3) achieved level of promotion up the career ladder
4) the nature of feelings (likes or antipathies) experienced towards a person by friends, colleagues and relatives
43. SOCIAL ROLE IS...
1) an individual’s understanding of his place among the people around him
2) the attitude we show towards the people around us
The nature of behavior expected from the owner of a particular social status
4) the position occupied by a person in his social group and recognized by others as a given
44. THE DEFINITION OF SOCIAL STATUS INCLUDES...
1) a person’s material income
2) citizenship of a person
3) person’s profession
Social status of a person
45. STATUS SET IS...
1) the totality of all roles belonging to one status
The totality of all statuses belonging to one individual
3) the totality of all statuses existing in society
4) the totality of all roles throughout the individual’s life
46. SOCIAL ROLE IS...
1) the behavior of a person who has the corresponding rights and responsibilities
2) a person’s position in society, determined by the degree of his authority
3) human behavior determined by his moral positions
Expected behavior of a person in society from other people
47. A PERSON’S PERSONAL STATUS IS DETERMINED…
1) the opinion of the majority of people of any social group
2) the assessment of the majority of people in a small social group
3) assessment of a small social group
48. SOCIAL STATUS IS:
1) the most frequently repeated social role of a person
2) intellectual level of the individual
3) human behavior expected by society, compared with his capabilities
Position of a person in society
5) a person’s self-assessment of his position
49. STATUS HIERARCHY IS:
1) classification order of inequality of social prestige depending on the different positions of individuals in the social system
A system of elements arranged from lower to higher, and characterizing the multi-level nature of the social whole
3) a set of norms that determine the behavior of persons acting in the social system depending on their status or position
4) the relative position of an individual or social group in the social system
50. STATUS DIMENSION IS...
The idea of the subordination of individuals’ positions in the system of relations in a small group.
2) the position of the individual in society
3) distribution of benefits depending on social status
4) horizontal mobility
51. THE SET OF ACTIONS THAT MUST BE PERFORMED BY A PERSON WHO OCCUPIES ANY POSITION IN AN ORGANIZATION IS CALLED...
Social role
2) social behavior
3) social status
4) social orientation
52. CHOOSE THE TRUE FROM THE FOLLOWING JUDGMENTS::
A) ASCRIPTIVE STATUS IS ACQUIRED AS A RESULT OF PERSONAL EFFORT;
B) DESCRIPTIVE STATUS IS GIVEN FROM BIRTH...
1) only B is correct
Both statements are wrong
3) only A is correct
4) both judgments are correct
53. A CERTAIN HIERARCHICAL POSITION OCCUPIED BY AN INDIVIDUAL IN SOCIETY IS CALLED...
1) social function
Social status
3) social role
4) social disposition
54. THE POSITION OF AN INDIVIDUAL IN A SMALL GROUP IS CALLED HIS ___________ STATUS.
1) role-playing
2) accompanying
Personal
55. THE PRESCRIBED STATUS OF A PERSON IS DETERMINED...
1) education
2) qualifications
3) position
Nationality
56. AN EXAMPLE OF A MIXED SOCIAL STATUS, THAT IS SOMETHING THAT COMBINES THE CHARACTERISTICS OF ACHIEVEMENT AND PRESCRIBED, IS THE STATUS...
1) men
Unemployed
4) women
57. THE PROCESS OF APPEARANCE IN SOCIETY OF DIFFERENT PROFESSIONS, STATUS AND GROUPS AS A RESULT OF THE INCREASING COMPLEXITY OF THE DIVISION OF SOCIAL LABOR IS CALLED...
1) social integration
2) social mobility
Social differentiation
4) social standardization
58. THE SOCIAL POSITION OF A PERSON IN A GROUP OR IN SOCIETY IS CALLED...
Status
59. COMPARISON OF THE SOCIAL STATUS OF PARENTS AND THEIR CHILDREN AT A CERTAIN POINT IN THE CAREERS OF ONE AND OTHERS IS...
