labeling theory Labeling theory posits that self-identity and the behavior of individuals may be determined or influenced by the terms used to describe or classify them. It is associated with the concepts of self-fulfilling prophecy and stereotype, stereotypin ...

, 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 Self-image is the mental picture, generally of a kind that is quite resistant to change, that depicts not only details that are potentially available to an objective investigation by others (height, weight, hair color, etc.), but also items that ...

Professions

Jung Carl Gustav Jung ( ; ; 26 July 1875 – 6 June 1961) was a Swiss psychiatrist, psychotherapist, and psychologist who founded the school of analytical psychology. A prolific author of over 20 books, illustrator, and correspondent, Jung was a c ...

ians have highlighted the possibility of role engulfment by one's profession: "every calling or profession has its own characteristic

persona A persona (plural personae or personas) is a strategic mask of identity in public, the public image of one's personality, the social role that one adopts, or simply a fictional Character (arts), character. It is also considered "an intermediary ...

...the danger is that people become identical with their personas—the professor with his textbook, the tenor with his voice". The problem is particularly acute with what

Alasdair Macintyre Alasdair Chalmers MacIntyre (12 January 1929 – 21 May 2025) was a Scottish-American philosopher who contributed to moral and political philosophy as well as history of philosophy and theology. MacIntyre's '' After Virtue'' (1981) is one of ...

calls ''characters''—"a very special type of social role which places a certain kind of moral constraint on the personality of those who inhabit them...masks worn by moral philosophies".

Athletics

Role engulfment can also occur in a more mainstream context. It has been explored for example with regard to college athletes. Having initially entered college with a "broad" agenda, many then 'experienced "role-engulfment"...the "greedy role" of athletics soon dominated their time, actions, and social circles'. Athletes may have themselves narrowed their focus too early: 'one of the consequences of identity foreclosure or role engulfment was the inability to foresee and plan for future roles'.

Mothers

Family therapy Family therapy (also referred to as family counseling, family systems therapy, marriage and family therapy, couple and family therapy) is a branch of psychotherapy focused on families and couples in intimate relationships to nurture change and ...

sees part of the father's role in early child-raising, faced with maternal engulfment, as 'to haul her back, to reclaim her, as it were, from the baby. So that the two of them can put their own relationship as a married couple first again'. (It also notes a potentially wider need 'to see new meanings put into role names' in a family context). Whereas some '"good" mothers are able to demonstrate role commitment without role engulfment', others may find the role of "devoted mother" becomes an all-embracing one. 'Role engulfment, by reducing the opportunities for contacts with friends and family, leaves the parent with fewer sources of positive self-evaluation outside of the family'.

Deviance

Edwin Schur, building on the work of

Erik H. Erikson Erik Homburger Erikson (born Erik Salomonsen; 15 June 1902 – 12 May 1994) was a German-American child psychoanalyst and visual artist known for his theory on psychosocial development of human beings. He coined the phrase identity crisis. De ...

and Kai Erikson on "The Confirmation of the Delinquent" brought the term "role engulfment" to the theoretical fore in relation to deviancy: '"Role engulfment" refers to the process whereby persons become caught up in the deviant role as a result of others relating to them largely in terms of their spoiled identity'. Conversely, the deviant may themselves embrace the role. 'When a particular role becomes an integral part of a person's identity, almost to the exclusion of all other roles, role merger (or role engulfment) is said to occur. Such a role is often referred to as a "master role"'.

Literary

* Tony Tanner explored the contrasting role performances of Mr and Mrs Bennet in ''

Pride and Prejudice ''Pride and Prejudice'' is the second published novel (but third to be written) by English author Jane Austen, written when she was age 20-21, and later published in 1813. A novel of manners, it follows the character development of Elizabe ...

'' in terms of role commitment and role distance. Where 'Mr Bennet has become completely cynical about the social roles he is called on to play...gestures of disengagement from the necessary rituals of family and society, Mrs Bennet, incapable of reflection, loses herself in her performance'—role engulfment. *

Margaret Atwood Margaret Eleanor Atwood (born November 18, 1939) is a Canadian novelist, poet, literary critic, and an inventor. Since 1961, she has published 18 books of poetry, 18 novels, 11 books of nonfiction, nine collections of short fiction, eight chi ...

's characters struggle against the way 'consumer images express role-engulfment as an omnipresent fate'—strive to 'escape from role-engulfment...from this alienating cultural definition of personality and human relations'.Judith McCombs, ''Essays on Margaret Attwood'' (1986) p. 73 and p. 86

Related terms

The term Role domination also refers to the process of how a particular role comes to dominate over other roles in a person's life. Role abandonment refers to the disassociation of and detachment of other goals, priorities, and roles following role engulfment.

References

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External links

Caregiving: Role Engulfment and the Loss of Self
Criminology Role theory Role status