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Role theory is a concept in
sociology Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of empirical investigation an ...
and in
social psychology Social psychology is the scientific study of how thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the real or imagined presence of other people or by social norms. Social psychologists typically explain human behavior as a result of the ...
that considers most of everyday activity to be the acting-out of socially defined categories (e.g., mother, manager, teacher). Each role is a set of rights, duties, expectations, norms, and behaviors that a person has to face and fulfill. The model is based on the observation that people behave in a predictable way, and that an individual's behavior is context specific, based on social position and other factors. The theatre is a metaphor often used to describe role theory. Although the word ''role'' (or ''roll'') has existed in European languages for centuries, as a sociological concept, the term has only been around since the 1920s and 1930s. It became more prominent in sociological discourse through the theoretical works of George Herbert Mead,
Jacob L. Moreno Jacob Levy Moreno (born Iacob Levy; May 18, 1889 – May 14, 1974) was a Romanian-American psychiatrist, psychosociologist, and educator, the founder of psychodrama, and the foremost pioneer of group psychotherapy. During his lifetime, he was rec ...
, Talcott Parsons,
Ralph Linton Ralph Linton (27 February 1893 – 24 December 1953) was an American anthropologist of the mid-20th century, particularly remembered for his texts ''The Study of Man'' (1936) and ''The Tree of Culture'' (1955). One of Linton's major contribution ...
, and
Georg Simmel Georg Simmel (; ; 1 March 1858 – 26 September 1918) was a German sociologist, philosopher, and critic. Simmel was influential in the field of sociology. Simmel was one of the first generation of German sociologists: his neo-Kantian approac ...
. Two of Mead's concepts— the mind and the self—are the precursors to role theory. The theory posits the following propositions about social behavior: # The
division of labor The division of labour is the separation of the tasks in any economic system or organisation so that participants may specialise (specialisation). Individuals, organizations, and nations are endowed with, or acquire specialised capabilities, and ...
in society takes the form of the interaction among
heterogeneous Homogeneity and heterogeneity are concepts often used in the sciences and statistics relating to the uniformity of a substance or organism. A material or image that is homogeneous is uniform in composition or character (i.e. color, shape, siz ...
specialized positions that we call roles; # Social roles included "appropriate" and "permitted" forms of behavior, guided by social norms, which are commonly known and hence determine expectations; # Roles are occupied by individuals, or " actors"; # When individuals approve of a social role (i.e., they consider the role " legitimate" and "
constructive Although the general English usage of the adjective constructive is "helping to develop or improve something; helpful to someone, instead of upsetting and negative," as in the phrase "constructive criticism," in legal writing ''constructive'' has ...
"), they will incur costs to conform to role norms, and will also incur costs to punish those who violate role norms; # Changed conditions can render a social role outdated or illegitimate, in which case social pressures are likely to lead to role change; # The anticipation of
rewards Reward may refer to: Places * Reward (Shelltown, Maryland), a historic home in Shelltown Maryland * Reward, California (disambiguation) * Reward-Tilden's Farm, a historic home in Chestertown Maryland Arts, entertainment, and media * "Reward ...
and
punishment Punishment, commonly, is the imposition of an undesirable or unpleasant outcome upon a group or individual, meted out by an authority—in contexts ranging from child discipline to criminal law—as a response and deterrent to a particular ac ...
s, as well as the satisfaction of behaving in a prosocial way, account for why agents conform to role requirements. In terms of differences among role theory, on one side there is a more functional perspective, which can be contrasted with the more micro-level approach of the symbolic interactionist tradition. This type of role theory dictates how closely related individuals' actions are to society, as well as how
empirical Empirical evidence for a proposition is evidence, i.e. what supports or counters this proposition, that is constituted by or accessible to sense experience or experimental procedure. Empirical evidence is of central importance to the sciences and ...
ly testable a particular role theory perspective may be. Depending on the general perspective of the theoretical tradition, there are many types of role theory, however, it may be divided into two major types, in particular: structural functionalism role theory and dramaturgical role theory. Structural functionalism role theory is essentially defined as everyone having a place in the social structure and every place had a corresponding role, which has an equal set of expectations and behaviors. Life is more structured, and there is a specific place for everything. In contrast, dramaturgical role theory defines life as a never-ending play, in which we are all actors. The essence of this role theory is to role-play in an acceptable manner in society. A key insight of this theory is that role conflict occurs when a person is expected to simultaneously act out multiple roles that carry contradictory expectations.