Intergenerational social mobility
2) vertical social mobility
3) group social mobility
4) horizontal social mobility
60. CONSTANT RANKING OF SOCIAL STATUS AND ROLES IN THE SOCIAL SYSTEM IS CALLED...
1) diffusion
Differentiation
3) stratification
4) integration
61. FROM THE FOLLOWING JUDGMENTS:
A – CHILDREN’S DOCTOR IS AN EXAMPLE OF ASCRIPTIVE STATUS;
B – CHILDREN’S DOCTOR – EXAMPLE OF DESCRIPTIVE STATUS – CHOOSE THE CORRECT:
Only B is correct
2) both judgments are incorrect
3) both judgments are correct
4) only A is correct
62. PERSONAL (PERSONAL) STATUS IS A POSITION OCCUPED BY AN INDIVIDUAL...
1) in public transport
2) in the production team
In the primary small group
4) in a large social community
63. SOCIAL STATUS IS THE POSITION OCCUPIED BY AN INDIVIDUAL...
1) in the family
2) in a school class
3) in the primary small group
Detailed solution Paragraph § 13 in social studies for 11th grade students, authors L.N. Bogolyubov, N.I. Gorodetskaya, L.F. Ivanova 2014
Question 1. Are the highest rungs of the social ladder accessible to every person? What determines a person’s position in society?
The concept of the social ladder is relative. For officials - one thing, for businessmen - another, for artists - a third, etc. There is no single social ladder.
A person’s position in society depends on education, property, power, income, etc.
A person can change his social position with the help of social elevators - the army, the church, the school.
Additional social elevators are the media, party and social activities, accumulation of wealth, marriage with representatives of the upper class.
Position in society and social status have always occupied an important place in the life of every person. So, what does the position in society depend on:
1. Kinship - status may depend on family lines; children of rich and influential parents undoubtedly have higher status than children born to less influential parents.
2. Personal qualities are one of the most important points on which one’s status in society depends. A person with a strong-willed character, who has the qualities of a leader, will certainly achieve more in life and achieve a higher position in society than a person with the opposite character.
3. Connections - the more friends, the more acquaintances who can really help you get somewhere, the greater the chances of achieving your goal, and therefore gaining a higher social status.
Questions and tasks for the document
Question 1. What types of social stratification is the author talking about?
Economic, political, professional differentiation of society.
If the economic status of the members of a certain society is not the same, if among them there are both haves and have-nots, then such a society is characterized by the presence of economic stratification, regardless of whether it is organized on communist or capitalist principles, whether it is constitutionally defined as a “society of equals” or not . No labels, signs, or oral statements can change or obscure the reality of economic inequality, which is expressed in the difference in income, standard of living, and in the existence of rich and poor segments of the population. If within a group there are hierarchically different ranks in terms of authority and prestige, titles and honors, if there are managers and governed, then regardless of the terms (monarchs, bureaucrats, masters, bosses) this means that such a group is politically differentiated, that whatever it proclaims in its constitution or declaration. If members of a society are divided into different groups according to their type of activity, occupation, and some professions are considered more prestigious than others, and if members of a particular professional group are divided into managers of various ranks and subordinates, then such a group is professionally differentiated regardless of whether bosses are elected or appointed, whether their leadership positions are inherited or due to their personal qualities.
Question 3. Based on the source, can it be argued that social inequality manifests itself in different types of societies?
Yes, you can. Since the phrase “regardless of whether bosses are elected or appointed, whether they get their leadership positions by inheritance or thanks to their personal qualities” indicates that, under a monarchical structure, such a situation could also arise.
SELF-TEST QUESTIONS
Question 1. What causes the existence of social groups in society?
Sociologists explain the emergence and existence of social groups primarily by the social division of labor and the specialization of people's activities. Sociologists believe that even today the division of human activity into main types determines the diversity and size of social groups and their position in society. Thus, the existence of layers of the population that differ in income levels is associated with economic activity, and with political activity - the existence in society of leaders and masses, managers and governed.
The existence of various social groups is also due to the historical diversity of living conditions, culture, social norms and values. This, in particular, explains the presence of ethnic and religious groups in modern society.
Question 2. What social groups exist in modern Russian society? What is the objective basis for their emergence and existence?
