[edit]
Material from Wikipedia - the free encyclopedia
The current version of the page has not yet been verified by experienced participants and may differ significantly from the version verified on March 20, 2012; 1 edit requires verification.
Social role- a model of human behavior, objectively specified by the social position of the individual in the system of social (public and personal) relations. In other words, a social role is “the behavior that is expected of a person occupying a certain status.” Modern society requires an individual to constantly change his behavior pattern to perform specific roles. In this regard, such neo-Marxists and neo-Freudians as T. Adorno, K. Horney and others in their works made a paradoxical conclusion: the “normal” personality of modern society is a neurotic. Moreover, in modern society, role conflicts that arise in situations where an individual is required to simultaneously perform several roles with conflicting requirements are widespread.
Irving Goffman, in his studies of interaction rituals, accepting and developing the basic theatrical metaphor, paid attention not so much to role prescriptions and passive adherence to them, but to the very processes of active construction and maintenance of “appearance” in the course of communication, to zones of uncertainty and ambiguity in interaction , mistakes in the behavior of partners.
Types of social roles
The types of social roles are determined by the variety of social groups, types of activities and relationships in which the individual is included. Depending on social relations, social and interpersonal social roles are distinguished.
§ Social roles associated with social status, profession or type of activity (teacher, student, student, salesperson). These are standardized impersonal roles, built on the basis of rights and responsibilities, regardless of who plays these roles. There are socio-demographic roles: husband, wife, daughter, son, grandson... Man and woman are also social roles, biologically predetermined and presupposing specific modes of behavior, enshrined in social norms and customs.
§ Interpersonal roles associated with interpersonal relationships that are regulated at the emotional level (leader, offended, neglected, family idol, loved one, etc.).
In life, in interpersonal relationships, each person acts in some dominant social role, a unique social role as the most typical individual image, familiar to others. Changing a habitual image is extremely difficult both for the person himself and for the perception of the people around him. The longer a group exists, the more familiar the dominant social roles of each group member become to those around them and the more difficult it is to change the behavior pattern habitual to those around them.
[edit]Characteristics of a social role
The main characteristics of the social role were highlighted by the American sociologist Talcott Parsons. He proposed the following four characteristics of any role:
§ By scale. Some roles may be strictly limited, while others may be blurred.
§ By method of receipt. Roles are divided into prescribed and conquered (they are also called achieved).
§ According to the degree of formalization. Activities can take place either within strictly established limits or arbitrarily.
§ By type of motivation. The motivation can be personal profit, public good, etc.
Scope of the role depends on the range of interpersonal relationships. The larger the range, the larger the scale. For example, the social roles of spouses have a very large scale, since the widest range of relationships is established between husband and wife. On the one hand, these are interpersonal relationships based on a variety of feelings and emotions; on the other hand, relations are regulated by regulations and, in a certain sense, are formal. The participants in this social interaction are interested in a variety of aspects of each other’s lives, their relationships are practically unlimited. In other cases, when relationships are strictly defined by social roles (for example, the relationship between a seller and a buyer), interaction can only be carried out for a specific reason (in this case, purchases). Here the scope of the role is limited to a narrow range of specific issues and is small.
How to get a role depends on how inevitable the role is for the person. Thus, the roles of a young man, an old man, a man, a woman are automatically determined by the age and gender of a person and do not require special efforts to acquire them. There can only be a problem of compliance with one’s role, which already exists as a given. Other roles are achieved or even won during the course of a person's life and as a result of targeted special efforts. For example, the role of a student, researcher, professor, etc. These are almost all roles related to the profession and any achievements of a person.
Formalization as a descriptive characteristic of a social role is determined by the specifics of interpersonal relationships of the bearer of this role. Some roles involve the establishment of only formal relationships between people with strict regulation of rules of behavior; others, on the contrary, are only informal; still others may combine both formal and informal relationships. It is obvious that the relationship between a traffic police representative and a traffic rule violator should be determined by formal rules, and relationships between close people should be determined by feelings. Formal relationships are often accompanied by informal ones, in which emotionality is manifested, because a person, perceiving and evaluating another, shows sympathy or antipathy towards him. This happens when people have been interacting for a while and the relationship has become relatively stable.
Motivation depends on the needs and motives of the person. Different roles are driven by different motives. Parents, caring for the well-being of their child, are guided primarily by a feeling of love and care; the leader works for the sake of the cause, etc.
