Social status and social role. The social status of a person in society

Status is the position, the position of a person in a group or society.

Being a leader or an outsider in a small group, such as a group of friends, means having an informal or personal status. To be an engineer, a man, a husband, a Russian, an Orthodox Christian, a conservative, a businessman means to occupy a formal (social) status. In other words, to occupy a certain place in the system of social division of labor.

Status is implemented through a role. Being a husband means having the status of "husband" and fulfilling the role of a husband. Any status consists of a set of rights and obligations, which, by tradition, society assigns to this position. The teacher is obliged to transfer knowledge to students, evaluate their progress, monitor discipline, i.e. play a specific role. True, one person responsibly approaches his duties, and the other does not, one uses soft methods of education, and the other is hard, one is confidential with students, and the other keeps them at a distance. In other words, people behave differently in the same position, i.e. adhere to different models of behavior (roles).

The model of behavior in accordance with the formal rights and obligations assigned to a given status is called a role.

The same duties can be performed in different ways, therefore, One status can have many roles. But a person, being in the same status, as a rule, adheres to one role. Although the same person can have many statuses: a man, Russian, Orthodox, conscript, husband, student, etc. So, one person has many statuses and the same number of roles. A role is a dynamic characteristic of a status. The status can be empty, but the role is not.

The set of empty, i.e. unfilled statuses by people, forms the SOCIAL STRUCTURE of SOCIETY.

There are few statuses in a primitive society: chief, shaman, man, woman, husband, wife, son, daughter, hunter, gatherer, child, adult, old man, and so on. - they can be counted on the fingers. And in modern society there are about 40,000 professional statuses alone, more than 200 family and marriage relations (brother-in-law, daughter-in-law, cousin ... continue the list yourself), many hundreds of political, religious, economic ones. There are 3,000 languages on our planet, behind each of them there is an ethnic group - a nation, a people, a nationality, a tribe. And these are also statuses. They are included in the demographic system along with age and sex.

So, let's make the first generalization: The first building blocks of the subject of sociology are statuses and roles. The first give a static, and the second a dynamic picture of society. The totality of unfilled statuses gives us the social structure of society.

It can be likened to a honeycomb in a beehive: many empty cells are tightly fitted to each other. Social cells are held together by a particularly strong foundation - social functions.

This is also a very simple concept. What is the function of a teacher? Transfer your knowledge, evaluate progress, monitor discipline. Guess what we're talking about? Of course, these are familiar rights and obligations. They are relative. Why? The status of a teacher is relative to the status of a student, but not a city worker, parent, officer, Russian, etc. Relativity means the functional relationship of statuses. That is why the social structure is not just an aggregate, but a functional interconnection of statuses. The word "relativity" is associated not only with functions, but also with relationships. In fulfilling his duties, the teacher enters into a certain relationship with the student, and he - with the teacher, parents, policeman, peers, salesman, taxi driver, etc.

We can safely say that social statuses are connected social relationships, personal statuses are connected interpersonal relationships. Society is entangled in a huge network of social relations, under it, one floor below, there is another network - interpersonal relations.

For sociology, what matters is not what kind of personal relationships people enter into, but how something more fundamental, social relationships, peeps through them. The foreman may treat the worker with great sympathy. Their personal relationship is wonderful. But if the second one does not cope well with his professional role, does not correspond to the status, the first one will be fired. Chief and subordinate - social roles.

So our second conclusion is: statuses are interconnected by social functions, which are manifested through social ones. Functions and relationships, like cement and sand, create a solid mortar that holds the social structure together.

Take a closer look, the latter has grown and become multi-layered: statuses, rights and obligations, functions, social relations. What have we forgotten? Certainly, roles. As agreed, roles, unlike statuses, give a dynamic picture of society. The way it is. A role without a person is nothing. The role requires its actor.

Individuals performing social roles enter into social interaction with each other. This is a regular, iterative process.

Only regularly repeated social interactions crystallize into social relationships. And again - dynamics and statics. If a person once taught teenagers something, then what kind of teacher is he? A teacher is a constant function (ie a social position in society), just like teaching is a regular interaction. Only then does it become social. Interaction, action, behavior, role - all these are very close, even related concepts. And we will talk about this more.

