both one's own and others in the system of social coordinates.

Often, the property status of an educated person elected to a high political post is immeasurably lower than the property status of those who made big money quickly enough, engaging in economic scams, transactions, etc.

The social position index to some extent allows for a more versatile, comprehensive assessment of the social position.

You can consider the natural and professional-job social statuses.

The natural social status of a person presupposes significant and relatively stable characteristics of a person (for example, a woman, a man, a child, a young man, an old man, etc.)

Professional and official social status is the basic status of an individual, for an adult, most often, it is the basis of acquired status. It records the social, economic and organizational-production situation (banker, politician, teacher, technical director). The perception of the adopted managerial decisions is connected with the professional and official social status. Decisions that are identical in form and content can be perceived differently by subordinates (executors), depending on the authority and social status of the subject of the decision. The higher the social status and authority of the person (or governing body, colleague) making the decision, the more responsible the performer's attitude to his instructions.

People have many social statuses, but the concept of "social status" is also applied in relation to the profession. In this case, the concept of "social status" acts as a generalized indicator of the comparative position of a given profession among other professions.

The social status of a profession characterizes the official and (or) unofficial recognition of its necessity and popularity. Two forms of profession status are noted: economic and prestigious.

The economic component of the social status of the profession (economic status) depends, first of all, on the level of material remuneration assumed in the selection and implementation professional path(choice of profession, professional self-determination).

The prestigious component of the social status of the profession (prestigious status, prestige of the profession) is determined by the content (share of creative functions, creative nature) of this type of work, the degree of popularity of the profession, the possibility of self-realization of the individual (success, career). From the social and psychological point of view, the fashion for "new professions" plays a certain (sometimes significant) role in affirming the prestige of a profession.

Statuses, entering into social relations not directly, but only indirectly (through their carriers), mainly determine the content and nature of social relations. A person looks at the world and treats others in accordance with his status. The poor despise the rich, and the rich despise the poor. Dog owners do not understand people who love cleanliness and order on their lawns. A professional investigator, albeit unconsciously, divides people into potential criminals, law-abiding ones, and witnesses. A Ukrainian is more likely to show solidarity with a Ukrainian than with a Chinese or Tatar, and vice versa.

2. Concept and definition of social role

Role (French role) - an image embodied by an actor

Role is the expected behavior due to a person's status (Linton, cited from: Merton, 1957).

A social role is an expectation (anticipation) presented by society to a person holding a particular status. It does not depend on the personality itself, its desires and exists, as it were, apart from and up to the personality itself.

In other words: a social role is an expected model of behavior that corresponds to a certain social status and does not depend on the individual.

For each social role, the behavioral characteristics are different. The limits are limited, but the very performance of the role of any status is a creative process. The status of children is usually subordinate to adults, who expect children to play the role of subordinates. The status of soldiers is different from that of civilians; the role of soldiers is associated with risk taking and taking oaths, which is not the case for other populations.

Each social status usually includes a number of social roles. The set of roles corresponding to this status is called a role-playing set (R. Merton, 1957). So the teacher has one status, and the roles in relation to the head of the department, the student are different, that is, with one status, you can have many roles. Talcot Parsons introduced the concept of role pluralism. It is a collection of important long-term roles and temporary, situational roles.

Role learning is an equally important issue. The mastering of roles occurs in the process of socialization, and their number is constantly increasing.

Socialization is a fairly broad process that includes both the mastery of skills, abilities, knowledge, and the formation of values, ideals, norms and principles of social behavior.

V early childhood a person fulfills one role - a child who is instilled with certain rules of the game. Then the role of the pupil is added to it. kindergarten and a member of the primary social group for joint play, pastime, recreation, etc. In the future, the child plays the role of a student, a member of a youth group, a participant in social activities, a member of various interest groups.