The structure of Russian society
Class A. Rich. They are mainly engaged in selling raw materials, accumulating personal capital and exporting it abroad. 5-10% of the population.
Class B1+B2. Middle class. 10-15% of the population. Engaged in class A services in all areas of economic activity (financial, legal, information technology, side-production, necessary for pumping out raw materials).
Subclass B1. Most in their Class. Salaried employees, office, on a good salary.
Subclass B2. Minority in its Class. Owners of their own medium-sized businesses and small private capital.
Class C. Small owners. As such, it is practically absent in Russia.
Class D. The rest of the people, workers, peasants, state employees, military, students, pensioners, the electorate, “men”, “Russians”, cattle, the crowd. 75-80% of the population.
National Subclass D1. Russian and essentially Russified peoples.
National Subclass D2. Tolerant nationalities.
Class E. Human resources of the CIS countries + China.
They arose in connection with the formation of capitalism, with the emergence of private property in Russia and with the stratification of society.
Question 3. How do the variety of forms of ownership and market relations affect the social structure of society?
The presence of private property divides society into owners of the means of production and workers. Accordingly, whoever owns the means of production receives profit from their use, and workers receive their usual wages. Hence the social structure of the rich and ordinary workers.
Market relations divide society into producer and consumer. There is also a lot of competition between manufacturers. Which also divides society. There are goods that only certain groups of society can purchase; they are not available to the lower strata of the population.
Question 4. Who, in your opinion, forms the Russian middle class?
According to the World Bank, the Russian middle class is defined as households whose level of consumption is one and a half times higher than the level of the national poverty scale (income below the subsistence level), but below the minimum level of consumption of the so-called “world-class middle class”, and amounted to 55.6% in 2008. However, according to calculations by the same World Bank, the average monthly income of a representative of the world-class middle class starts at $3,500 and only no more than 8% of the entire world population can be attributed to this class.
In 2009, the World Bank estimated that Russia's world-class middle class had shrunk by a quarter from its pre-crisis peak of 12.6% to 9.5%.
A very large part of the Russian middle class (approximately 40%) is the “old middle” class, that is, owner-entrepreneurs. As for intellectuals, they are largely relegated to a lower stratum.
Question 5. What points of view exist on the possibility of achieving equality and justice in a society where there is social differentiation?
In modern society, social equality is increasingly understood as equality before the law, as well as equality of rights and opportunities. The path to achieving such equality is through respect for the rights and human dignity of representatives of all social groups. In a society that proclaims social equality, equal opportunities are created for all people, regardless of gender, race, nationality, class, origin, place of residence in receiving education, medical services, engaging in economic and political activities, etc. Thus, representatives of all social groups have equal opportunities when enrolling in higher education institutions, finding a job, promotion, nomination as a candidate for elections to central or local authorities. At the same time, ensuring equal opportunities does not necessarily imply obtaining the same results (for example, equal salary).
Modern UN documents set the task of ensuring equal opportunities for well-being for people belonging to both current and future generations. This means that meeting the needs of present generations should not compromise the ability left as a legacy for future generations to meet their needs.
Question 6. What does the concept of “social mobility” mean? What are its types?
Modern society has become open. There are no prohibitions on engaging in a particular profession, or on marriage between representatives of different social, ethnic or religious groups. As a result, social movements of people have intensified (between city and countryside, between different sectors of the economy, between professions, between different regions of the country) and, consequently, the possibilities for individual choice of profession, place of residence, lifestyle, spouse have expanded significantly.
The transition of people from one social group to another is called social mobility.
Sociologists distinguish between horizontal and vertical mobility. Horizontal mobility refers to the processes of moving from group to group without changing social status. For example, moving from one state-owned enterprise to another, from one family to another, from one citizenship to another.
Processes of vertical mobility are associated with moving up or down the steps of the social ladder. There are upward (upward) and downward (downward) social mobility. Ascending vertical mobility includes a person's promotion to a position, transition to a managerial job, mastering a more prestigious profession, etc. Downward vertical mobility includes, for example, the process of ruining an average entrepreneur and turning him into a hired worker.