[edit]Role conflicts
Role conflicts arise when the duties of a role are not fulfilled due to subjective reasons (unwillingness, inability).
Motivation is divided into externally organized and internally organized (or, as Western psychologists write, external and internal). The first is associated with the influence on the subject’s formation of the motive for the action or deed of other people (with the help of advice, suggestion, etc.). The extent to which this intervention will be perceived by the subject depends on the degree of his suggestibility, conformity and negativism.
Suggestibility- this is the subject’s tendency to uncritical (involuntary) compliance with the influences of other people, their advice, instructions, even if they contradict his own beliefs and interests.
This is an unconscious change in one’s behavior under the influence of suggestion. Suggestible subjects are easily infected by the moods, views and habits of other people. They are often prone to imitation. Suggestibility depends both on the stable properties of a person - a high level of neuroticism, weakness of the nervous system (Yu. E. Ryzhkin, 1977), and on his situational states - anxiety, self-doubt or emotional arousal.
Suggestibility is influenced by such personal characteristics as low self-esteem and feelings of inferiority, humility and devotion, an undeveloped sense of responsibility, timidity and shyness, gullibility, increased emotionality and impressionability, daydreaming, superstitiousness and faith, a tendency to fantasize, unstable beliefs and uncritical thinking ( N. N. Obozov, 1997, etc.).
Increased suggestibility is typical for children, especially 10-year-olds. This is explained by the fact that their critical thinking is still poorly developed, which reduces the degree of suggestibility. True, at the age of 5 and after 10, especially among older schoolchildren, there is a decrease in suggestibility (A.I. Zakharov (1998), see Fig. 9.1). By the way, the latter was noted among older adolescents at the end of the 19th century. A. Binet (1900) and A. Nechaev (1900).
The degree of suggestibility of women is higher than that of men (V. A. Petrik, 1977; L. Levenfeld, 1977).
Another stable personality characteristic is conformity, the study of which was initiated by S. Asch (1956).
Conformity- this is a person’s tendency to voluntarily consciously (arbitrarily) change his expected reactions in order to get closer to the reaction of others due to the recognition that they are more right. At the same time, if the intention or social attitudes that a person had coincide with those of those around him, then we are no longer talking about conformity.
The concept of “conformity” has many meanings in Western psychological literature. For example, R. Crutchfield (1967) speaks of “internal conformity,” which is described as close to suggestibility.
Conformity is also called intragroup suggestion or suggestibility (note that some authors, for example, A.E. Lichko et al. (1970) do not equate suggestibility and conformity, noting the lack of dependence between them and the difference in the mechanisms of their manifestation). Other researchers distinguish between two types of conformity: “acceptance,” when an individual changes his views, attitudes, and corresponding behavior, and “agreement,” when a person follows a group without sharing its opinion (in Russian science this is called conformism). If a person tends to constantly agree with the opinion of the group, he is a conformist; if he tends to disagree with the opinion imposed on him, then he is classified as a nonconformist (the latter, according to foreign psychologists, includes about a third of people).
There are external and internal conformity. In the first case, a person returns to his previous opinion as soon as the group pressure on him disappears. With internal conformity, he retains the accepted group opinion even after the pressure from the outside has ceased.
The degree of a person’s subordination to a group depends on many external (situational) and internal (personal) factors, which (mostly external) were systematized by A. P. Sopikov (1969). These include:
Age and gender differences: among children and youth there are more conformists than among adults (maximum conformity is noted at 12 years of age, its noticeable decrease is after 1-6 years); women are more susceptible to group pressure than men;
Difficulty of the problem being solved: the more difficult it is, the more the individual submits to the group; the more complex the task and the more ambiguous the decisions made, the higher the conformity;
A person’s status in a group: the higher he is, the less this person shows conformity;
The nature of the group affiliation: the subject entered the group of his own free will or under duress; in the latter case, his psychological subjugation is often only superficial;
Attractiveness of the group for the individual: the subject lends himself more easily to the reference group;
Goals facing a person: if his group competes with another group, the subject's conformity increases; if group members compete with each other, it decreases (the same is observed when defending a group or personal opinion);
The presence and effectiveness of a connection that confirms the correctness or incorrectness of a person’s conforming actions: when an action is wrong, a person can return to his point of view.