To analyze a social role without considering what a human person is is an idle occupation. Throughout our lives, we learn how to properly perform social roles, follow prescribed norms and duties.

Lesson objectives: Bring to the scientific level ideas about the social status and social role of a person in society. Bring to the scientific level ideas about the social status and social role of a person in society. Develop the ability to express their own opinions; comment on statements, analyze the text. Develop the ability to express their own opinions; comment on statements, analyze the text. Identification and comprehension of one's own social position. Identification and comprehension of one's own social position.

Main social groups Composition Attitude towards reforms and life strategy Top stratum (1%) Elite groups in management, economy, power structures. The main subject of reforms. The middle stratum (24%) Entrepreneurs (except for large ones), the middle link of the bureaucracy, senior officers, highly qualified specialists. Actively participate in transformations. Basic stratum (68%) Part of the intelligentsia, technical personnel, workers in the mass professions of service and trade, most of the peasants. The main efforts are directed not at transformation, but at adaptation. The lowest layer (7%) Non-working pensioners, unemployed, refugees. Unable to adapt to the conditions of the transition period.

Main social groups Share in the population (in %) Monthly income per capita (in dollars) Rich 3-5% Over 2000 Wealthy 15% Middle 20% Low-income 20% Poor, including the social bottom. 40% 10-12% Less than 50

Analysis of tables What criteria underlie the allocation of social groups in each of the variants of the social structure? What criteria underlie the allocation of social groups in each of the variants of the social structure? Why, in your opinion, is the share of the rich in option 1 significantly lower than in option 2? Why, in your opinion, is the share of the rich in option 1 significantly lower than in option 2? How can one explain such a large number of low-income and poor people (basic and lower layer)? How can one explain such a large number of low-income and poor people (basic and lower layer)?

Social status This is the place that a person occupies in the social structure of society. This is the place that a person occupies in the social structure of society. This is the position of a person in society, associated with a certain set of rights and obligations. This is the position of a person in society, associated with a certain set of rights and obligations.

Social role A model of human behavior in certain situations developed by society. A model of human behavior in certain situations developed by society. A set of actions that a person performs in accordance with his social status. A set of actions that a person performs in accordance with his social status.

Analysis of the story What roles did thin and fat play at the meeting? What roles did thin and fat play at the meeting? What determined such role-playing behavior of the characters in the story? What determined such role-playing behavior of the characters in the story? Describe the roles of thin and thick at the end of the story. Which character's role has changed? What is the reason for the change? Describe the roles of thin and thick at the end of the story. Which character's role has changed? What is the reason for the change?

Conclusion on the studied problem A person who occupies a certain position in society, most strives to correspond to his status and behave properly. It develops a behavior model focused on a specific status. Surrounding people will treat the person in such a way as they see the fulfillment of her status through real behavior. A person who occupies a certain position in society strives to the greatest extent to correspond to his status and behave properly. It develops a behavior model focused on a specific status. Surrounding people will treat the person in such a way as they see the fulfillment of her status through real behavior.

Homework Find out how their social status has changed using the example of the lives of your parents and grandparents. What were the circumstances behind these changes? On the example of the life of your parents, grandparents, find out how their social status has changed. What were the circumstances behind these changes?

Problems in Sociology There lived two wealthy peasants. One of them harvested a good harvest of wheat and got the opportunity to expand his farm. At the same time, half of the herd of another peasant died from the disease, and he suffered great losses. As a result, their financial situation turned out to be different. There lived two wealthy peasants. One of them harvested a good harvest of wheat and got the opportunity to expand his farm. At the same time, half of the herd of another peasant died from the disease, and he suffered great losses. As a result, their financial situation turned out to be different. What do you think are the possible social consequences of the described events? What do you think are the possible social consequences of the described events?

One of the first codes of laws of Kievan Rus - "Russian Truth" - provides for various punishments for murder. So, the fine for killing a tiun (steward) was huge: it was equal to the cost of a herd of 80 oxen or 400 rams. The life of a serf or a serf was valued many times cheaper. One of the first codes of laws of Kievan Rus - "Russian Truth" - provides for various punishments for murder. So, the fine for killing a tiun (steward) was huge: it was equal to the cost of a herd of 80 oxen or 400 rams. The life of a serf or a serf was valued many times cheaper. What conclusions can be drawn from these data? What conclusions can be drawn from these data?