The paths along which people move from one social group to another are called channels of social mobility or social elevators. These include military service, obtaining an education, mastering a profession, getting married, acquiring property, etc.
Social mobility is often facilitated by turning points in the development of society: revolutions, wars, political upheavals, structural changes in the economy.
Question 7. Give examples of social mobility from various periods of world and domestic history.
Menshikov - from a seller of pies to a “semi-sovereign ruler” of Russia under Peter I.
M. M. Speransky - from a peasant he turned into the right hand of the emperor, then became a governor.
Question 8. Name the channels of social mobility known to you. Which ones do you think play a particularly important role in modern society?
Those methods are considered as channels of social mobility - they are conventionally called “steps of the ladder”, “elevators” - using which people can move up and down in the social hierarchy. For the most part, such channels at different times were: political authorities and socio-political organizations, economic structures and professional labor organizations (labor collectives, firms with a built-in system of production property, corporate institutions, etc.), as well as the army, church, school, family and clan ties.
These are channels for an individual’s transition from one social position to another within a social stratum. (marriage, career, education, family, etc.)
The choice of an elevator (channel) for social mobility is of great importance when choosing a profession and when recruiting personnel:
Religious organizations.
School and scientific organizations.
Political elevator, that is, government groups and parties.
Art.
Press, television, radio.
Economic organizations.
Family and marriage.
Question 9. Use specific examples to reveal the social interests of various groups in society. How do these groups act to protect their interests?
Each social group is characterized by common interests for all its members. People's interests are based on their needs. However, interests are directed not so much at the subject of needs, but at those social conditions that make this subject accessible. First of all, this concerns material and spiritual benefits that ensure the satisfaction of needs.
Social interests are embodied in activity - its direction, character, results. So, from your history course you know about the interest of peasants and farmers in the results of their labor. This interest forces them to improve production and grow higher yields. In multinational states, different nations are interested in preserving their language and their traditions. These interests contribute to the opening of national schools and classes, the publication of books by national authors, and the emergence of cultural-national societies that organize a variety of activities for children and adults. By competing with each other, various groups of entrepreneurs defend their economic interests. Representatives of certain professions periodically declare their professional needs.
A social group is capable of realizing its interests and consciously acting in their defense.
The pursuit of social interests may lead a group to influence policy. Using a variety of means, a social group can influence the adoption by power structures of decisions that suit it. Such means may be letters and personal appeals from group representatives to authorities, appearances in the media, demonstrations, marches, rallies, picketing and other social protests. In every country there are laws that allow certain targeted actions of social groups in defense of their interests.
In an effort to satisfy their interests, various social forces often strive to gain power or gain the opportunity to participate in its implementation. Evidence of the struggle and compromise of various social interests is the activity of parliamentary groups when adopting the country's laws and other decisions.
Question 10. What is the practical significance of knowledge about the social structure of society?
The practical significance of knowledge about the social structure of society makes it possible to identify group diversity and determine the vertical sequence of the position of social layers, strata in society, and their hierarchy.
TASKS
Question 1. The US National Democratic Institute has published a methodological manual “How to Win Elections?” It recommends that you begin planning your election campaign by studying the social structure of your constituency. What do you think is the reason for this practical advice? How can the obtained data on the situation of various social groups in the district affect the election campaign?
Any campaign elected to a particular post through voting must first of all represent the interests of citizens. What interests should be represented? What worries, or conversely, pleases the population now, and what do they want in the future? Studying your target audience helps answer these questions. It will be easier to win elections because people will hear what they want to hear, but it will be fairer if they also see it in practice.
Question 2. A former worker started his own business and became an entrepreneur. What social phenomenon does this example illustrate?
This example illustrates the phenomenon of social mobility, i.e. the possibility of changing the social layer, in this case - from a lower to a higher one.
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 specific place. To analyze a person’s position in each group and society as a whole, they use concepts such as social status and Let’s take a closer look at what it is.
Meaning of the term and general characteristics
The word “status” itself dates back to Ancient Rome. Then it had more of a legal connotation, rather than a sociological one, and denoted the legal status of an organization.