Returning to the fact that each individual can have a large number of statuses, and those around him have the right to expect him to perform roles in accordance with these statuses. In this sense, status and role are two sides of the same phenomenon: if status is a set of rights, privileges and obligations, then a role is an action within this set of rights and obligations.

The social role consists of:

Role waiting and

Role-playing (games).

Note that there is no complete overlap between role-playing and role-playing. The quality of the performance of the role depends on many conditions, among which the correspondence of the role to the needs, interests and individual qualities of the individual is of decisive importance.

Role expectations are formal and informal. The most prominent example of formal role expectations is laws. For example, the law on criminal liability for actions causing harm to other people. Other less formal expectations - such as table behavior, dress code, and courtesy - are informal, but they also place a lot of emphasis on our behavior.

Our roles are determined by what others expect of us. In our society (and most others), it is expected that parents should take care of their children, that the employee should do the work assigned to him, that close friends are not indifferent to our problems. If the role is not fulfilled according to our expectations, a role conflict arises. The discrepancy between the role expectations and the performance of roles, the contradiction of the role expectations of several roles (at least two) causes the emergence of a role conflict. For example, parents and peers expect different behavior from a teenager, but he, fulfilling the roles of a son and a friend, cannot simultaneously meet their expectations. Even more often, this conflict - the mismatch of roles - accompanies the life of an adult.

When a person's actions correspond to role expectations, he receives social rewards (money, respect), non-compliance with role expectations entails punishment (deprivation of material wealth, freedom, public attention, etc.). Taken together, rewards and punishments are called sanctions. When applied by one or more interacting individuals or by someone else, sanctions reinforce rules governing what behavior is appropriate in a given situation (Goode 1960).

Social roles can be institutionalized and conventional. Institutionalized: institution of marriage, family (social roles of mother, daughter, wife)

Conventional: accepted by agreement (a person may refuse to accept them).

Cultural norms are learned mainly through role learning. For example, a person who masters the role of a military man becomes familiar with the customs, moral norms and laws characteristic of the status of this role. Only a few norms are accepted by all members of society, the adoption of most norms depends on the status of a particular person.

What is acceptable for one status turns out to be unacceptable for another. Thus, socialization as a process of teaching the generally accepted ways and methods of action and interaction is the most important process of teaching role behavior, as a result of which the individual really becomes a part of society.

The types of social roles are determined by the variety of social groups, activities and relationships in which the individual is included. Depending on social relations, social and interpersonal social roles are distinguished.

Social roles are associated with social status, profession, or type of activity (teacher, student, student, salesperson). These are standardized impersonal roles based on rights and responsibilities, regardless of who plays those roles. Socio-demographic roles are distinguished: husband, wife, daughter, son, grandson ... Man and woman are also social roles, biologically predetermined and presupposing specific ways of behavior, enshrined in social norms and customs.

Interpersonal roles are associated with interpersonal relationships that are regulated on an emotional level (leader, offended, neglected, family idol, loved one, etc.).

In life, in interpersonal relations, each person acts in some kind of dominant social role, a kind of social role as the most typical individual image familiar to those around him. It is extremely difficult to change the familiar image 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 member of the group become for those around it, and the more difficult it is to change the stereotype of behavior habitual for those around them.

Role characteristics

An attempt to systematize social roles was made by Talcott Parsons and colleagues (1951). They believed that any role can be described using five basic characteristics:

1. Emotionality.

2. Method of obtaining.

3. Scale.

4. Formalization.

5. Motivation

1. Emotionality. Some roles (for example, nurse, doctor, or funeral home owner) require emotional restraint in situations that are usually accompanied by violent manifestations of feelings (such as illness, suffering, death). Family members and friends are expected to express their feelings less discreetly.

2. Method of obtaining. Some roles are conditioned by prescribed statuses - for example, child, youth, or adult citizen; they are determined by the age of the person playing the role. Other roles are being won; when we talk about a doctor of medicine, we mean a role that is not achieved automatically, but as a result of the efforts of the individual.