More than six thousand people live in our village. More than six thousand people live in our village. What criteria do you think should be applied to describe the social structure of the population of the village so that it corresponds to the real state of affairs? What criteria do you think should be applied to describe the social structure of the population of the village so that it corresponds to the real state of affairs?

Detailed solution Paragraph § 13 on social studies for students in grade 11, authors L.N. Bogolyubov, N.I. Gorodetskaya, L.F. Ivanova 2014

Question 1. Is the highest rung of the social ladder accessible to every person? What determines the position of a person in society?

The concept of the social ladder is relative. For officials - one thing, for businessmen - another, for artists - the third, etc. There is no single social ladder.

A person's position in society depends on education, property, power, income, and so on.

A person can change his social position with the help of social elevators - the army, the church, the school.

Additional social elevators - the media, party and social activities, the accumulation of wealth, marriage with representatives of the upper class.

Position in society, social status has always occupied an important place in the life of every person. So, what determines the position in society:

1. Kinship - status may depend on kinship lines, the status of children of wealthy and influential parents is undoubtedly higher than that of children born to less influential parents.

2. Personal qualities - one of the most important points on which the status in society depends. A person with a strong-willed character, who has the qualities of a leader, a leader, will surely achieve more in life and achieve a higher position in society than a person with the opposite character.

3. Connections - the more friends, the more acquaintances who can really help to get somewhere, the more likely it is to achieve the goal, which means to gain a higher social status.

Questions and tasks for the document

Question 1. What types of social stratification is the author talking about?

Economic, political, professional differentiation of society.

If the economic status of members of a certain society is not the same, if there are both haves and have-nots among them, then such a society is characterized by the presence of economic stratification, regardless of whether it is organized on communist or capitalist principles, whether it is constitutionally defined as a “society of equals” or not . No labels, signs, oral statements are able to change or obscure the reality of the fact of economic inequality, which is expressed in the difference in incomes, living standards, in the existence of rich and poor sections of the population. If within a group there are hierarchically different ranks in terms of authority and prestige, titles and honors, if there are rulers and ruled, then regardless of the terms (monarchs, bureaucrats, masters, bosses) this means that such a group is politically differentiated, that whatever it proclaims in its constitution or declaration. If members of a society are divided into different groups according to the nature of their activities, occupations, and some professions are considered more prestigious in comparison with others, and if members of a particular professional group are divided into leaders of various ranks and subordinates, then such a group is professionally differentiated regardless of whether superiors are elected or appointed, whether they inherit their leadership positions or because of their personal qualities.

Question 3. Is it possible, on the basis of the source, to assert that social inequality manifests itself in societies of different types?

Yes, you can. Since the phrase "regardless of whether the chiefs are elected or appointed, whether they inherit their leadership positions or because of their personal qualities" indicates that, under a monarchical order, such a situation could also develop.

SELF-CHECK QUESTIONS

Question 1. What caused the existence of social groups in society?

Sociologists explain the emergence and existence of social groups primarily by the social division of labor and the specialization of people's activities. Sociologists believe that even today the division of human activity into main types determines the diversity and number of social groups, their position in society. So, the existence of strata of the population, differing in income levels, is associated with economic activity, with political activity - the existence in society of leaders and masses, governing and controlled.

The existence of various social groups is also due to the historical diversity of living conditions, culture, social norms and values. This, in particular, explains the presence of ethnic and religious groups in modern society.

Question 2. What social groups exist in modern Russian society? What is the objective basis of their emergence and existence?

The structure of Russian society

Class A. Rich. They are mainly engaged in the sale of raw materials, the accumulation of personal capital and its export abroad. 5-10% of the population.

Class B1+B2. Middle class. 10-15% of the population. Engaged in class A services in all areas of economic activity (financial, legal, information technology, in secondary production, necessary for pumping out raw materials).

Subclass B1. Most in their class. Hired employees, office, on a good salary.

Subclass B2. Minority in its class. Owners of their own medium business and small private capital.

Class C. Small proprietors. As such, it is practically absent in Russia.

Class D. The rest of the people, workers, peasants, state employees, the military, students, pensioners, the electorate, "muzhiks", "Russians", cattle, the crowd. 75-80% of the population.