Role

Substantial debate exists in the field over the meaning of the ''role'' in role theory. A ''role'' can be defined as a
social position Social position is the position of an individual in a given society and culture. A given position (for example, the occupation of ''priest'') may belong to many individuals. Definition Stanley Wasserman and Katherine Faust Stanley cautioned th ...
, behavior associated with a social position, or a typical behavior. Some theorists have put forward the idea that roles are essentially expectations about how an individual ought to behave in a given situation, whereas others consider it means how individuals actually behave in a given social position. Some have suggested that a role is a characteristic behavior or expected behavior, a part to be played, or a script for social conduct. In
sociology Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of empirical investigation an ...
, there are different categories of social roles: # cultural roles: roles given by culture (e.g. priest) # social differentiation: e.g. teacher, taxi driver # situation-specific roles: e.g. eye witness # bio-sociological roles: e.g. as human in a natural system #
gender role A gender role, also known as a sex role, is a social role encompassing a range of behaviors and attitudes that are generally considered acceptable, appropriate, or desirable for a person based on that person's sex. Gender roles are usually cen ...
s: as a man, woman, mother, father, etc. Role theory models behavior as patterns of behaviors to which one can ''conform'', with this conformity being based on the ''expectations'' of others. It has been argued that a role must in some sense being defined in relation to others. The manner and degree is debated by sociologists. Turner used the concept of an "other-role", arguing the process of defining a role is negotiating one's role with other-roles.


The construction of roles

Turner argued that the process of describing a role also modifies the role which would otherwise be implicit, referring to this process as ''role-making'' arguing that very formal roles such as those in the military are not representative of roles because the role-making process is suppressed. Sociologist
Howard S. Becker Howard Saul Becker (born 1928) is an American sociologist who teaches at Northwestern University. Becker has made contributions to the sociology of deviance, sociology of art, and sociology of music. Becker also wrote extensively on sociologic ...
similarly claims that the label given and the definition used in a social context can change actions and behaviors. Situation-specific roles develop ''
ad hoc Ad hoc is a Latin phrase meaning literally 'to this'. In English, it typically signifies a solution for a specific purpose, problem, or task rather than a generalized solution adaptable to collateral instances. (Compare with ''a priori''.) Com ...
'' in a given social situation. However it can be argued that the expectations and norms that define this ad hoc role are defined by the social role.


The relationship between roles and norms

Some theorists view behavior as being enforced by
social norm Social norms are shared standards of acceptable behavior by groups. Social norms can both be informal understandings that govern the behavior of members of a society, as well as be codified into rules and laws. Social normative influences or soci ...
s. Turner rather argues that there is a norm of consistency that failing to conform to a role breaks a norm because it violates consistency.


Cultural roles

Cultural roles are seen as a matter of course, and are mostly stable. In cultural changes new roles can develop and old roles can disappear – these cultural changes are affected by political and social conflicts. For example, the
feminist movement The feminist movement (also known as the women's movement, or feminism) refers to a series of social movements and political campaigns for radical and liberal reforms on women's issues created by the inequality between men and women. Such ...
initiated a change in male and female roles in Western societies. The roles, or the exact duties of men more specifically are being questioned. With more women going further in school than men comes more financial and occupational benefits.


Social differentiation

Social differentiation received a lot of attention due to the development of different job roles.
Robert K. Merton Robert King Merton (born Meyer Robert Schkolnick; July 4, 1910 – February 23, 2003) was an American sociologist who is considered a founding father of modern sociology, and a major contributor to the subfield of criminology. He served as th ...
distinguished between intrapersonal and interpersonal role conflicts. For example, a foreman has to develop his own social role facing the expectations of his team members and his supervisor – this is an interpersonal role conflict. He also has to arrange his different social roles as father, husband, club member – this is an intrapersonal role conflict. Ralph Dahrendorf distinguished between must-expectations, with sanctions; shall-expectations, with sanctions and rewards and can-expectations, with rewards. The foreman has to avoid corruption; he should satisfy his reference groups (e.g. team members and supervisors); and he can be sympathetic. He argues another component of role theory is that people accept their own roles in the society and it is not the society that imposes them.


Role behavior

In their life people have to face different social roles, sometimes they have to face different roles at the same time in different social situations. There is an evolution of social roles: some disappear and some new develop. Role behavior is influenced by: # The norms that determine a social situation. # Internal and external expectations are connected to a social role. # Social sanctions ( punishment and reward) are used to influence role behavior. These three aspects are used to evaluate one's own behavior as well as the behavior of other people. Heinrich Popitz defines social roles as norms of behavior that a special social group has to follow. Norms of behavior are a set of behaviors that have become typical among group members; in case of deviance, negative sanctions follow.