Nowadays, social status is a person’s position in a particular group and society as a whole, giving him certain rights, privileges, as well as responsibilities in relation to other members.
It helps people interact better with each other. If a person of a certain social status does not fulfill his duties, then he will be held responsible for it. Thus, an entrepreneur who sews clothes to order will pay a penalty if the deadlines are missed. In addition, his reputation will be ruined.
Examples of the social status of one person are a schoolboy, son, grandson, brother, member of a sports club, citizen, and so on.
This is determined by his professional qualities, material and age, education and other criteria.
A person can simultaneously belong to several groups at once and, accordingly, play not one, but many different roles. That's why they talk about status sets. It is unique and individual for each person.
Types of social statuses, examples
Their range is quite wide. There are statuses received at birth, and others acquired during life. Those that society ascribes to a person, or those that he achieves through his own efforts.
The basic and passing social status of a person is distinguished. Examples: the main and universal one, in fact, is the person himself, then comes the second - this is the citizen. The list of main statuses also includes consanguinity, economic, political, and religious. The list goes on.
Episodic - a passerby, a patient, a strike participant, a buyer, an exhibition visitor. 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 set parameters remain with a person for life. Although in our progressive society they have already taken aim at changing gender. So one of the listed statuses to some extent ceases to be prescribed.
Most of what is related to kinship relationships will also be considered as prescribed father, mother, sister, brother. And husband and wife are already acquired statuses.
Achieved status
This is what a person achieves himself. By making efforts, making choices, working, studying, each individual ultimately comes to certain results. His successes or failures are reflected in the way society assigns him the status he deserves. Doctor, director, company president, professor, thief, homeless person, tramp.
Almost everyone who achieves has their own insignia. Examples:
- for the military, security forces, internal troops - uniform and shoulder straps;
- doctors wear white coats;
- people who have broken the law have tattoos on their bodies.
Roles in society
A person’s social status 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 membership in a certain class are called social role.
Thus, the status of a parent obliges him to be strict but fair to his child, to bear responsibility for him, to teach, to give advice, to prompt, to 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, every person has a choice of what to do. Examples of social status and its use by an individual 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, a woman’s first role is a mother, wife, and her second role is a successful businesswoman. Both roles require an investment of effort, time, and full dedication. A conflict arises.
An analysis of the social status of an individual and 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 his appearance, manner of dressing and speaking.
Let's look at examples of social status and the standards associated with it in appearance. Thus, the director of a bank or the founder of a reputable company cannot appear at work in sweatpants or rubber boots. And the priest should come to church in jeans.
The status that a person has achieved forces him to pay attention not only to appearance and behavior, but also to choose his social circle, place of residence, and study.
Prestige
Not the least role in the destinies of people is played by such a concept as prestige (and positive, from the point of view of the majority, social status). We can easily find examples in the questionnaire that all students write before entering higher education 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 upon a time it was a very popular profession. They choose between lawyers and financiers. This is how time dictates.
Conclusion: a person develops as an individual in the process of mastering different social statuses and roles. The brighter the dynamics, the more adapted to life the individual will become.
Man does not exist outside of society. We interact with other people and enter into various relationships with them. To indicate a person’s position among his own kind and the characteristics of an individual’s behavior in certain situations, scientists introduced the concepts of “social status” and “social role.”
About social status
The social status of an individual is not only a person’s place in the system of social relations, but also the rights and responsibilities dictated by his position. Thus, the status of a doctor gives the right to diagnose and treat patients, but at the same time obliges the doctor to observe labor discipline and conscientiously perform his work.
The concept of social status was first proposed by the American anthropologist R. Linton. The scientist made a great contribution to the study of the problems of personality and its interaction with other members of society.
Statuses exist in an enterprise, in a family, in a political party, in a kindergarten, in a school, in a university, in a word, wherever an organized group of people is engaged in socially significant activities and members of the group have certain relationships with each other.
A person is in several statuses at the same time. For example, a middle-aged man acts as a son, father, husband, engineer at a factory, member of a sports club, holder of an academic degree, author of scientific publications, patient in a clinic, etc. The number of statuses depends on the connections and relationships into which the individual enters.