With pronounced conformism, a person’s decisiveness when making decisions and forming intentions increases, but at the same time, the feeling of his individual responsibility for an act committed together with others weakens. This is especially noticeable in groups that are not socially mature enough.
Although the influence of situational factors often prevails over the role of individual differences, there are still people who are easily persuaded in any situation (S. Hovland, I. Janis, 1959; I. Janis, P. Field, 1956).
Such people have certain personality traits. It has been revealed, for example, that the most conforming children suffer from an “inferiority complex” and have insufficient “ego strength” (Hartup, 1970). They tend to be more dependent and anxious than their peers, and are sensitive to the opinions and hints of others. Children with such personality traits tend to constantly control their behavior and speech, that is, they have a high level of self-control. They care about how they look in the eyes of others, they often compare themselves with their peers.
According to F. Zimbardo (1977), shy people who have low self-esteem are easily persuaded. It is no coincidence that a connection has been identified between a person’s low self-esteem and his easy susceptibility to outside persuasion (W. McGuire, 1985). This happens due to the fact that they have little respect for their opinions and attitudes, therefore, their motivation to defend their beliefs is weakened. They consider themselves wrong in advance.
R. Nurmi (1970) provides data according to which conformers are characterized by rigidity and a weak nervous system.
It should, however, be kept in mind in what situation conformity manifests itself - in a normative or informational one. This may also affect its connections with other personality traits. In an information situation, there is a noticeable tendency to connect conformity with extraversion (N. N. Obozov, 1997).
A social role is a social function of an individual, a way of behavior of people that corresponds to accepted norms, depending on their status or position in society, in the system of interpersonal relations."
A social role is a normatively approved and prescribed method, algorithm, pattern of activity and behavior of an individual, voluntarily or forcibly accepted by society or a social group in the implementation of certain social functions. A social role is a model of individual behavior determined by its status.
There is a point of view that a social role is a set of social norms that society or a group encourages or forces an individual to master. Usually, a social role is defined as a dynamic aspect of status, as a list of real functions assigned by a group to its member as a set of expected behavioral stereotypes associated with the performance of a specific job.
American social psychologist T. Shibutani introduces the concept of a conventional role. He tries to distinguish between social and conventional roles, but this cannot be done strictly and obviously enough.
A conventional role, according to T. Shibutani, is an idea of a prescribed pattern of behavior that is expected and required from a subject in a given situation, if the position he occupies in a joint action is known. It seems that its conventional role, with very minor errors, can be considered synonymous with the social role. It is very important that, in the understanding of T. Shibutani, roles are defined as a template, an algorithm of mutual rights and obligations, and not just as a behavioral standard. An obligation, he notes, is something that a subject feels compelled to do because of the role he plays and other people expect and demand that he act in a certain way. However, it is impossible to completely separate the pattern from behavior: it is behavior that ultimately acts as a measure of whether the conventional role is being realized adequately or inadequately.
Another American psychologist, T. Parsons, defines a role as a structurally organized, normatively regulated participation of a person in a specific process of social interaction with certain specific role partners. He believed that any role can be described by the following five main characteristics: emotionality; different roles require varying degrees of emotionality; the method of obtaining: some roles are prescribed, others are fought; structured: some roles are formed and strictly limited, others are blurred; formalization: some roles are implemented in strictly established templates, algorithms specified from the outside or by the subject himself, others are implemented spontaneously, creatively; motivation: a system of personal needs that are satisfied by the very fact of playing roles.
Social roles are distinguished by their significance. A role is objectively determined by a social position, regardless of the individual characteristics of the person occupying this position. The fulfillment of a social role must correspond to accepted social norms and expectations (esteem) of others.
There is practically no complete coincidence between role expectation and role performance. The quality of role performance depends on many conditions; it is especially important that the role corresponds to the interests and needs of the individual. An individual who does not live up to expectations enters into conflict with society and incurs social and group sanctions.
Since each person plays several roles, role conflict is possible: parents and peers, for example, expect different behavior from a teenager, and he, playing the roles of son and friend, cannot simultaneously meet their expectations. Role conflict is the subject’s experience of ambiguity or inconsistency of role requirements on the part of different social communities of which he is a member.