In public relations

Role theory is a perspective that considers everyday activity to be acting out socially defined categories. Split into two narrower definitions: ''status'' is one's position within a social system or group; and ''role'' is one's pattern of behavior associated with a status. Organizational role is defined as "recurring actions of an individual, appropriately interrelated with the repetitive activities of others so as to yield a predictable outcome." (Katz & Kahn, 1978). Within an organization there are three main topologies: # Two-role typology: ## Manager ## Technician # Four-role typology: ## Expert prescriber ## Communication facilitator ## Problem-Solving Process Facilitator ## Communication technician # Five-role typology: ## Monitor and evaluator ## Key policy and strategic advisor ## Troubleshooter/problem solver ## Issues management expert ## Communication technician


Role conflict, strain, or making

Despite variations in the terms used, the central component of all of the formulations is incompatibility. Role conflict is a conflict among the roles corresponding to two or more statuses, for example, teenagers who have to deal with pregnancy (statuses: teenager, mother). Role conflict is said to exist when there are important differences among the ratings given for various expectations. By comparing the extent of agreement or disagreement among the ranks, a measure of role conflict was obtained. Role strain or "role pressure" may arise when there is a conflict in the demands of roles, when an individual does not agree with the assessment of others concerning his or her performance in his or her role, or from accepting roles that are beyond an individual's capacity. ''Role making'' is defined by Graen as leader–member exchange. At the same time, a person may have limited power to negotiate away from accepting roles that cause strain, because he or she is constrained by societal norms, or has limited social status from which to bargain.


Criticism and limitations

Role theorists have noted that a weakness of role theory is in describing and explaining deviant behavior. Role theory has been criticized for reinforcing commonly held prejudices about how people should behave; have ways they should portray themselves as well as how others should behave, view the individual as responsibility for fulfilling the expectations of a role rather than others responsible for creating a role that they can perform, and people have argued that role theory is insufficiently explains power relations, as in some situations an individual does not consensually fulfill a role but is forced into behaviors by power. It is also argued that that role theory does not explain individual agency in negotiating their role and that role theory artificially merges roles when in practice an individual might combine roles together. Others have argued that the concept of role takes on such a broad definition as to be meaningless.


See also

*
Behaviorism Behaviorism is a systematic approach to understanding the behavior of humans and animals. It assumes that behavior is either a reflex evoked by the pairing of certain antecedent stimuli in the environment, or a consequence of that individual ...
*
Conformity Conformity is the act of matching attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors to group norms, politics or being like-minded. Norms are implicit, specific rules, shared by a group of individuals, that guide their interactions with others. People often cho ...
*
Deviance (sociology) Deviance or the sociology of deviance explores the actions and/or behaviors that violate social norms across formally enacted rules (e.g., crime) as well as informal violations of social norms (e.g., rejecting folkways and mores). Although de ...
* Dramaturgical perspective *
Game studies Game studies, also known as ludology (from ''ludus'', "game", and ''-logia'', "study", "research"), is the study of games, the act of playing them, and the players and cultures surrounding them. It is a field of cultural studies that deals with a ...
*
Generalized other The generalized other is a concept introduced by George Herbert Mead into the social sciences, and used especially in the field of symbolic interactionism. It is the general notion that a person has of the common expectations that others may have ...
*
Hedonism Hedonism refers to a family of theories, all of which have in common that pleasure plays a central role in them. ''Psychological'' or ''motivational hedonism'' claims that human behavior is determined by desires to increase pleasure and to decr ...
* Role engulfment * Role model * Role suction * Transactional analysis


Notes


References


Bibliography

* * * *
Robert K. Merton Robert King Merton (born Meyer Robert Schkolnick; July 4, 1910 – February 23, 2003) was an American sociologist who is considered a founding father of modern sociology, and a major contributor to the subfield of criminology. He served as th ...
, ''Social Theory and Social Structure'', 1949 *
Ralf Dahrendorf Ralf Gustav Dahrendorf, Baron Dahrendorf, (1 May 1929 – 17 June 2009) was a German-British sociologist, philosopher, political scientist and liberal politician. A class conflict theorist, Dahrendorf was a leading expert on explaining and a ...
, ''Homo sociologicus'', 1958 (in German, many editions) * Rose Laub Coser, "The Complexity of Roles as a Seedbed of Individual Autonomy", in: ''The Idea of Social Structure: Papers in Honor of Robert K. Merton, 1975 *
Ralph Linton Ralph Linton (27 February 1893 – 24 December 1953) was an American anthropologist of the mid-20th century, particularly remembered for his texts ''The Study of Man'' (1936) and ''The Tree of Culture'' (1955). One of Linton's major contribution ...
, ''The Study of Man'', Chapter 8, "Status and Role", 1936


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Role Theory