There are several classifications of statuses:
- Personal and social. A person occupies a personal status in a family or other small group in accordance with the assessment of his personal qualities. Social status (examples: teacher, worker, manager) is determined by the actions performed by the individual for society.
- Main and episodic. Primary status is associated with the main functions in a person's life. Most often, the main statuses are family man and worker. Episodic are associated with a moment in time during which a citizen performs certain actions: a pedestrian, a reader in a library, a course student, a theater viewer, etc.
- Prescribed, achieved and mixed. The prescribed status does not depend on the desires and capabilities of the individual, as it is given at birth (nationality, place of birth, class). What is achieved is acquired as a result of the efforts made (level of education, profession, achievements in science, art, sports). Mixed combines the features of the prescribed and achieved statuses (a person who has received a disability).
- Socio-economic status is determined by the amount of income received and the position that an individual occupies in accordance with his well-being.
The set of all available statuses is called a status set.
Hierarchy
Society constantly evaluates the significance of this or that status and, on the basis of this, builds a hierarchy of positions.
Assessments depend on the benefits of the business in which a person is engaged, and on the system of values accepted in the culture. Prestigious social status (examples: businessman, director) is highly appreciated. At the top of the hierarchy is the general status, which determines not only a person’s life, but also the position of people close to him (president, patriarch, academician).
If some statuses are unreasonably low, while others, on the contrary, are excessively high, then they speak of a violation of status balance. The trend towards its loss threatens the normal functioning of society.
The hierarchy of statuses can also be subjective. A person himself determines what is more important to him, in what status he feels better, what benefits he derives from being in one position or another.
Social status cannot be something unchanging, since people's lives are not static. The movement of a person from one social group to another is called social mobility, which is divided into vertical and horizontal.
Vertical mobility is spoken of when the social status of an individual increases or decreases (a worker becomes an engineer, a department head becomes an ordinary employee, etc.). With horizontal mobility, a person maintains his position, but changes his profession (to one of equal status), place of residence (becomes an emigrant).
Intergenerational and intragenerational mobility are also distinguished. The first determines how much children have increased or decreased their status in relation to the status of their parents, and the second determines how successful the social career of representatives of one generation is (types of social status are taken into account).
The channels of social mobility are school, family, church, army, public organizations and political parties. Education is a social elevator that helps a person achieve the desired status.
A high social status acquired by an individual or a decrease in it indicates individual mobility. If the status of a certain community of people changes (for example, as a result of a revolution), then group mobility takes place.
Social roles
While in one status or another, a person performs actions, communicates with other people, that is, plays a role. Social status and social role are closely interrelated, but differ from each other. Status is position, and role is socially expected behavior determined by status. If a doctor is rude and swears, and a teacher abuses alcohol, then this does not correspond to the status he holds.
The term “role” was borrowed from theater to emphasize the stereotypical behavior of people of similar social groups. A person cannot do as he wants. The behavior of an individual is determined by the rules and norms characteristic of a particular social group and society as a whole.
Unlike status, a role is dynamic and closely related to a person’s character traits and moral attitudes. Sometimes role behavior is adhered to only in public, as if putting on a mask. But it also happens that the mask fuses with its wearer, and the person ceases to distinguish between himself and his role. Depending on the situation, this state of affairs has both positive and negative consequences.
Social status and social role are two sides of the same coin.
Diversity of social roles
Since there are many people in the world and each person is an individual, it is unlikely that there will be two identical roles. Some role models require emotional restraint and self-control (lawyer, surgeon, funeral director), while for other roles (actor, teacher, mother, grandmother) emotions are very much in demand.
Some roles drive a person into strict frameworks (job descriptions, regulations, etc.), others have no framework (parents are fully responsible for the behavior of their children).
The performance of roles is closely related to motives, which are also different. Everything is determined by social status in society and personal motives. An official is concerned with promotion, a financier is concerned with profit, and a scientist is concerned with the search for truth.
Role set
A role set is understood as a set of roles characteristic of a particular status. Thus, a doctor of science is in the role of a researcher, teacher, mentor, supervisor, consultant, etc. Each role implies its own ways of communicating with others. The same teacher behaves differently with colleagues, students, and the rector of the university.
