The concept of social role. The social role of the individual - the significance of the social role in human life

behavior expected from someone who has a certain social status. It is limited by the totality of rights and obligations corresponding to this status.

Great Definition

Incomplete definition ↓

ROLE SOCIAL

a set of requirements imposed by the society on persons occupying certain social. positions. These requirements (prescriptions, wishes and expectations of appropriate behavior) are embodied in specific social. norms. The system of social sanctions of a positive and negative nature is aimed at ensuring the proper execution of requirements related to R.s. Arising in connection with a specific social. position given in society. structure, R.s. at the same time - a specific (normatively approved) way of behavior, obligatory for individuals performing the corresponding R.s. R.s performed by an individual become a decisive characteristic of his personality, without losing, however, their social-derived and, in this sense, objectively inevitable character. Together, R.s performed by people personify the dominant societies. relationship. Social in their genesis, the requirements of the role become a structural element of the human personality in the course of the socialization of individuals and as a result of the internalization (deep internal assimilation) of the norms that characterize R.s. To internalize a role means to give it its own, individual (personal) definition, to evaluate and develop a certain attitude towards the social. position that forms the corresponding R.s. In the course of the internalization of the role, socially developed norms are evaluated through the prism of attitudes, beliefs, and principles shared by the individual. Society imposes R.s on an individual, but its acceptance, rejection, or performance always leaves an imprint on a person's real behavior. Depending on the nature of the requirements contained in the normative structure of R.s, the latter are divided into at least three categories: norms of proper (obligatory), desirable and possible behavior. Compliance with the mandatory regulatory requirements of R.s is ensured by the most serious negative sanctions, most often embodied in laws or other legal regulations. character. The norms of roles, embodying the desired (from the point of view of about-va) behavior, are most often provided with negative sanctions of an extra-legal nature (non-compliance with the charter of a public organization entails exclusion from it, etc.). In contrast, role norms, which formulate possible behavior, are provided primarily with positive sanctions (voluntary fulfillment of the duties of those who need help entails an increase in prestige, approval, etc.). In the normative structure of the role, four constructive elements can be distinguished - description (of the type of behavior that is required from a person in this role); prescription (requirement in connection with such behavior); assessment (cases of fulfillment or non-fulfillment of the requirements of the role); sanction (favorable or unfavorable social consequences of actions within the framework of the requirements of R.c). See also: Role theory of personality, Theory of roles. Lit.: Yakovlev A.M. Sociology of economic crime. M., 1988; Solovyov E.Yu. Personality and law//The past interprets us. Essays on the history of philosophy and culture. M, 1991. S, 403-431; Smelzer N. Sociology M., 1994. A.M. Yakovlev.

Great Definition

Incomplete definition ↓

Social role functions

In sociology, functions indicate what consequences (for society, its individual members) have actions committed by one or another person.

Personal behavior, priorities and attitudes, choices and emotions are determined by a number of factors:

• position in society;
• environmental conditions;
• the type of activity carried out;
• internal qualities of the personality, the spiritual world.

Due to the fact that people need each other to satisfy their individual needs, certain relationships and interactions are established between them. At the same time, each person fulfills his social role.

During life, the individual masters many social roles, which are often forced to play simultaneously. This allows you to make the coexistence of different people in one society as comfortable and possible as possible.

The social role performs a number of important functions:

1. Sets certain rules of the game: duties and norms, rights, plots of interaction between roles (boss-subordinate, boss-client, boss-tax inspector, etc.). Social adaptation implies the development and study of the rules of the game - the laws of a given society.
2. Allows you to realize different sides of your personality. Different roles (friend, parent, boss, public figure, etc.) enable a person to show different qualities. The more roles an individual masters, the more multifaceted and rich his personality will become, the better he will understand others.
3. It makes it possible to manifest and develop the qualities potentially inherent in a person: softness, rigidity, mercy, etc. Only in the process of fulfilling a social role can a person discover his capabilities.
4. Allows you to explore the resources of the personal capabilities of each person. Teaches to use the best combination of qualities for adequate behavior in a given situation.