3. Scale. Some roles are limited to strictly defined aspects of human interaction. For example, the roles of the doctor and patient are limited to issues that are directly related to the health of the patient. A broader relationship is established between the young child and his mother or father; each of the parents is concerned about many aspects of the baby's life.

4. Formalization. Some roles involve interacting with people according to established rules. For example, a librarian is obliged to lend books for a certain period and demand a fine for every day that is overdue, from those who delay the books. In the performance of other roles, special treatment is allowed by those with whom you have developed personal relationships. For example, we do not expect a brother or sister to pay us for a service rendered to us, although we might take a payment from a stranger.

What is the social status of an individual and how is it determined?

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

Alekss alekss

It is determined by your attitude in society - that is, by your position,
how do you define yourself in this big world"adults" in which you entered ...
do you think you are unique
may be.. .
it may not be.. .
you are not the navel of the earth, and around the same ugly and handsome ....
the same people ... and so we all have to live together in the same lake

Social status- a certain position in the social structure of a group or society, associated with other positions through the system of rights and obligations. The status "teacher" is meaningful only in relation to the status "student", but not in relation to the seller, pedestrian or engineer. For them, just an individual.

The teacher is obliged to transfer scientific knowledge to the student, check and evaluate them, monitor discipline. He is endowed, in particular, with the right not to certify the student and leave him for the second year. And how this can affect the fate of a teenager, everyone knows. The student is obliged to regularly attend classes, fulfill the teacher's requirements, prepare homework. In other words, the teacher and the student enter into social relations with each other as representatives of two large social groups, as carriers of social statuses.

It is important to learn the following:

social statuses are interconnected with each other, but do not interact with each other;
only subjects (owners, carriers) of statuses interact with each other, that is, people;
it is not statuses that enter into social relations, but their carriers;
social relations link statuses among themselves, but these relations are realized through people - bearers of statuses.

One person has many statuses, as he participates in many groups and organizations. He is a man, father, husband, son, teacher, professor, doctor of science, middle-aged man, member of the editorial board, Orthodox, etc. One person can hold two opposite statuses, but in relation to different people: for his children he is a father , but for his mother a son. The collection of all statuses held by one person is called status dialing(This concept was introduced into science by the American sociologist Robert Merton).

In the status set, there is sure to be the main one. Main status they name the status most characteristic of a given person, with which he is identified (identified) by other people or with which he identifies himself. For men, the main thing is most often the status associated with the main place of work (bank director, lawyer, worker), and for women - with the place of residence (housewife). Although other options are possible. This means that the main status is relative - it is not unambiguously associated with gender, race or profession. The main thing is always the status that determines the style and way of life, circle of acquaintances, demeanor.

Personal status is the position of an individual in a small group, depending on how he is evaluated and perceived by members of this group (friends, relatives) in accordance with his personal qualities. To be a leader or an outsider, the soul of a company or an expert means to occupy a certain place in the structure (or system) of interpersonal relations (but not social ones).

Attributed and achievable statuses are types of social status. Attributed is the status in which a person is born ( inborn status), but which later is necessarily recognized as such by a society or group.

It includes gender, nationality, race. The Negro is an inborn status in the sense that it is impossible to change the color of the skin and the associated physiological characteristics of the body. However, a Negro in the USA, South Africa and Cuba has different social statuses. In Cuba, as in most countries, the Negro, a representative of the indigenous population, who constitutes the absolute majority, has equal rights with others. In South Africa, as in Cuba, the majority of the population is black, but during the apartheid period they were subjected to political and social discrimination.

In the United States, blacks are a minority of the population, but the legal situation in a certain historical period resembled the situation in South Africa.

Thus, the Negro is not only a born (given by nature), but also an attributed status. Attributed and inborn statuses include: "member of the royal family", "descendant of a noble family", etc.

They are born because the child is endowed with royal and noble privileges by inheritance, like a blood relative. However, the elimination of the monarchical system, the abolition of the privileges of the nobility testify to the relativity of such statuses.

