Understanding Status and Roles in Sociology

Posted on Aug 18, 2024 in Psychology and Sociology

Status and Roles in Sociology

Status

Status is defined as the level or position of a person in a group, or a group in relation to other groups. Some sociologists prefer to use the term “position” rather than “level.

Role is the expected behavior of a person acquiring a particular status. Every person can fill a status and can expect to carry the proper roles attached to them.

In a sense, “role” and “status” are two aspects of the same phenomenon.

A status is a set of privileges and obligations.
A role is the performance of this series of obligations and privileges.

Socialization and Role Learning

Socialization is the learning process necessary to understand the customs and traditions of a society. It is largely a learning process of identifying with role behavior.

Each person must learn to play roles as a child, student, husband or wife, father, employee, member or officer of an organization, member of a race or a particular social class, citizen, resident of a community, etc.

Learning a role involves two aspects:

We must learn to meet the demands, obligations, and privileges of the role.
We acquire the attitudes, feelings, and appropriate role expectations.

The second aspect is the most important and the most difficult.

For example, caring for a small child.

Training in most major roles begins in childhood, when one begins to form their attitudes towards those roles and statuses. Through play, children learn to behave as adults. For example, playing house helps children understand the roles of a husband and father.

The concept of the role involves a set of expectations. We are expected to act in a certain way, and we expect others to act in certain ways as well. For example, married women are in a different status than unmarried women, and their roles are different.

Occupational roles also produce changes in personality. The Stanford Prison Experiment, while artificial, demonstrated the powerful influence of roles on behavior. If artificial roles can have such a significant effect on personality, the effect of genuine roles must be even greater.

Set of Roles

The term “set of roles” is used to indicate that a status does not have a unique role, but a number of roles associated with each other. For example: a wife is also a daughter, mother, neighbor, citizen, etc.

These are roles and relationships that sometimes may require drastic changes and adaptation. One does not always perform well in all aspects of their set roles. For example, a good secretary might be a bad housekeeper.

Proper performance of a role requires a series of competencies, but one can perform different sets of roles at the same time. For example: administrators, parents, union leaders, etc.

This role multiplicity can cause role conflict.

Expected behavior in a role may differ from actual role behavior for several reasons:

We may not see the role as others see it.
Our personality characteristics influence our behavior.
Our level of commitment to the role varies.

For example, not all soldiers are brave, and not all priests are saints.

Uniforms, badges, and rituals are qualifications for the performance of a role and aid in role-playing. For example, the white coat and stethoscope of a doctor.

Behavior is not only regulated by the needs of the role, but also by the expectations of the audience.

Types of Status and Roles

There are two kinds of status and roles:

Those that are ascribed to us by society, independent of our individual efforts or qualities.
Those that are acquired by our own efforts.

Ascribed Status

To illustrate the difference, consider the status of a princess. A person does not become a princess by her ability, choice, or effort. She is born a princess and remains a princess, whether she is silly, bright, ugly, beautiful, and so on.

Acquired Status

In contrast, consider the status of Prime Minister. A person becomes Prime Minister by their own choices, actions, and efforts.

Ascribed Status and Role

For a society to function, people have to carry out endless daily tasks willingly and competently. The easiest way is to divide them into a series of assigned roles and socialize people to accept them and play them. These assigned roles must be assigned according to criteria.

There are several criteria used for role ascription, including age, sex, race, nationality, social class, and religion. The most universally used criteria are:

Ascription by Sex

Most of socialization is learning the business of men and women.

Examples:

Little girls play with dolls and help their mothers with housework.
The attitude of a “tomboy” is not considered elegant or accepted, while being a “damsel” is rewarded.
A boy discovers that playing with dolls and girls is the worst thing that can happen, and he is labeled as “queer.”

Ascription by Age

In any society, children, adults, and the elderly are treated differently. These differences vary according to the society.

For example, the elderly in India are relegated to a lower category, often confined to asylums and considered an annoyance. In contrast, in China, the elderly are figures of authority within the family and are honored.

Acquired Status and Role

An acquired status is obtained through individual choice, skills, performance, and effort. It also influences one’s fate.

In traditional societies, most roles are assigned. However, industrialized societies require greater expertise and allow greater scope for change of status through individual effort.

Acquired status requires people to make choices and decisions.

Ascribed and acquired status are fundamentally different; however, they can interact and overlap. For example, a person can be born into a wealthy family (ascribed status) but also become a successful entrepreneur through their own efforts (acquired status).

Status Inconsistency

Different people have different statuses, and they may not always align in the expected way. For example, a recent university graduate working as a waiter experiences status inconsistency.

Status inconsistency means that the various statuses of a person do not fit together as expected. Age, sex, and social class are three types of status that can be combined incongruously.