Relationship between social role and social status

Social status has an impact on the behavior of the individual. Knowing the social status of a person, one can predict what qualities are characteristic of him, what actions can be expected from him. The expected behavior of an individual associated with his status is called a social role.

Definition 2

A social role is a pattern of behavior that is recognized as the most appropriate for an individual of a given status in society. The role indicates exactly how to act in a given situation.

Any individual is a reflection of the totality of social relations of his historical period.

The social role and social status in communication perform the following functions:

• regulatory function - helps to quickly select the necessary interaction scenario without spending large resources;
• adaptive function - allows you to quickly find a suitable behavior model when changing social status;
• cognitive function - the ability to know your personal potential, to carry out the processes of self-knowledge;
• the function of self-realization is the manifestation of the best qualities of a person, the achievement of desired goals.

The process of learning social roles allows you to learn the norms of culture. Each status of this role is characterized by its own norms and laws, customs. Acceptance of most of the norms depends on the status of the individual. Some norms are accepted by all members of society. Those norms and rules that are acceptable for one status may be unacceptable for another. Socialization teaches role behavior, allows the individual to become part of society.

Remark 1

From the many social roles and statuses offered to an individual by society, he can choose those that will most fully help him to apply his abilities and realize his plans. The adoption of a certain social role is greatly influenced by biological and personal characteristics, social conditions. Any social role only outlines the scheme of human behavior, the choice of ways to fulfill the role of the individual chooses himself.

Every person living in a society is included in many different social groups (family, study group, group of friends, etc.). In each of these groups, he occupies a certain position, has a certain status, certain requirements are imposed on him. Thus, one and the same person must behave in one situation like a father, in another - like a friend, in a third - like a boss, i.e. act in different roles. A social role is a way of people's behavior corresponding to accepted norms, depending on their status or position in society, in the system of interpersonal relations. The development of social roles is part of the process of socialization of the individual, an indispensable condition for the "growing" of a person into a society of his own kind. Socialization is the process and result of the assimilation and active reproduction of social experience by an individual, carried out in communication and activity. Examples of social roles are also gender roles (male or female behavior), professional roles. 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 the conditions of multiple connections with the world (i.e. e. to be yourself, playing various roles). A personality (or rather, a formed substructure of orientation) is just that mechanism, a functional organ that allows you to integrate your "I" and your own life, to carry out a moral assessment of your actions, to find your place not only in a separate social group, but also in life. in general, to work out the meaning of one's existence, to refuse one in favor of the other. Thus, a developed personality can use role-playing behavior as a tool for adapting to certain social situations, while at the same time not merging, not identifying with the role. The main components of the social role constitute a hierarchical system in which three levels can be distinguished. The first is peripheral attributes, i.e. such, 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 a doctor). The second level involves role attributes that affect both perception and effectiveness (for example, long hair for a hippie or poor health for an athlete). At the top of the three-level gradation are the attributes of the role, which are decisive for the formation of a person's identity. The role concept of personality emerged in American social psychology in the 1930s. (C. Cooley, J. Mead) and became widespread in various sociological currents, primarily in structural-functional analysis. T. Parsons and his followers consider personality as a function of the multitude of 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 of people with the outside world. 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 pay attention to 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 perceived reaction of others ("Apparently, I will always comb my hair like this"). This theory places importance on our interpretation of the thoughts and feelings of others. 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. In the beginning, as young children, we are unable to explain to ourselves the motives behind the behavior of others. Having learned to comprehend their behavior, children thus take the first step in 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 distinct stages. The first is imitation. At this stage, children copy the behavior of adults without understanding it. Then follows the game stage, when children understand behavior as the performance of certain roles: a doctor, a firefighter, a race car driver, etc.; in the course of the game they reproduce these roles.

In scientific literature, and even more so in everyday life, the concepts of “man”, “individual”, “individuality”, “personality” are widely used, often making no distinctions, while there is a significant difference between them.