The following conflicts are possible:
Intrapersonal: caused by conflicting demands placed on the behavior of an individual in different social roles, and even more so in a particular social role;
Intra-role: arises as a result of contradictions in the requirements for the fulfillment of a social role by different participants in the interaction;
Personal-role: arises due to a discrepancy between a person’s ideas about himself and his role functions;
Innovative: appears as a result of a discrepancy between previously formed value orientations and the requirements of the new social situation.
Each person has a certain idea of how he will perform this or that role. Different roles have different importance for the individual.
The role structure of an individual can be integrated or disintegrated depending on the harmony or conflict of social relations.
The internal structure of the personality (picture of the world, desires, attitudes) may favor certain social roles and not contribute to the choice of other social roles. Role expectations are also not random situational factors; they arise from the requirements of the social, including corporate, system.
Depending on the norms and expectations assigned to a particular social role, the latter may be:
The represented roles (the system of expectations of the individual and certain groups);
Subjective roles (expectations that a person associates with his status, i.e. his subjective ideas about how he should act in relation to persons with other statuses);
Roles played (observed behavior of a person having a given status in relation to another person with a different status).
There is a normative structure for fulfilling a social role, which consists of:
Descriptions of behavior (characteristic of a given role);
Prescriptions (requirements for this implementation);
Assessments of performance of the prescribed role;
Sanctions for violation of prescribed requirements.
Since personality is a complex social system, we can say that it is a set of social roles and its individual characteristics,
People identify with their social role in different ways. Some merge with it as much as possible and behave in accordance with its instructions anywhere and everywhere, even where this is absolutely not required. It happens that different social roles inherent in one and the same subject have different ranks, different personal significance, and relevance. In other words, the subject does not identify himself equally with all his roles: with some personally significant roles more, with others less. Such a strong distancing from the role occurs that one can talk about its movement from the actual part of the sphere of consciousness to the periphery, or even about its displacement from the sphere of consciousness completely.
The experience of practicing psychologists suggests that if an objectively relevant social role is not recognized as such by the subject, then within the framework of this role he will experience internal and external conflicts.
Various roles are learned through the process of socialization. As an example, here is the role repertoire of a small group:
Leader: a member of a group, for whom others recognize the right to make responsible decisions in situations that are significant to it, decisions that affect the interests of group members and determine the direction and nature of the activities and behavior of the entire group (more about this in the topic “Leadership as a socio-psychological phenomenon”) ;
Expert: a member of a group who has special knowledge, abilities, skills that the group requires or that the group simply respects;
Members are passive and adaptable: they strive to maintain their anonymity;
- “extreme” member of the group: lags behind everyone else due to personal limitations or fears;
Opponent: an oppositionist who actively opposes the leader;
Martyr: calling for help and refusing it;
Moralist: A group member who is always right;
Interceptor: a group member who seizes the initiative from the leader;
Pet: a group member who evokes tender feelings and is constantly in need of protection;
Aggressor;
Jester;
Provocateur;
Defender;
Whiner;
Rescuer;
Pedant;
Victim, etc.
The group always strives to expand its repertoire of roles. The individual performance of a role by a person has a personal touch, which depends on his knowledge and ability to be in a given role, on its significance for him, on the desire to more or less meet the expectations of others (for example, it is easy to become a father, it is difficult to be a father).
