explain different roles of society member possess in a role set
Answers
Answer:
ɪɴ sᴏᴄɪᴏʟᴏɢʏ, ᴛʜᴇʀᴇ ᴀʀᴇ ᴅɪғғᴇʀᴇɴᴛ ᴄᴀᴛᴇɢᴏʀɪᴇs ᴏғ sᴏᴄɪᴀʟ ʀᴏʟᴇs:
- ᴄᴜʟᴛᴜʀᴀʟ ʀᴏʟᴇs: ʀᴏʟᴇs ɢɪᴠᴇɴ ʙʏ ᴄᴜʟᴛᴜʀᴇ (ᴇ.ɢ. ᴘʀɪᴇsᴛ)
- sᴏᴄɪᴀʟ ᴅɪғғᴇʀᴇɴᴛɪᴀᴛɪᴏɴ: ᴇ.ɢ. ᴛᴇᴀᴄʜᴇʀ, ᴛᴀxɪ ᴅʀɪᴠᴇʀ.
- sɪᴛᴜᴀᴛɪᴏɴ-sᴘᴇᴄɪғɪᴄ ʀᴏʟᴇs: ᴇ.ɢ. ᴇʏᴇ ᴡɪᴛɴᴇss.
- ʙɪᴏ-sᴏᴄɪᴏʟᴏɢɪᴄᴀʟ ʀᴏʟᴇs: ᴇ.ɢ. ᴀs ʜᴜᴍᴀɴ ɪɴ ᴀ ɴᴀᴛᴜʀᴀʟ sʏsᴛᴇᴍ.
- ɢᴇɴᴅᴇʀ ʀᴏʟᴇs: ᴀs ᴀ ᴍᴀɴ, ᴡᴏᴍᴀɴ, ᴍᴏᴛʜᴇʀ, ғᴀᴛʜᴇʀ, ᴇᴛᴄ.
Answer:
‘Status’ is the position that an individual is expected to hold in a group or a community; and the behaviour that we expect from the person holding such a person is his ‘role’. Society itself works out into an orderly division of labour by giving different persons different positions in it and assigning to each such position of behaviour that would generally be expected of such person.
Rights and duties conferred by society upon a particular status would be typified and impersonal, and never personalized. We would, therefore, have a common idea of the role that any woman would have to play if she were to occupy the status of a mother, and, similarly, an impersonal standard of behaviour is expected of a student, a teacher, an office executive or the person who holds the status of the highest executive in the country.
Sociologists find that status can be mainly of two types: ‘ascribed’ or inherited land ‘achieved’ or acquired. If an individual’s status is determined at his birth, it would be regarded as an ascribed status. Birth determines the sex and age of the child finally and conclusively, as also his ethnic and family background. While age is a changing factor in life, the, others remain unchanged; and in the United States a baby born into a black family will have certain limitations which the white baby will not suffer from.
Similarly, in India, being born a female is still quite a disadvantage in large parts nor the country, although we have a legal guarantee as to the equality of the sexes. Again, in our country, birth in a particular caste among the Hindus is clearly an inherited status and the question of changing it in his life time is virtually as absurdity.
An individual may be born into a status, as when he is born rich or poor, but he may ‘acquire’ another status in his life time with the exercise of his ability, skill or knowledge. If society can be divided into several economic classes or divisions as we shall look up in a later chapter people may be poor, rich or of the middle category.
With his own ability, or the lack of it, one who is born into any of such statuses may change in his life time to another status. In an industrial society, different specialized occupations have been made available to persons without any regard to their ethnic or family backgrounds and, in modern times, even sex is no barrier to holding a specialized position.
However, achieved statuses will be important in such societies only which are not very rigid about maintaining the differences between inherited statuses; and on the question of rigidity no uniform observation can be made, since standards, norms and ideas vary from one status to another. However, now that inherited as well as acquired statuses are important in most societies, we can even talk in terms of 'multiple statuses'.