The concept of “role set” describes the whole variety of social roles inherent in a particular status. No role is strictly assigned to its bearer. For example, one of the spouses remains unemployed and for some time (and perhaps forever) loses the roles of colleague, subordinate, manager, and becomes a housewife (householder).
In many families, social roles are symmetrical: both husband and wife equally act as breadwinners, masters of the house and educators of children. In such a situation, it is important to adhere to the golden mean: excessive passion for one role (company director, businesswoman) leads to a lack of energy and time for others (father, mother).
Role Expectations
The difference between social roles and mental states and personality traits is that roles represent a certain historically developed standard of behavior. There are requirements for the bearer of a particular role. Thus, a child must certainly be obedient, a schoolboy or student must study well, a worker must observe labor discipline, etc. Social status and social role oblige one to act one way and not another. The system of requirements is also called expectations.
Role expectations act as an intermediate link between status and role. Only behavior that corresponds to status is considered role-playing. If a teacher, instead of giving a lecture on higher mathematics, starts singing with a guitar, then students will be surprised, because they expect other behavioral reactions from an assistant professor or professor.
Role expectations consist of actions and qualities. Taking care of the child, playing with him, putting the baby to bed, the mother performs actions, and kindness, responsiveness, empathy, and moderate severity contribute to the successful implementation of actions.
Compliance with the role being performed is important not only to others, but also to the person himself. A subordinate strives to earn the respect of his superior and receives moral satisfaction from a high assessment of the results of his work. The athlete trains hard to set a record. The writer is working on a bestseller. A person’s social status obliges him to be at his best. If an individual's expectations do not meet the expectations of others, then internal and external conflicts arise.
Role conflict
Contradictions between role holders arise either due to inconsistency with expectations, or due to the fact that one role completely excludes another. The young man more or less successfully plays the roles of son and friend. But the guy's friends invite him to a disco, and his parents demand that he stay at home. The emergency doctor's child falls ill, and the doctor is urgently called to the hospital because a natural disaster has occurred. The husband wants to go to the dacha to help his parents, and the wife books a trip to the sea to improve the health of the children.
Resolving role conflicts is not an easy task. Participants in the confrontation have to decide which role is more important, but in most cases compromises are more appropriate. The teenager returns from the party early, the doctor leaves his child with his mother, grandmother or nanny, and the spouses negotiate the timing of participation in dacha work and travel time for the whole family.
Sometimes the solution to the conflict is leaving the role: changing jobs, going to university, getting a divorce. Most often, a person understands that he has outgrown this or that role or that it has become a burden to him. A change of roles is inevitable as the child grows and develops: infant, toddler, preschooler, primary school student, teenager, young man, adult. The transition to a new age level is ensured by internal and external contradictions.
Socialization
From birth, a person learns the norms, patterns of behavior and cultural values characteristic of a particular society. This is how socialization occurs and the individual’s social status is acquired. Without socialization, a person cannot become a full-fledged individual. Socialization is influenced by the media, cultural traditions of the people, social institutions (family, school, work collectives, public associations, etc.).
Purposeful socialization occurs as a result of training and upbringing, but the efforts of parents and teachers are adjusted by the street, the economic and political situation in the country, television, the Internet and other factors.
The further development of society depends on the effectiveness of socialization. Children grow up and occupy the status of their parents, taking on certain roles. If the family and the state do not pay enough attention to the upbringing of the younger generation, then degradation and stagnation occur in public life.
Members of society coordinate their behavior with certain standards. These may be prescribed norms (laws, regulations, rules) or unspoken expectations. Any non-compliance with standards is considered a deviation, or deviation. Examples of deviation are drug addiction, prostitution, alcoholism, pedophilia, etc. Deviation can be individual, when one person deviates from the norm, and group (informal groups).
Socialization occurs as a result of two interrelated processes: internalization and social adaptation. A person adapts to social conditions, masters the rules of the game, which are mandatory for all members of society. Over time, norms, values, attitudes, ideas about what is good and what is bad become part of the inner world of the individual.