Human- a biosocial being, the highest level of the animal type.

Individual- an individual person.

Individuality- a special combination in a person of the natural and the social, inherent in a specific, single individual, distinguishing him from others. Each person is individual, figuratively speaking, has his own face, which is expressed by the concept of “personality”.

This is a complex concept, the study of which takes place at the intersection of natural and social. Moreover, representatives of different schools and trends view it through the prism of the subject of their science.

1. Socio-biological school (S. Freud etc.), is associated with the struggle in our minds of unconscious instincts and moral prohibitions dictated by society.
2. The theory of "mirror self" (C. Cooley, J. Mead), in which “I” is a part of the personality, which consists of self-consciousness and the image of “I”. In accordance with this concept, a personality is formed in the process of its social interaction and reflects a person's ideas about how he is perceived and evaluated by other people. In the course of interpersonal communication, a person creates his mirror self, which consists of three elements:

• ideas about how other people perceive it;
• ideas about how they evaluate it;
• how a person responds to the perceived reaction of other people.

So in theory "mirror self" personality acts as a result of social interaction, during which the individual acquires the ability to evaluate himself from the point of view of other members of this social group.

As you can see, the Meadian concept of personality, in contrast to the theory of Z. Freud, is completely social.

1. Role theory (J. Moreno, T. Parsons), according to which the personality is a function of the set of social roles that the individual performs in society.
2. Anthropological School (M. Lundman), which does not separate the concepts of "man" and "personality".
3. Marxist sociology in the concept of “personality” reflects the social essence of a person as a set of social relations that determine the social, psychological and spiritual qualities of people, socialize their natural and biological properties.
4. Sociological approach which guides many modern sociologists, is to represent each person as a personality, to the extent of mastering, acquiring socially significant features and qualities. These include the level of education and training, the totality of knowledge and skills that make it possible to realize various positions and roles in society.

Based on the above theoretical provisions, it is possible to determine personality How individual manifestation of the totality of social relations, the social characteristics of a person.

As an integral social system, a person has its own internal structure, consisting of levels.

biological level includes natural, common in origin personality traits (body structure, age and gender characteristics, temperament, etc.).

Psychological level personality unites its psychological characteristics (feelings, will, memory, thinking). Psychological features are in close relationship with the heredity of the individual.

Finally, social level of the individual divided into three sublevel:

1. proper sociological (motives of behavior, interests of the individual, life experience, goals), this sublevel is more closely connected with social consciousness, which is objective in relation to each person, acting as part of the social environment, as material for individual consciousness;
2. specific cultural (value and other attitudes, norms of behavior);
3. moral.

When studying a personality as a subject of social relations, sociologists pay special attention to the internal determinants of its social behavior. These determinants include primarily needs and interests.

Needs- these are those forms of interaction with the world (material and spiritual), the need for which is due to the peculiarities of the reproduction and development of its biological, psychological, social certainty, which are realized, felt by a person in any form.

Interests are the perceived needs of the individual.

The needs and interests of the individual lie at the basis of her value attitude to the world around her, at the basis of her system of values ​​and value orientations.

Some authors in personality structure include and other elements: culture, knowledge, norms, values, activities, beliefs, value orientations and attitudes that make up the core of the individual, act as a regulator of behavior, directing it to the normative framework prescribed by society.

A special place in the structure of personality is occupied by her and the role.

Having matured, a person actively enters, “introduces” himself into social life, trying to take his place in it, to satisfy personal needs and interests. The relationship between the individual and society can be described by the formula: society offers, the individual seeks, chooses his place, trying to realize his interests. At the same time, it shows, proves to society that it is in its place and will perform well a certain role assigned to it.

The social status of the individual

The social functions of the individual and the rights and obligations arising from them in relation to other participants in social interaction determine it. social status, i.e., the set of actions and the corresponding conditions for their implementation, which are assigned to a given social status of a person occupying a certain place, position in the social structure. The social status of the individual is a characteristic of social positions, on which it is located in the given social coordinate system.

