ROLE AND STATUS

DR. IMRAN AHMAD SAJID

STATUS

• In every society, people build their everyday lives using the idea of status.

• Status is a social position that a person holds. [John J. Macionis, 2012].

• Status is part of our social identity and helps to define our relationship to others. – George Simmel, once pointed out, before we can

deal with anyone, we need to know who the person is.

Definitions

• R. Linton (1936) defined status … as a position in a social system, such as 'child' or 'parent'.

• Status refers to what a person is. • [Panguin Dictionary of Sociology]

• It …refers …to some position in a social system which has a particular role attached: grandparent and grandchild, for example [Sage Dictionary of Sociology]

• [Status] describes the position that an individual holds in a group or that a group holds in a society (defined as a group of groups).

• [Critical Dictionary of Sociology]

Status Set

• Each of us holds many statuses at once. • STATUS SET refers to all the statuses a person holds

at a given time. – A teenage boy is a son to his parents, a brother to his

sisters, a student at his school, and a batsman on his cricket team.

• Status sets change over the life course. – Joining an organization or finding a job enlarges our

status set; withdrawing from activities makes it smaller. – Over a lifetime, people gain and lose dozens of statuses,

TYPES OF STATUSAscribed and Achieved Status

• Ascribed status is a social position a person receives at birth or takes on involuntarily later in life (Macionis, 2012).

• a status that is given to you by the societ– Examples of ascribed statuses include being a

daughter, a Pakhtoon, a teenager, or a widower. • Ascribed statuses are matters about which we

have little or no choice.

• Achieved status refers to a social position a person takes on voluntarily that reflects personal ability and effort.

• A status that is achieved by a person through his own efforts. – Achieved statuses in the Pakistan include honour

of student (1st position holder), Police officer, Wicket Keeper of Pakistan Cricket Team, nurse, software engineer, and thief.

Master Status

• Some statuses matter more than others. • A MASTER STATUS is a status that has special

importance for social identity, often shaping a person's entire life. – For most people, a job is a master status because it

reveals a great deal about social background, education, and income.

– In a few cases, name is a master status; being in the Zardari, Shareef, or Wali Khan family attracts attention and creates opportunities.

ROLE

• A second important social structure is role, • ROLE is behavior expected of someone who

holds a particular status. • A person holds a status and performs a role

(Linton, 1937b). – For example, holding the status of student leads

you to perform the role of attending classes and completing assignments.

• Roles are the bundles of socially defined attributes and expectations - associated with social positions.

[Panguin Dictionary of Sociology]• A Role is the function of a status (Young and

Mack, n.d.).

• [Role is ] a prescribe or expected behaviour associated with a particular position or status in a society.

[The Business Dictionary]• Role refers to the manner in which a person

actually carries out the requirements of his position (Kingsley Davis, n.d.)

Nature of Role• Role-playing is obligatory for all members of society. The

number of roles that one plays depends on the statuses that he assumes.

• Some roles are shared by a great many people. e.g., voters, citizens, adults, authors, ministers, teachers.

• Some roles are enacted only by one or very few individuals at a particular time. e.g., Governor Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

• Some roles are voluntarily taken while others are involuntarily enacted. e.g., living in city or village? Or Pakhtoon will have to play the role of Pakhtoon and Female the role of female.

Role Set

• Because we hold many statuses at once (/a status set), therefore everyday life is a mix of multiple roles.

• Robert Merton (1968) introduced the term role set to identify a number of roles attached to a single status.

Who we are—Status

What we Do—Role

Role Conflict and Role Strain

• ROLE CONFLICT is conflict among the roles connected to two or more statuses.

E.g., Female Lecturer resigned for children

• Even roles linked to a single status may make competing demands on us.

• ROLE STRAIN refers to tension among the roles connected to a single status. – A college professor may enjoy being friendly with students, – At the same time, however, the professor must maintain the

personal distance needed in order to evaluate students fairly.

• In short, performing the various roles attached to even one status can be something of a balancing act.

Interrelationship between Role and Status

1. Status is a position in society. Role is the behavioural expected of a status.

• Status is occupied, role is played. – Think What would happen if a mother works on

a job in a boutique while the father babysits at home—feeding and clothing the children?

Status: Mother….. Role ?? Status: Father….. Role??

Define the Roles of

Role of Father• Caring of Children• Cooking• Cleaning• Washing Dishes• Washing Clothes• Shoping• Bacho’n ko Nehlana• Bacho ko Khilana

Role of Mother• Earning Income• Doing Out side Job• Shopping• Punishment

2. Role is a relative term. – An individual plays a role in relation to another

person. e.g., an advocate plays his role as advocate in relation to the client’s role.

– Both role and status come into play in interaction

3. Status is Sociological phenomenon. Role is psychological phenomenon. – Why different individuals play different roles in the

same status? – e.g., Prime Minister Gillani vs Prime Minister Aziz

or Jamalee? – e.g., students Faisal vs Sanaullah?

4. Both status and role are dynamic and constantly changing.

5. It is possible to have a status without a role and vice versa. – For example? ? ?