The innate status must be reinforced in public opinion, in the social structure of society. Only then will he be born and attributed at the same time.

In the strict sense, ascribed is any status, obtained not of their own free will, over which the individual has no control. Unlike him achievable status is acquired as a result of free choice, personal efforts and is under the control of a person. These are the statuses of the president, banker, student, professor, Orthodox member of the Conservative Party.

The statuses of husband, wife, godfather and mother are attainable, because they are obtained at will. But sometimes the kind of status is difficult to determine.

In such cases, they talk about mixed a status that has the traits of being attributed and achievable. Let's say the status of unemployed if it is not obtained voluntarily, but as a result of a massive reduction in production, an economic crisis.

The listed sets of statuses existing in human society are not exhausted. Ascribed, attainable, mixed, social, personal status, as well as professional, economic, political, demographic, religious and consanguinity belong to the variety major statuses.

In addition to them, there are a huge number of episodic, non-core statuses. These are the statuses of a pedestrian, a passer-by, a patient, a witness, a participant in a demonstration, a strike or a crowd, a reader, a listener, a TV viewer, queuing up for housing, dining in a canteen, etc.

As a rule, it is temporary states... The rights and obligations of the holders of such statuses are often not registered in any way. They are generally difficult to identify, say, from a passer-by. But they are, although they affect not the main, but the secondary traits of behavior, thinking and feeling. So, the status of a professor determines a lot in the life of a given person. And his temporary status as a passer-by or a patient? Of course not.

So, let's summarize: a person has basic (they determine the main ones in life) and non-basic (they affect the details of behavior) statuses. The former are significantly different from the latter.

At no point in time does any person exist outside of status or statuses. If he leaves one cell, then he will necessarily end up in another. It is not at all necessary that one person has only one status at a given time. On the contrary, there are a lot of them, and much more than we suspect.

Behind every status - permanent or temporary, primary or non-primary - is large social group, or a social category. Orthodox, conservatives, engineers, men (main statuses) form real groups. All tenants, patients, pedestrians queuing for housing (non-core status) form nominal groups, or statistical categories. As a rule, carriers of minor statuses do not coordinate their behavior with each other and do not interact. They are a typical statistic object.

A person is characterized by at least two types of mismatch:

thoughts, words and actions (according to the principle: I think one thing, say another, and do the third);
needs, values and motives. Both refer to our inner world.

However, there are other types of mismatches. One of them describes the external position of an individual in a society or group. It's called mismatch (or discrepancy) of statuses.

The individual has many statuses and belongs to many social groups, the prestige of which is not the same in society: merchants are valued above plumbers or handymen; men in production have more social weight than women; belonging to the main nation is not the same as belonging to a national minority, etc.

In public opinion, over time, it is developed, orally transmitted, supported, but, as a rule, it is not registered in any documents status hierarchy and social groups, where some are valued and respected more than others.

A place in such an invisible hierarchy is called rank... They talk about high, medium or low ranks. Hierarchy can exist between groups within the same society (and then it is called intergroup) and between individuals within the same group ( intragroup). And here the place of a person is designated by the same term "rank".

The discrepancy between statuses describes a contradiction in the intergroup and intragroup hierarchies. It occurs under two circumstances:

when an individual occupies a high rank in one group, and a low one in the second;
when the rights and obligations of one status contradict or interfere with the fulfillment of the rights and obligations of another.

A well-paid banker (high professional rank) is likely to be the owner of a high family rank as well - as a person who ensures the material well-being of the family. But this does not automatically mean that he will have high ranks in other groups - among friends, relatives, coworkers or fans of Sunday running.

Another example: a woman's relatively low industrial rank is likely to raise doubts among her subordinates about her high professional qualities the head of the department. It is generally accepted that women are bad leaders.