National Subclass D1. Russian and essentially Russified peoples.

National Subclass D2. tolerant nationalities.

Class E. Human resource of the CIS countries + China.

They arose in connection with the formation of capitalism, with the advent of private property in Russia and with the stratification of society.

Question 3. How do the variety of forms of ownership and market relations affect the social structure of society?

The existence of private property divides society into owners of the means of production and workers. Accordingly, whoever owns the means of production receives a profit from their use, and the workers get their usual wages. Hence the social structure of the rich and the simple workers.

Market relations divide society into producers and consumers. There is also a lot of competition between manufacturers. That also divides society. There are goods that only certain groups of society can acquire, they are not available to the lower strata of the population.

Question 4. Who, in your opinion, forms the Russian middle class?

According to the World Bank, the Russian middle class is defined as households whose consumption level is one and a half times the level of the national poverty scale (income below the subsistence level), but below the minimum consumption level of the so-called “world-class middle class”, and amounted to 55.6% in 2008. However, according to the calculations of the same World Bank, the average monthly income of a representative of the world-class middle class starts at $ 3,500 and only no more than 8% of the entire world population can be attributed to this class.

In 2009, according to the World Bank, Russia's world-class middle class shrank by a quarter from its pre-crisis peak of 12.6% to 9.5%.

A very large part of the Russian middle class (approximately 40%) is the “old middle” class, that is, the owner-entrepreneurs. As for the intellectuals, they are largely pushed into the lower stratum.

Question 5. What points of view exist on the possibility of achieving equality and justice in a society where there is social differentiation?

In modern society, social equality is increasingly understood as equality before the law, as well as equality of rights and opportunities. The way to achieve such equality is the observance of the rights and respect for the human dignity of representatives of all social groups. In a society that proclaims social equality, equal opportunities are created for all people, regardless of gender, race, nationality, class, origin, place of residence in obtaining education, medical services, in economic and political activities, etc. Thus, representatives of all social groups have equal opportunities for admission to study at higher educational institutions, employment, promotion, nomination as a candidate for elections to central or local authorities. At the same time, ensuring equal opportunities does not imply the obligatory receipt of the same results (for example, equal wages).

Modern UN documents set the task of ensuring equal opportunities for well-being for people belonging to both current and future generations. This means that the satisfaction of the needs of present generations should not be detrimental to the opportunities left as a legacy to future generations to meet their needs.

Question 6. What does the concept of "social mobility" mean? What are its types?

Modern society has become open. There are no prohibitions on practicing a particular profession, on marriages between representatives of various social, ethnic or religious groups. As a result, social movements of people have intensified (between city and countryside, between different sectors of the economy, between professions, between different regions of the country) and, consequently, the possibilities for an individual choice of profession, place of residence, lifestyle, spouse or spouse have significantly expanded.

The transition of people from one social group to another is called social mobility.

Sociologists distinguish between horizontal and vertical mobility. Horizontal mobility refers to the processes of transition from group to group without changing social status. For example, the transition from one state enterprise to another, from one family to another, from one citizenship to another.

The processes of vertical mobility are associated with the transition up or down the steps of the social ladder. Distinguish between ascending (upward) and downward (downward) social mobility. Upward vertical mobility can include promotion of a person to a position, transition to a managerial job, mastering a more prestigious profession, etc. Downward vertical mobility includes, for example, the process of ruining an average entrepreneur and turning him into a hired worker.

The ways in which people move from one social group to another are called channels of social mobility or social elevators. These include military service, education, mastery of a profession, marriage, acquisition of property, etc.

Social mobility is often facilitated by critical periods in the development of society: revolutions, wars, political upheavals, structural shifts in the economy.

Question 7. Give examples of social mobility from different periods of world and national history.

Menshikov - from a seller of pies to a "semi-powerful ruler" of Russia under Peter I.

M. M. Speransky - from a peasant turned into the right hand of the emperor, then became a governor.

Question 8. Name the channels of social mobility known to you. What do you think, which of them play a particularly important role in modern society?

As channels of social mobility, those ways are considered - conditionally they are called "stairs", "elevators" - using which people can move up and down in the social hierarchy. For the most part, such channels at different times were: political authorities and socio-political organizations, economic structures and professional labor organizations (labor collectives, firms with a system of industrial property built into them, corporate institutions, etc.), as well as the army, church, school, family and clan ties.

