Role theory is a concept in
sociology
Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of Empirical ...
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 r ...
that considers most of everyday activity to be the acting-out of socially defined categories (e.g., mother, manager, teacher). Each
role
A role (also rôle or social role) is a set of connected behaviors, rights, moral obligation, obligations, beliefs, and social norm, norms as conceptualized by people in a social situation. It is an expected or free or continuously changing behavi ...
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
George Herbert Mead (February 27, 1863 – April 26, 1931) was an American philosopher, Sociology, sociologist, and psychologist, primarily affiliated with the University of Chicago, where he was one of several distinguished pragmatism, pragmati ...
,
Jacob L. Moreno,
Talcott Parsons
Talcott Parsons (December 13, 1902 – May 8, 1979) was an American sociologist of the classical tradition, best known for his social action theory and structural functionalism. Parsons is considered one of the most influential figures in sociol ...
,
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 contributio ...
, 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 approach l ...
. 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
role
A role (also rôle or social role) is a set of connected behaviors, rights, moral obligation, obligations, beliefs, and social norm, norms as conceptualized by people in a social situation. It is an expected or free or continuously changing behavi ...
s;
# 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
An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), lite ...
";
# 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 acti ...
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
Symbolic interactionism is a sociological theory that develops from practical considerations and alludes to particular effects of communication and interaction in people to make images and normal implications, for deduction and correspondence w ...
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
Testability is a primary aspect of Science and the Scientific Method and is a property applying to an empirical hypothesis, involves two components:
#Falsifiability or defeasibility, which means that counterexamples to the hypothesis are logicall ...
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
Role-playing or roleplaying is the changing of one's behaviour to assume a role, either unconsciously to fill a social role, or consciously to act out an adopted role. While the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' offers a definition of role-playing a ...
in an acceptable manner in society.
A key insight of this theory is that
role conflict
Role conflict occurs when there are incompatible demands placed upon a person relating to their job or position. People experience role conflict when they find themselves pulled in various directions as they try to respond to the many statuses th ...
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 Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of Empirical ...
, 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 cent ...
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
A label (as distinct from signage) is a piece of paper, plastic film, cloth, metal, or other material affixed to a container or product, on which is written or printed information or symbols about the product or item. Information printed dir ...
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 acceptance, 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 wikt:rule, rules and laws. Social normat ...
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 politics, radical and Liberalism, liberal reforms on women's issues created by the inequality b ...
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 conflict
Role conflict occurs when there are incompatible demands placed upon a person relating to their job or position. People experience role conflict when they find themselves pulled in various directions as they try to respond to the many statuses th ...
s. 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
Role conflict occurs when there are incompatible demands placed upon a person relating to their job or position. People experience role conflict when they find themselves pulled in various directions as they try to respond to the many statuses th ...
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 (behavioral psychology), antecedent stimuli in the environment, o ...
*
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 choo ...
*
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 dev ...
*
Dramaturgical perspective
Dramaturgy is a sociological perspective commonly used in micro-sociological accounts of social interaction in everyday life.
The term was first adapted into sociology from the theatre by Erving Goffman, who developed most of the related termin ...
*
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 In labeling theory, role engulfment refers to how a person's identity becomes based on a role the person assumes, superseding other roles.
A negative role such as " sick" can serve to constrict a person's self-image.
Professions
Jungians have h ...
*
Role model
A role model is a person whose behaviour, example, or success is or can be emulated by others, especially by younger people. The term ''role model'' is credited to sociologist Robert K. Merton, who hypothesized that individuals compare themselves ...
*
Role suction Role suction is a term introduced in the United States by Fritz Redl in the mid-20th century to describe the power of a social group to allocate roles to its members.
W. R. Bion's group dynamics further explored the ways whereby the group (unconsc ...
*
Transactional analysis
Transactional Analysis (TA) is a psychoanalytic theory and method of therapy wherein social interactions (or “transactions”) are analyzed to determine the ego state of the communicator (whether parent-like, childlike, or adult-like) as a b ...
Notes
References
Bibliography
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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
Rose Laub Coser (born May 4, 1916 August 21, 1994) was a German-American sociologist, educator, and social justice activist. She taught sociology at the State University of New York at Stony Brook from 1968 until her retirement in 1987. She wa ...
, "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 contributio ...
, ''The Study of Man'', Chapter 8, "Status and Role", 1936
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Role Theory