Another situation: it is officially forbidden to combine the functions of a people's deputy and a minister, and unofficially, that is, again in public opinion, police officers do not approve of combining statuses of a member of a criminal gang.

So, let's conclude: some human statuses are in harmony, while others are in contradiction. It is called a mismatch of statuses: a high rank in one social group and low - in the other.

Although statuses do not enter into social relations directly, but only indirectly - through their carriers, they mainly determine the content and nature of social relations. A person looks at the world and treats other people in accordance with his status.

The poor despise the rich, and the rich despise the poor. Dog owners do not understand non-owners who complain that they have become the owners of the forest park. A professional investigator, albeit unconsciously, divides people into potential criminals, law-abiding ones, and witnesses. A Russian is more likely to show solidarity with a Russian than with a Jew or Tatar, and vice versa.

Political, religious, demographic, consanguineous, economic, professional statuses of a person determine the intensity, duration, direction and content of social relations of people.

If you want to find out what kind of relationship you will have with an unrelated or foe (and a relative and a friend have statuses in different structures), you must find out the content of their statuses. The status determines the interest that this person explicitly or implicitly, permanently or temporarily, will persecute and defend. An entrepreneur is interested in you only as a client, a woman as a potential sexual partner, a salesperson as a potential buyer.

This is the ulterior motive of their relationship with you. The interest in you, the duration and intensity of your relationship will be determined by how soon this other person realizes that you are not giving what he expected to receive from you.

Of course, a person does not express true interest directly. He disguises and surrounds him with the rules of polite behavior. The latter create the illusion that a trusting relationship has developed between you.

So, let's summarize what has been said: it is the statuses that determine the nature, content, duration or intensity of human relationships - both interpersonal and social.

Social status

Social status (from lat. status- position, state) of an individual is the position of a person in society, which he occupies in accordance with his age, gender, origin, profession, marital status.

Social status - it is a certain position in the social structure of a group or society, linked to other positions through a system of rights and obligations.

Sociologists distinguish several types of social statuses:

1) The statuses determined by the position of the individual in the group are personal and social.

Personal status is called the position of a person that he occupies in the so-called small, or primary, group, depending on how his individual qualities are assessed in it.

On the other hand, in the process of interaction with other individuals, each person performs certain social functions that determine him social status.

2) The statuses, determined by the time frame, the influence on the life of the individual as a whole, are basic and non-basic (episodic).

Main status determines the main thing in a person's life (most often this is a status associated with the main place of work and family, for example, a good family man and an irreplaceable worker).

Episodic (minor) social statuses affect the details of a person's behavior (for example - a pedestrian, a passenger, a passer-by, a patient, a participant in a demonstration or strike, a reader, listener, TV viewer, etc.).

3) Statuses acquired or not acquired as a result of a free choice.

Prescribed (assigned) status - a social position that is prescribed in advance to an individual by society, regardless of the merits of the individual (for example, nationality, place of birth, social background etc.).

Mixed status possesses the features of the prescribed and achieved statuses (a person who has become disabled, the title of academician, Olympic champion, etc.).

Achievable ( acquired) is acquired as a result of free choice, personal efforts and is under the control of a person (education, profession, material wealth, business ties, etc.).

In any society, there is a certain hierarchy of status, which is the basis of its stratification. Certain statuses are prestigious, others - on the contrary. This hierarchy is shaped by two factors:

a) the real usefulness of those social functions that a person performs;

b) the value system characteristic of a given society.

If the prestige of any statuses is unreasonably high or, conversely, low, it is usually said that there is a loss of the balance of statuses. A society in which there is a similar tendency to the loss of this balance is unable to ensure its normal functioning.

Prestige - it is an assessment by society of the social significance of a particular status, enshrined in culture and public opinion.

Each individual can have a large number of statuses. The social status of a person primarily influences his behavior. Knowing the social status of a person, one can easily determine most of the qualities that he possesses, as well as predict the actions that he will carry out. Such expected behavior of a person, associated with the status that he has, is usually called a social role.