These are the channels of the individual's transition from one social position to another within the social stratum. (marriage, career, education, family, etc.)

The choice of an elevator (channel) of social mobility is of great importance when choosing a profession and when recruiting personnel:

Religious organizations.

School and scientific organizations.

Political lift, that is, government groups and parties.

Art.

Press, television, radio.

economic organizations.

Family and marriage.

Question 9. Expand on specific examples of the social interests of various groups in society. How do these groups act in defense of their interests?

Each social group has common interests for all its members. People's interests are based on their needs. However, interests are directed not so much towards the object of needs, but rather towards those social conditions that make this object accessible. First of all, this concerns material and spiritual goods that ensure the satisfaction of needs.

Social interests are embodied in activity - its direction, nature, results. So, from the history course, you know about the interest of peasants and farmers in the results of their labor. This interest makes them improve their production, grow higher yields. In multinational states, various nations are interested in preserving their language, their traditions. These interests contribute to the opening of national schools and classes, the publication of books by national authors, the emergence of cultural-national societies that organize various activities for children and adults. Competing with each other, various groups of entrepreneurs defend their economic interests. Representatives of various professions periodically declare their professional needs.

A social group is able to realize its interests and consciously act in their defense.

The implementation of social interests may lead the group to the need to influence policy. Using a variety of means, a social group can influence the adoption of decisions pleasing to the authorities. Such means can be letters and personal appeals of the group's representatives to the authorities, speeches in the media, demonstrations, marches, rallies, picketing and other social protests. In every country there are laws that allow certain targeted actions of social groups in defense of their interests.

In an effort to satisfy their interests, various social forces often seek to gain power or get the opportunity to participate in its implementation. Evidence of the struggle and compromise of various social interests is the activity of parliamentary groups in the adoption of the laws of the country and other decisions.

Question 10. What is the practical significance of knowledge about the social structure of society?

The practical significance of knowledge about the social structure of society makes it possible to identify group diversity, and to determine the vertical sequence of the position of social strata, layers in society, their hierarchy.

TASKS

Question 1. The US National Democratic Institute has published a methodological guide "How to win elections?". It recommends starting campaign planning by looking at the social structure of your constituency. What do you think is the reason for this practical advice? How can the obtained data on the position of various social groups in the district be reflected in the election campaign?

Any campaign elected to this or that post by voting must first of all represent the interests of citizens. What interests should be represented? What worries, or vice versa, pleases the population now, and what do they want in the future? It is precisely the study of your target audience that helps to answer these questions. It will be easier to win elections because people will hear what they want to hear, but it will be more honest if they also see it in practice.

Question 2. A former worker opened his own business and became an entrepreneur. What social phenomenon does this example illustrate?

This example illustrates such a phenomenon as social mobility, i.e. the possibility of changing the social stratum, in this case - from a lower to a higher one.

Status - it is a certain position in the social structure of a group or society, connected with other positions through a system of rights and obligations.

Sociologists distinguish two types of status: personal and acquired. Personal status is the position of a person that he occupies in the so-called small, or primary, group, depending on how his individual qualities are evaluated in it. On the other hand, in the process of interaction with other individuals, each person performs certain social functions that determine his social status.

Social status is the general position of an individual or social group in society, associated with a certain set of rights and obligations. Social statuses are prescribed and acquired (achieved). The first category includes nationality, place of birth, social origin, etc., the second - profession, education, etc.

In any society, there is a certain hierarchy of statuses, which is the basis of its stratification. Certain statuses are prestigious, others are vice versa. Prestige is an assessment by society of the social significance of a particular status, enshrined in culture and public opinion. This hierarchy is formed under the influence of two factors:

a) the real usefulness of those social functions that a person performs;

b) the system of values characteristic of a given society.

If the prestige of any statuses is unreasonably high or, on the contrary, underestimated, it is usually said that there is a loss of status balance. A society in which there is a similar tendency to lose this balance is unable to ensure its normal functioning. Authority must be distinguished from prestige. Authority is the degree to which society recognizes the dignity of an individual, a particular person.