Society makes sure that the individual regularly performs his roles, social functions. Why endows it with a certain social status. Otherwise, it puts another person in this place, believing that she will better cope with social duties, will bring more benefit to other members of society who play different roles in it.

Social statuses are prescribed(sex, age, nationality) and achieved(student, associate professor, professor).

Achieved statuses are fixed taking into account abilities, achievements, which gives a perspective to everyone. In an ideal society, most statuses are attainable. In reality, it's far from it. Each person has many statuses: father, student, teacher, public figure, etc. Among them, the main one stands out, which is the most important and valuable for society. It matches social prestige this person.

Each status is associated with certain expected behavior in the performance of the corresponding functions. In this case, we are talking about the social role of the individual.

The social role of the individual

social role is a set of features, a more or less well-defined pattern of behavior that is expected of a person, holding a certain status in society. So, a family man plays the role of son, husband, father. At work, he can simultaneously be an engineer, a technologist, a foreman of a production site, a member of a trade union, etc. Of course, not all social roles are equivalent for society and are equivalent for an individual. Family, professional, and socio-political roles should be singled out as the main ones. Thanks to their timely development and successful implementation by members of society, the normal functioning of the social organism is possible.

To each man have to perform and many situational roles. By entering the bus, we become passengers and are obliged to follow the rules of conduct in public transport. Having finished the trip, we turn into pedestrians and follow the rules of the street. In the reading room and in the store, we behave differently, because the role of the buyer and the role of the reader are different. Deviations from the requirements of the role, violations of the rules of behavior are fraught with unpleasant consequences for a person.

The social role is not a rigid model of behavior. People perceive and perform their roles differently. However, society is interested in people to master, skillfully perform and enrich social roles in accordance with the requirements of life in a timely manner. First of all, this applies to the main roles: worker, family man, citizen, etc. In this case, the interests of society coincide with the interests of the individual. WITH social roles - forms of manifestation and development of personality and their successful implementation is the key to human happiness. It is easy to see that truly happy people have a good family, successfully cope with their professional duties. They take a conscious part in the life of society, in state affairs. As for the company of friends, leisure activities and hobbies, they enrich life, but are not able to compensate for failures in the implementation of basic social roles.

Social conflicts

However, it is not at all easy to achieve harmony of social roles in human life. This requires great efforts, time, abilities, as well as the ability to resolve conflicts that arise in the performance of social roles. These could be intra-role, inter-role And personality-role.

To intra-role conflicts are those in which the requirements of one role contradict, oppose each other. Mothers, for example, are prescribed not only kind, affectionate treatment of their children, but also demanding, strictness towards them. It is not easy to combine these prescriptions when a beloved child has been guilty and deserves punishment.

Interrole conflicts arise when the requirements of one role contradict, oppose the requirements of another role. A striking illustration of this conflict is the dual employment of women. The workload of family women in social production and in everyday life often does not allow them to fully and without harm to health perform their professional duties and housework, be a charming wife and caring mother. There are many ideas about how to resolve this conflict. The most realistic at present and in the foreseeable future are the relatively even distribution of household chores among family members and the reduction of women's employment in social production (part-time work, a week, the introduction of a flexible schedule, the spread of home work, etc.). . P.).

Student life, contrary to popular belief, is also not complete without role conflicts. To master the chosen profession, to receive education, a focus on educational and scientific activities is required. At the same time, a young person needs a variety of communication, free time for other activities and hobbies, without which it is impossible to form a full-fledged personality, create a family. The situation is complicated by the fact that neither education nor diverse socializing can be postponed to a later date without prejudice to personality formation and professional training.

Personal-role conflicts arise in situations where the requirements of a social role contradict the properties and life aspirations of the individual. Thus, a social role requires from a person not only extensive knowledge, but also good willpower, energy, and the ability to communicate with people in various, including critical, situations. If a specialist lacks these qualities, then he cannot cope with his role. The people on this occasion say: "Not for Senka hat."