Every person living in society is included in many different social groups (family, study group, friendly company, etc.). In each of these groups he occupies a certain position, has a certain status, and certain requirements are imposed on him. Thus, the same person should behave in one situation like a father, in another - like a friend, in a third - like a boss, i.e. act in different roles. Social role is a way of behavior of people that corresponds to accepted norms, depending on their status or position in society, in the system of interpersonal relations. Mastering social roles is part of the process of socialization of the individual, an indispensable condition for a person to “grow into” the society of his own kind. Socialization is the process and result of an individual’s assimilation and active reproduction of social experience, carried out in communication and activity. Examples of social roles are also gender roles (male or female behavior), professional roles. By observing social roles, a person learns social standards of behavior, learns to evaluate himself from the outside and exercise self-control. However, since in real life a person is involved in many activities and relationships, is forced to perform different roles, the requirements for which may be contradictory, there is a need for some mechanism that would allow a person to maintain the integrity of his “I” in conditions of multiple connections with the world (i.e. e. remain yourself, playing different roles). Personality (or rather, the formed substructure of orientation) is precisely the mechanism, the functional organ that allows you to integrate your “I” and your own life activity, carry out a moral assessment of your actions, find your place not only in a separate social group, but also in life in general, to develop the meaning of one’s existence, to abandon one in favor of another. Thus, a developed personality can use role behavior as a tool for adaptation to certain social situations, while at the same time not merging or identifying with the role. The main components of a social role constitute a hierarchical system in which three levels can be distinguished. The first is peripheral attributes, i.e. those, the presence or absence of which does not affect either the perception of the role by the environment or its effectiveness (for example, the civil status of a poet or doctor). The second level involves role attributes that influence both perception and performance (for example, long hair for a hippie or poor health for an athlete). At the top of the three-level gradation are the role attributes that are decisive for the formation of personal identity. The role concept of personality arose in American social psychology in the 30s of the 20th century. (C. Cooley, J. Mead) and became widespread in various sociological movements, primarily in structural-functional analysis. T. Parsons and his followers consider personality as a function of the many social roles that are inherent in any individual in a particular society. Charles Cooley believed that personality is formed on the basis of many interactions between people and the world around them. In the process of these interactions, people create their “mirror self,” which consists of three elements: 1. how we think others perceive us (“I’m sure people notice my new hairstyle”); 2. how we think they react to 3. what they see (“I’m sure they like my new hairstyle”); 4. how we respond to the reactions we perceive from others (“I guess I’ll always wear my hair like this”). This theory places importance on our interpretation of other people's thoughts and feelings. American psychologist George Herbert Mead went further in his analysis of the process of development of our “I”. Like Cooley, he believed that the “I” is a social product, formed on the basis of relationships with other people. At first, as small children, we are not able to explain to ourselves the motives for the behavior of others. Having learned to comprehend their behavior, children thereby take the first step into life. Having learned to think about themselves, they can think about others; the child begins to acquire a sense of his “I”. According to Mead, the process of personality formation includes three different stages. The first is imitation. At this stage, children copy the behavior of adults without understanding it. This is followed by the play stage, when children understand behavior as the performance of certain roles: doctor, fireman, race driver, etc.; during the game they reproduce these roles.
A social role is a socially necessary type of social activity and a method of individual behavior. The concept of social role was first proposed by American sociologists Mead and Linton back in the thirties of the last century.
Main types of social roles
The diversity of social groups and relationships in their groups, as well as types of activities, became the basis for the classification of social statuses. Currently, types of social roles are distinguished as: formal, interpersonal and socio-demographic. Formal social roles are associated with the position a person occupies in society. This refers to his occupation and profession. But interpersonal roles are directly related to various types of relationships. This category usually includes favorites, outcasts, and leaders. As for socio-demographic roles, these are husband, son, sister, etc.
Characteristics of social roles
American sociologist Talcott Parsons identified the main characteristics of social roles. These include: scale, method of obtaining, emotionality, motivation and formalization. Typically, the scope of a role is determined by the range of interpersonal relationships. There is a directly proportional relationship here. For example, the social roles of husband and wife have a very significant scope, because a wide range of relationships is established between them.
If we talk about the method of obtaining a role, it depends on the inevitability of this role for the individual. Thus, the roles of a young man or an old man do not require any effort to acquire. They are determined by a person's age. And other social roles can be achieved during life if certain conditions are achieved.
Social roles may also differ in their level of emotionality. Each role is characterized by its own manifestation of emotions. Also, some roles involve the establishment of formal relationships between people, others - informal ones, and still others can combine both relationships.
His motivation depends on the needs and motives of a person. Different social roles may be determined by certain motives. For example, when parents take care of their child, they are guided by a feeling of care and love for him. The manager works for the benefit of some enterprise. It is also known that all social roles can be subject to public evaluation.
The concept of social role is closely related to the function that a person performs in society, with his rights and responsibilities to others. Social science has been enriched with several definitions throughout its existence. Some correlate this concept with social position, which brings it closer to status. Others suggest that this is expected behavior.
Let us give examples of social roles, so it will be easier to understand what exactly we are talking about. Let's say there is a school. Who is in it? Teacher, students, director. In the public understanding, a teacher must know his subject well, be able to explain it, prepare for each lesson, and be demanding. He has certain tasks, and he performs his function. And the social status and social role of the individual depends on how well he does this.
At the same time, the teacher can be more demanding, tough, or soft, good-natured. Some limit themselves exclusively to teaching their subject, while others begin to participate more actively in the lives of their students. Some people accept gifts from their parents, others absolutely do not. These are all shades of the same role.