The social status of a person primarily affects her behavior. Knowing the social status of a person, one can easily determine most of the qualities that he possesses, as well as predict the actions that he will carry out. Such expected behavior of a person, associated with the status that he has, is commonly called a social role. A social role is actually a certain pattern of behavior that is recognized as appropriate for people of a given status in a given society. In fact, the role provides a model showing exactly how an individual should act in a given situation. Roles vary in their degree of formalization: some are very clearly defined, such as in military organizations, others are very vague. A social role can be assigned to a person both formally (for example, in a legislative act), or be informal.

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

Therefore, each person has not one but a whole set of social roles that he plays in society. Their combination is called the role system. Such a variety of social roles can cause an internal conflict of the individual (in the event that some of the social roles contradict each other).

Scientists offer various classifications of social roles. Among the latter, as a rule, the so-called basic (basic) social roles are distinguished. These include:

a) the role of the worker;

b) the role of the owner;

c) the role of the consumer;

d) the role of a citizen;

e) the role of a family member.

However, despite the fact that the behavior of an individual is largely determined by the status that it occupies and the roles it plays in society, it (the individual) nevertheless retains its autonomy and has a certain freedom of choice. And although in modern society there is a tendency towards the unification and standardization of the individual, fortunately, its complete leveling does not occur. The individual has the opportunity to choose from a variety of social statuses and roles offered to him by society, those that allow him to better realize his plans, to use his abilities as efficiently as possible. The acceptance of a particular social role by a person is influenced by both social conditions and his biological and personal characteristics (health, gender, age, temperament, etc.). Any role prescription outlines only a general scheme of human behavior, offering to make a choice of ways to fulfill it by the personality itself.

In the process of achieving a certain status and performing an appropriate social role, a so-called role conflict may arise. A role conflict is a situation in which a person is faced with the need to satisfy the requirements of two or more incompatible roles.

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Social status, its features and types.

social status- the position occupied by an individual or a social group in society or a separate subsystem of society. It is determined by characteristics specific to a particular society, which can be economic, national, age and other characteristics. Social status is divided by skills, abilities, education.

Status types

Each person, as a rule, has not one, but several social statuses. Sociologists distinguish:

· natural status- the status received by a person at birth (sex, race, nationality). In some cases, birth status may change: the status of a member of the royal family - from birth and as long as the monarchy exists.

· acquired (achieved) status- the status that a person achieves by his own efforts (position, post).

· prescribed (assigned) status- the status that a person acquires regardless of his desire (age, status in the family), it can change over the course of life. Prescribed status can be congenital or acquired.

· Features of social status

· Status - it is a social position that includes a given type of profession, economic situation, political preferences, demographic features. For example, the status of a citizen I.I. Ivanov is defined as follows: "salesman" - a profession, "a wage worker who receives an average income" - economic traits, "LDPR member" - a political characteristic, "a man aged 25" - a demographic quality.

· Each status as an element of the social division of labor contains a set of rights and obligations.

Rights refer to what a person can freely allow or allow in relation to other people. Duties prescribe some necessary actions to the status holder: in relation to others, at their workplace, etc. Responsibilities are strictly defined, fixed in rules, instructions, regulations, or enshrined in custom. Responsibilities limit behavior to certain limits, make it predictable. For example, the status of a slave in the ancient world assumed only duties and did not contain any rights. In a totalitarian society, rights and obligations are asymmetrical: the ruler and senior officials have maximum rights and minimum duties; ordinary citizens have many duties and few rights. In our country in Soviet times, many rights were proclaimed in the constitution, but not all of them could be realized. In a democratic society, rights and obligations are more symmetrical. It can be said that the level of social development of a society depends on how the rights and obligations of citizens are correlated and observed.

· It is important that the duties of the individual presuppose his responsibility for their qualitative performance.

So, the tailor is obliged to sew a suit on time and with high quality; if this is not done, he should be punished somehow - pay a penalty or be fired. The organization is obliged under the contract to deliver products to the customer, otherwise it incurs losses in the form of fines and penalties. Even in ancient Assyria, there was such an order (fixed in the laws of Hammurabi): if an architect built a building, which subsequently collapsed and crushed the owner, the architect was deprived of his life.