Each person included in the system of social relations has countless social ties, is endowed with many statuses, performs a whole range of different roles, is the bearer of certain ideas, feelings, character traits, etc. It is almost impossible to take into account all the diversity of the properties of each individual, but in this is not necessary. In sociology essential not individual, but social properties and personality traits, i.e. qualities, that many individuals have under similar, objective conditions. Therefore, for the convenience of studying individuals who have a set of recurring essential social qualities, they are typologized, that is, they are attributed to a certain social type.

Social personality type- a generalized reflection, a set of recurring social qualities inherent in many individuals who are part of any social community. For example, European, Asian, Caucasian types; students, workers, veterans, etc.

Typology of personalities can be carried out for various reasons. For example, by profession or type of activity: miner, farmer, economist, lawyer; by territorial affiliation or way of life: city dweller, village dweller, northerner; by gender and age: boys, girls, pensioners; according to the degree of social activity: leader (leader, activist), follower (performer), etc.

In sociology, there are modal,basic and ideal personality types. Modal called the average personality type, which actually prevails in a given society. Under basic is understood as the type of personality that best meets the needs of the development of society. Ideal personality type is not tied to specific conditions and is considered as a model of the personality of the future.

An American sociologist and psychologist made a great contribution to the development of the social typology of personality E. Fromm(1900-1980), who created the concept of social character. By E. Fromm's definition, social character is the core of the character structure, common to most members of a particular culture. E. Fromm saw the importance of the social character in the fact that it allows you to most effectively adapt to the requirements of society and gain a sense of security and security. According to E. Fromm, classical capitalism is characterized by such features of a social character as individualism, aggressiveness, and the desire for accumulation. In modern bourgeois society, a social character is emerging, oriented towards mass consumption and marked by a feeling of satiety, boredom and preoccupation. Accordingly, E. Fromm singled out fourtype of social character:receptive(passive), exploitative, accumulative And market He considered all these types to be unfruitful and opposed them with the social character of a new type, which contributes to the formation of an independent, independent and active personality.

In modern sociology, the allocation of personality types depending on the their value orientations.

1. Traditionalists are mainly focused on the values ​​of duty, order, discipline, law-abidingness, and such qualities as independence and the desire for self-realization are very weakly expressed in this type of personality.
2. Idealists, on the contrary, have strong independence, a critical attitude towards traditional norms, attitudes towards self-development, and neglect of authorities.
3. Realists combine the desire for self-realization with a developed sense of duty and responsibility, healthy skepticism with self-discipline and self-control.

They show that the specificity of relations in various spheres of public life stimulates the manifestation of certain personal qualities and types of behavior. So, market relations contribute to the development of entrepreneurship, pragmatism, cunning, prudence, the ability to present oneself; interactions in the sphere of production form egoism, careerism and forced cooperation, and in the sphere of family and personal life - emotionality, cordiality, affection, the search for harmony.

Relationship, interdependence of the individual and society

Consider the different concepts presented by M. Weber and K. Marx.

M. Weber sees in the role of the subject of public life only certain individuals that act intelligently. And such social totalities as “classes”, “society”, “state”, in his opinion, are entirely abstract and cannot be subjected to social analysis.

Another solution to this problem is the theory K. Marx. In his understanding, the subjects of social development are social formations of several levels: humanity, classes, nations, the state, the family and the individual. The movement of society is carried out as a result of the actions of all these subjects. However, they are by no means equivalent and the strength of their impact varies depending on historical conditions. In different epochs, such a subject is put forward as a decisive one, which is the main driving force of a given historical period.

Nevertheless, it must be borne in mind that in Marx's concept, all subjects of social development act in line with the objective laws of the development of society. They can neither change these laws nor repeal them. Their subjective activity either helps these laws to operate freely and thereby accelerates social development, or prevents them from operating and then slows down the historical process.