What does the concept of social role include?
Social roles are necessary for society because they allow us to interact with more people without learning a ton of information about who they are. When we see a doctor, a postman, a policeman in front of us, we have certain expectations. And when they make excuses, it promotes order.
At the same time, one and the same person can have a large number of different roles: in the family - father, husband, in a friendly company - shirt-guy, at work - head of the security department, etc. Moreover, the more opportunities an individual has to switch, the his life is richer and more varied.
The variety of social roles is especially noticeable in adolescence, when a person tries to understand what is close to him. He can spend quite a long time figuring out how they are connected to each other, to status, prestige, to the reaction of society, to family comfort, etc. As the teenager develops a more mature and clear awareness of what he needs , he begins to grow up.
And at the same time, in adolescence there is a transition from one role to another. And in a certain interval he seems to freeze on the edge. The teenager manages to emerge from the state of a child, but has not yet fully entered the life of an adult. Which is often perceived quite negatively.
Social role theory
A well-known researcher in sociology, the American Merton was the first to draw attention to the fact that any social status presupposes not one, but a whole set of social roles. This formed the basis of the corresponding theory.
Now in science such a set is called a role set. It is believed that the richer it is, the better for the realization of the person himself. But if he has a small number of roles or only one, then in this case we are talking about pathology. Or, at least, about severe isolation from society.
How is a role set different from a set of roles? Because the first applies only to one social status. But the second one is more scattered. In general, sociological focus groups are still conducting research on how a change in one position affects status in the family, by how much, and why.
Scientists are now actively checking whether the following judgments are true: a man’s social role at work does not in any way affect his position in the family. As you might guess, the responses received are also carefully analyzed to understand the reasons.
Types of social roles
So, what types of social roles are there anyway? There is a division related to representations. This is the expected role, that is, what they are set up for in the family, at work, etc. The second type is the subjective social role of the individual. Roughly speaking, what everyone expects from themselves is internal attitudes. And, finally, the role played, the characteristics of what happened.
However, the classification of social roles is not limited to this. They are divided into prescribed (woman, daughter, Russian) and achieved (student, lawyer, professor). There are also types of social formal and informal roles. In the first case, everything is strictly regulated: military, official, judge. In the second - the soul of the company, the lone wolf, the best friend - there is a lot of unspoken stuff, and it often arises spontaneously.
It is worth considering that each role is influenced by social attitudes and how the bearer understands the tasks assigned to him. A seller in the UK and a seller in Iran on the market are two very different things.
The concept of social role in development
Please note that many things are changing quite rapidly today. Thus, the social role of women in modern society in the family, at work, etc. has become completely different compared to what it was 100 years ago. And the same applies to men, teenagers, representatives of various groups. What is considered acceptable behavior these days would have severely offended others just a few decades ago.
Why do you need to track these dynamics? To understand what kind of world we live in, where we are moving, what types of social roles we will have to deal with in the future. Scientists are already collecting opinions, for example, whether the following judgments are true: marriage as an institution has outlived its usefulness, children cannot be physically punished, animals have the right to criminal protection from violence.
What do these trends show? By analyzing the opinions of many, one can see the needs of society. And understand exactly where we will end up, because the existing social demand will sooner or later be satisfied. Nowadays, social scientists note the growing importance of law in the lives of the majority.
For example, many newlyweds, when filling out a questionnaire asking whether the following judgments were correct, indicated that they had actually signed a marriage contract. What 15 years ago seemed a shocking detail from the world of oligarchs has now affected representatives of the middle class.
Varieties of social statuses
Since the issue of social role is very closely related to status, it is necessary to at least briefly understand this concept. And are the following judgments true: are role and status the same thing or very similar concepts? As you will see shortly, we are talking about different concepts.
So, we consider personal status, the one that a person receives in the primary group, and social status, which he acquires later, achieving something with his mind, behavior, and work. Sociologists also distinguish the main, basic status, with which many people associate themselves in the first place, and temporary, secondary ones. They arise for short periods of time situationally.
It should be noted that roles and statuses in society are not equivalent to each other. There is a certain hierarchy, determined by the system of values and the significance of the holder of a particular status, how important he is for society, how much and what he is capable of influencing.
All this directly relates to the issue of prestige. And the more important this or that status is, the harder a person tries to perform a certain role, as a rule.