This is one of the early and primitive forms of manifestation of responsibility. Nowadays, the forms of manifestation of responsibility are quite diverse and are determined by the culture of society, the level of social development. In modern society, rights, freedoms and obligations are determined by social norms, laws, and traditions of society.

· Thus, status- the position of the individual in the social structure of society, which is connected with other positions through a system of rights, duties and responsibilities.

· Since each person participates in many groups and organizations, he can have many statuses. For example, the mentioned citizen Ivanov is a man, a middle-aged person, a resident of Penza, a salesman, a member of the Liberal Democratic Party, an Orthodox, a Russian, a voter, a football player, a regular visitor to a beer bar, a husband, a father, an uncle, etc. In this set of statuses that any person has, one is the main one, the key one. The main status is the most characteristic for a given individual and is usually associated with the main place of his work or occupation: “salesman”, “entrepreneur”, “scientist”, “bank director”, “worker in an industrial enterprise”, “housewife”, etc. P. The main thing is the status that determines the financial situation, and hence the lifestyle, circle of acquaintances, demeanor.

· Given(innate, prescribed) status determined by sex, nationality, race, i.e. biologically predetermined characteristics inherited by a person in addition to his will and consciousness. The achievements of modern medicine make some statuses changeable. Thus, the concept of biological sex, socially acquired, appeared. With the help of surgical operations, a man who played with dolls from childhood, dressed like a girl, thought and felt like a girl, can become a woman. He finds his true gender, to which he was psychologically predisposed, but did not receive at birth. What gender - male or female - should be considered innate in this case? There is no single answer. Sociologists also find it difficult to determine what nationality a person belongs to whose parents are persons of different nationalities. Often, moving to another country in childhood, emigrants forget the old customs, their native language and practically do not differ from the indigenous inhabitants of their new homeland. In this case, the biological nationality is replaced by the socially acquired one.

The status-role concept was developed in the writings of American sociologists J. Meade And R. Minton .

The role theory of personality describes its social behavior with two main concepts: "social status" and "social role".

So, according to this concept, each person occupies a certain place in society.

This place is determined by a number of social positions that imply the existence of certain rights and obligations.

It is these positions that are the social statuses of a person. Each person has several social statuses at the same time. However, one of the statuses is always the main or basic one. As a rule, the basic status expresses the position of a person.

social status- an integral indicator of the social status of an individual, a social group, covering the profession, qualifications, position, nature of the work performed, financial situation, political affiliation, business ties, age, marital status, etc.

In sociology, there is a classification of social statuses into prescribed and acquired.

Prescribed Status- this is the position of a person in society, occupied by him regardless of personal merit, but imposed by the social environment.

Most often, the prescribed status reflects the innate qualities of a person (race, gender, nationality, age).

Acquired status This is the position in society achieved by the person himself.

However, a person can also have a mixed status, which combines both types.

A striking example of mixed status is the state of marriage.

In addition to these types, there are also natural and professional official statuses.

Natural status of the individual- the place of a person in the system of social relations, determined by the essential and relatively stable characteristics of a person.

Professional and official status is a social indicator that captures the social, economic and industrial position of a person in society. Thus, social status refers to the specific place that an individual occupies in a given social system.

The concept of "social role" is closely related to the concept of "social status".

social role is a set of actions that a person holding a given status in the social system must perform.

Moreover, each status involves the performance of not one, but several roles. A set of roles, the fulfillment of which is prescribed by one status, is called a role set. Obviously, the higher the position of a person in society, i.e., the greater his social status, the more roles he performs.

So, the difference between the role set of the President of the State and the worker of a metal-rolling plant is quite obvious. The systematization of social roles was first developed by Parsons, who identified five grounds for classifying a particular role:

1) emotionality, i.e. some roles involve a wide manifestation of emotionality, others, on the contrary, contain it;

2) way to get- depending on the type of status, they can be prescribed or achieved by a person independently;

3) scale- the scope of authority for one role is clearly established, for others it is undefined;

4) regulation- some roles are strictly regulated, such as the role of a civil servant, some are blurred (the role of a man);

5) motivation- performing a role for one's own benefit or for the public good.

The implementation of a social role can also be viewed from several angles.

On the one hand, this is a role expectation, which is characterized by a certain behavior of a person depending on his status, which is expected by the surrounding members of society.