How is the problem of interest to us represented in this theory: the individual and society. We see that the individual here is recognized as the subject of social development, although it is not brought to the fore and does not fall into the number of driving forces of social progress. According to Marx's concept, personality Not only subject, but also society object. It is not an abstract inherent in the individual. In its reality it is the totality of all social relations. The development of an individual is conditioned by the development of all other individuals with whom he is in direct or indirect communication; it cannot be divorced from the history of previous and contemporary individuals. Thus, the vital activity of the individual in the concept of Marx is comprehensively determined by society in the form of the social conditions of its existence, the legacy of the past, the objective laws of history, etc., although there is still some space for its social action. According to Marx, history is nothing but the activity of a man pursuing his goals.

And now let's get back to reality, the life of modern Russians in the 21st century. The Soviet totalitarian state collapsed. New social conditions and values ​​emerged. And it turned out that many people cannot perceive, master, assimilate them, find their new way in such a difficult time. Hence the social pathologies that are now the pain of our society - crime, alcoholism, drug addiction, suicide.

Obviously, time will pass and people will learn to live in new social conditions, to seek and find the meaning of life, but this requires the experience of freedom. She gave rise to a vacuum of existence, breaking traditions, estates, and so on, and she will also teach how to fill it. In the West, people are already making some progress in this direction - they have studied longer. Very interesting ideas on this subject are expressed by the Austrian scientist Dr. V. Frankl. He believes that it is natural for a person to strive to ensure that his life is meaningful. If there is no meaning, this is the most difficult state of the individual. There is no common meaning of life for all people, it is unique for everyone. The meaning of life, according to Frankl, cannot be invented, invented; it must be found, it exists objectively outside of man. The tension that arises between a person and an external meaning is a normal, healthy state of the psyche.

Despite the fact that the meaning of each life is unique, there are not so many ways in which a person can make his life meaningful: what we give to life (in the sense of our creative work); what we take from the world (in terms of experiences, values); what position do we take in relation to fate if we cannot change it. In accordance with this, three groups of values ​​can be distinguished: the values ​​of creativity, the values ​​of experiences and the values ​​of relationships. The realization of values ​​(or at least one of them) can help make sense of human life. If a person does something beyond the prescribed duties, brings something of his own to work, then this is already a meaningful life. However, the meaning of life can also be given by an experience, for example, love. Even a single brightest experience will make the past life meaningful. But deeper is the third group of values ​​- the values ​​of attitude. A person is forced to resort to them when he cannot change circumstances, when he finds himself in an extreme situation (hopelessly ill, deprived of liberty, lost a loved one, etc.). Under any circumstances, a person can take a meaningful position, because a person's life retains its meaning to the end.

The conclusion can be made quite optimistic: despite the spiritual crisis in many people of the modern world, there will still be a way out of this state as people master new free forms of life, opportunities for self-realization of their abilities, achievement of life goals.

Personal self-realization, as a rule, occurs not in one, but in several types of activity. In addition to professional activities, most people strive to create a strong family, have good friends, interesting hobbies, etc. All the various activities and goals together create a kind of long-term orientation system for the individual. Based on this perspective, the individual chooses the appropriate life strategy (the general direction of the life path).

Life strategies can be divided into three main types:

1. life well-being strategy - the desire to create favorable living conditions, earn another million;
2. life success strategy - the desire to get the next position, the next title, conquer the next peak, etc .;
3. strategy of life self-realization - the desire to maximize their abilities in certain activities.

The choice of a particular life strategy depends on three main factors:

• objective social conditions that society (the state) can provide to the individual for its self-realization;
• belonging of an individual to a particular social community (class, ethnic group, social stratum, etc.);
• socio-psychological qualities of the personality itself.

For example, most members of a traditional or crisis society, in which the problem of survival is the main one, are forced to adhere to a strategy of well-being. IN democratic society with developed market relations the most popular is life success strategy. In a social society(state), in which the overwhelming majority of citizens have solved the main social problems, it can be very attractive life self-realization strategy.

A life strategy can be chosen by an individual once and for life, or it can change depending on certain circumstances. So, the individual has fully implemented the strategy of life success and decided to focus on a new strategy, or the individual is forced to abandon the previously chosen strategy (a scientist who has lost his job, a bankrupt businessman, a retired military man, etc.).