People are socialized throughout their lives, and at each age stage, statuses are acquired and lost, new roles are learned, conflicts arise and are resolved. This is how personality development occurs.
The position of a person in society, occupied by him in accordance with age, gender, social origin, profession and other indicators and implying certain rights and responsibilities, is called social status.
WHAT IS THE SOCIAL STATUS OF AN PERSON
Social statuses and roles
Remember:
What is the definition of “personality”? How does professional self-determination occur? What is the role of the family in raising children? How does intergroup communication influence personality development?
For a long time, the concept of “personal status” was associated primarily with the characteristics of a person’s legal status. In sociology, the concepts of “status” and “role” began to be actively used in the first half of the 19th century. Polemicizing with K. Marx, the German sociologist M. Weber argued that not only economic position, but also (more broadly) social position is an important characteristic of the place and role of a person in society. Weber called this position social status. In modern sociology, the concepts of “social status” and “social role”, theory
role conflicts have become an important tool for researchers, helping to better understand social processes, predict individual behavior, and interpersonal relationships.
You already know that the position of social groups in society is determined by many indicators. The same can be said about the position of an individual in the social structure of society.
In reality, any person occupies many positions in society. Take, for example, a schoolchild: in addition to being a student, he is a young man, a son, often a grandson, a brother, perhaps a member of a sports section. That's why sociologists talk about status set. In this case, we can single out the position that is most significant for a person and determines him socially. This is what will happen the main status of a person.
Try to determine your main status.
If you look closely at the indicators that determine the status of an individual, you can see that some of them - gender, race, age - do not depend on the individual. These statuses given at birth are called prescribed. At the same time, a person becomes educated and masters a certain specialty. Thus, he acquires new statuses, they are called achievable. Different human statuses may conflict. For example, the jobs of those who have received a good education (which is associated with high status in society) may be poorly paid, which would indicate low status.
In open, dynamically developing societies, achieved statuses are significantly more important than prescribed ones. Of course, even today it is much easier to achieve a high social position and make a career for someone born into a prosperous, wealthy family than for someone from the lower social classes. But determination, hard work, and support from relatives become an important human resource and help to overcome unfavorable “starting” conditions. For example, the founder and owner of the world-famous Japanese company producing watches and calculators, Tadeo Casio, was born into a poor peasant family.
His father, in order to give his son an education, saved on literally everything. When the family moved to the city, he even gave up traveling by tram and walked five hours to work and back. Tadeo himself, having become a turner at a factory after graduating from school, worked so hard that he drove himself to exhaustion. He was even declared unfit for military service, which was the greatest disgrace for that time.
Another concept associated with the concept of social status is “prestige”.
Prestige (from the French prestige - influence, respect enjoyed by someone) is an assessment by society or a social group of the social significance of certain positions occupied by people. There was a time when the professions of a pilot or engineer were considered prestigious, but now competitions for admission to economic universities are increasing; some people, including those with higher education, go to work in shops, restaurants, etc. If you analyze your plans for your future life, you will probably agree that prestige plays an important role in them.
The concept of “authority” (from the Latin auctoritas - power, influence) also denotes the degree to which a group of people or society recognizes the personal and business qualities of any of their members. Authority usually reflects the degree of influence an individual has in a social group or society. Prestigious can be a profession, position, type of activity, authoritative can be a very specific, specific person.
The best realization of personality is possible when a person finds harmony between his inclinations and abilities and the activities that he performs. But often people give up the search for such harmony and achieve only a prestigious position in society, that is, they think not so much about the realization of their abilities, but about the prestige associated with belonging to a certain social group.
From a person occupying a certain social position, others expect appropriate behavior. For example, the status of a teacher presupposes a specific set of actions (conducting lessons, checking notebooks, meeting with students’ parents), a certain manner of communication with students and colleagues (restraint, tact), and a fairly strict style of dress. Completely different behavior is expected from, for example, a pop star. Thus, when assessing the role behavior of an individual, we correlate it with a certain typical idea (standard) of how a person of a given social position should act, behave, dress, etc.