Social role is a status-oriented behavior model.

Social role - it is a pattern of behavior recognized as appropriate for people of a given status in a given society.

Roles are determined by the expectations of people (for example, the idea that parents should take care of their children, that the employee should conscientiously carry out the work entrusted to him, is ingrained in the public consciousness). But each person, depending on specific circumstances, accumulated life experience and other factors, performs a social role in his own way.

Claiming this status, a person must fulfill all the role requirements assigned to this social position. Each person has not one, but a whole set of social roles that he plays in society. The totality of all the roles of a person in society is called role system or role-playing set.

Role-playing set (role-playing system)

Role-playing set - a set of roles (role complex) associated with one status.

Each role in a role-play set requires a specific demeanor and communication with people and is, therefore, a collection of dissimilar relationships. In the role-playing set, one can distinguish basic (typical) and situational social roles.

Examples of major social roles:

1) a hard worker;

2) the owner;

3) consumer;

4) citizen;

5) family member (husband, wife, son, daughter).

Social roles can be institutionalized and conventional.

Institutionalized roles: institution of marriage, family (social roles of mother, daughter, wife).

Conventional roles accepted by agreement (a person may refuse to accept them).

Social roles are associated with social status, profession, or type of activity (teacher, student, student, salesperson).

Man and woman are also social roles, biologically predetermined and presupposing specific modes of behavior, enshrined in social norms or customs.

Interpersonal roles are associated with interpersonal relationships that are regulated on an emotional level (leader, offended, family idol, loved one, etc.).

Role behavior

The real one should be distinguished from the social role as a model of behavior. role behavior, which means not socially expected, but actual behavior of the performer of a particular role. And here a lot depends on the personal qualities of the individual, on the degree of assimilation of social norms by him, on his beliefs, attitudes, value orientations.

Factors defining the process of implementing social roles:

1) biopsychological capabilities of a person, which may facilitate or hinder the performance of a particular social role;

2) the nature of the role adopted in the group and the characteristics of social control, designed to monitor the implementation of role behavior;

3) personal model, defining complex of behavioral characteristics necessary for the successful performance of the role;

4) group structure, its cohesion and the degree of identification of the individual with the group.

In the process of realizing social roles, certain difficulties may arise associated with the need for a person to perform many roles in various situations. → in some cases, the mismatch of social roles, the emergence of contradictions and conflict relations between them.

Role conflict and its types

Role conflict is a situation in which a person is faced with the need to satisfy the requirements of two or more incompatible roles.

Types of role conflicts:

Type name	His essence
Intra-role	A conflict in which the requirements of the same role contradict each other (for example, the role of parents implies not only kind, affectionate treatment of children, but also exactingness and severity towards them).
Inter-role	Conflict arising in situations where the requirements of one role conflict with the requirements of another (for example, the requirements of a woman's main job may conflict with her domestic responsibilities).
Personality-role	A conflict situation when the requirements of a social role are contrary to the interests and life aspirations of an individual (for example, professional activity does not allow a person to reveal and demonstrate their abilities).

QUESTIONS:

1. Establish a correspondence between the types of status and their examples: for each position given in the first column, select the corresponding position in the second column.

			TYPES OF STATUS
	heir to the throne		prescribed
	world champion		achievable


	head of department in the company

2. When applying for a job, citizen A. filled out a questionnaire in which she indicated that she was a specialist with higher education, came from a family of employees, was married, and had two children. Name one prescribed and two achieved status of citizen A., which she noted in the questionnaire. Using the example of one of the named achieved statuses, indicate the status rights and responsibilities.

1. Prescribed status - woman.

2. Achieved statuses - a specialist with a higher education, a married lady and a mother of two children.

3. As a mother of her children, she is obliged to bear moral and legal responsibility for them, to ensure a decent standard of living. Just like the mother of her children, she has the right to choose educational institution for them, with whom to communicate, etc.