Characterize various relationships and determine the behavior of people certain social roles and statuses.

A social role is a way of people's behavior corresponding to accepted norms, depending on their status or position in society, in the system of interpersonal relations. Every human behavior is motivated by something and someone, has its own direction, is accompanied by some actions (physical, mental, verbal, etc.).

The development of social roles is part of the process of socialization of the individual, an indispensable condition for the “growing” of a person into a society of his own kind. Socialization is the process and result of the assimilation and active reproduction of social experience by an individual, carried out in communication and activity. By assimilating social roles, a person assimilates social standards of behavior, learns to evaluate himself from the outside and exercise self-control. Thus, a developed personality can use role-playing behavior as a tool for adapting to certain social situations, at the same time not merging, not identifying with the role.

Social roles are subdivided into institutionalized ones, i.e. institution of marriage, family; social. roles of mother, daughter; wife and conventional: accepted by agreement, although a person may not accept them.

Describing the role-based sociotypical behavior of the individual, sociologists and social psychologists characterize the individual precisely as a representative of a particular group, profession, nation, class, one or another social whole. Depending on how the group acts for the individual, how much the individual is involved in certain relations with the group, what the goals and objectives of the joint activity of the group mean for it, various personality traits are manifested.

Social roles are diverse, and the larger their set, the more complex the society. However, the roles are not a simple heap, devoid of inner harmony. They are organized, interconnected by countless threads. There are two main levels of organization, ordering of roles: institutions and communities. Thanks to these social formations, roles are interconnected, their reproduction is ensured, guarantees of their stability are created, specific norms regulating role interactions are formed, sanctions are developed, and complex systems of social control arise.

The social role "concentrates attention on the universal, universal requirements for the behavior of a person who is in a certain social position." Moreover, these two concepts describe the same phenomenon from different points of view. Status describes the position of a person in the social structure, and the role determines its dynamic aspect. Role is a dynamic aspect of status. Education, as a folded system, offers a set of ready-made statuses and roles that can fluctuate within a certain scale of acceptable invariants.

With regard to social stratification, education plays a dual role. Social stratification describes the social inequality of people, fixes the structural inequality of people, "the conditions under which social groups have unequal access to such social benefits as money, power, prestige, education, information, professional career, self-realization, etc." Thus, education as a synonym for the word "diploma" is one of the criteria for building the social stratification of a particular society. According to the degree of accessibility of individual members of society to education, we can talk about the qualitative characteristics of the inequality that prevails in a particular society. On the other hand, education is a separate stratum of society. The social stratum has a certain qualitative homogeneity. It is a collection of people who occupy a close position in the hierarchy and lead a similar lifestyle. Belonging to a stratum has two components - objective (the presence of objective indicators characteristic of a given social stratum) and subjective (identification with a certain stratum).

Social status as an element of the social organization of society is complexly coordinated and ranked relative to the dominant system of values, which gives them a special significance in public opinion. Social mobility characterizes “a change in social status, i.e. movement of an individual (or social group) between different positions in the system of social stratification. A number of researchers consider educational institutions to be the main means of stimulating and reinforcing social inequality. Nevertheless, there is no doubt that in the current conditions of the development of society (acceleration of scientific progress, intensification of the rate of knowledge renewal, increase in the volume of incoming information), a quality education is required.

These categories allow you to describe the movement of an individual vertically. But education appears at all levels: global, national, regional. Such a consideration makes it possible to reveal the presence of additional functions performed by education.

However, this model of education as a social institution turns out to be rather schematic, since it does not reflect the conditions in which a particular institution is located. In addition, it is built synchronously and does not allow revealing the dynamics of the development of education in the time perspective.

The modern social, economic, political, cultural context in which education is located is characterized in terms of two processes: regionalization and globalization. It is customary to consider them as multidirectional and leading to different results. However, this opinion can also be accused of schematism.