On the other hand, this is a role performance, which is characterized by the actual behavior of a person, which he considers to be correlated with his status.

It should be noted that these two role aspects do not always coincide. At the same time, each of them plays a huge role in determining a person's behavior, since social expectations have a strong impact on a person.

There are usually four elements in the normal structure of a social role:

1) description of the type of behavior corresponding to this role;

2) instructions (requirements) associated with this behavior;

3) assessment of the performance of the prescribed role;

4) sanctions - the social consequences of an action within the framework of the requirements of the social system. Social sanctions by their nature can be moral, implemented directly by the social group through its behavior (contempt), or legal, political, environmental.

any role is not a pure model of behavior. The main link between role expectations and role behavior is the character of the individual. That is, the behavior of a particular person does not fit into a pure scheme.

Anastasia Stepantsova

Another result of socialization is the acquisition by people of different statuses, i.e. certain positions in society. Distinguish statuses social And private.

social status- this is the position of an individual (or a group of people) in society in accordance with his gender, age, origin, property, education, occupation, position, marital status, etc. (student, pensioner, director, wife).

Depending on the role played by the individual himself in acquiring his status, two main types of social statuses are distinguished: prescribed And reached.

Prescribed Status- this is the one that is received from birth, by inheritance or by a combination of life circumstances, regardless of the desire, will and efforts of a person (gender, nationality, race, etc.).

Achieved status- a status that is acquired due to the will and efforts of the individual himself (education, qualifications, position, etc.).

personal status- this is the position of a person in a small (or primary) group, determined by how others relate to him. (hard-working, diligent, benevolent).

There are also natural And professional official statuses.

natural status personality implies significant and relatively stable characteristics of a person (men and women, childhood, youth, maturity, old age, etc.).

Professional and official- this is the basic status of the personality, for an adult, most often it is the basis of the integral status. It fixes the social, economic, production and technical status (banker, engineer, lawyer, etc.).

Social status denotes the specific place that an individual occupies in a given social system. Thus, it can be noted that social statuses are structural elements of the social organization of society, providing social ties between the subjects of social relations. These relations, ordered within the framework of social organization, are grouped in accordance with the socio-economic structure of society and form a complex coordinated system.

Social ties between the subjects of social relations, established in connection with the provided social functions, form certain points of intersection in the vast field of social relations. These points of intersection of connections in the field of social relations are social statuses.
From this point of view, the social organization of society can be represented as a complex, interconnected system of social statuses occupied by individuals who, as a result, become members of society, citizens of the state.
Society not only creates social status, but also provides social mechanisms for the distribution of members of society in these positions. The ratio between social statuses prescribed by society to an individual, regardless of efforts and merit (prescribed positions), and statuses, the replacement of which depends on the person himself (achievable positions), is an essential characteristic of the social organization of society. Prescribed social statuses are predominantly those whose substitution occurs automatically, by virtue of a person's birth and in connection with such characteristics as sex, age, kinship, race, caste, etc.

The correlation in the social structure of prescribed and achieved social statuses is, in essence, an indicator of the nature of economic and political power, there is a question about the nature of the social formation that imposes on individuals the appropriate structure of social status. The personal qualities of individuals, individual examples of social advancement as a whole do not change this cardinal position.

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For a long time, the concept of "personal status" was associated mainly with the characteristics of the legal status of a person. In sociology, the concepts of "status" and "role" began to be actively used in the first half of the 19th century. Arguing with K. Marx, the German sociologist M. Weber argued that not only the economic situation, but also (more broadly) social status is an important characteristic of the place and role of a person in society. Weber called this position social status. In modern sociology, the concepts of "social status" and "social role", the theory

role conflicts have become an important tool for researchers, helping to better understand social processes, predict the behavior of the individual, interpersonal relationships.

You already know that the position of social groups in society is determined by many indicators. The same can be said about the position of the individual in the social structure of society.

In reality, any person occupies many positions in society. Take, for example, a schoolboy: in addition to being a student, he is a young man, a son, often a grandson, a brother, perhaps a member of the sports section. So sociologists talk about status set. At the same time, one can single out the position that is the most significant for a person, determines him socially. This will be main status of a person.

Try to determine your main status.

If you look closely at those indicators that determine the status of an individual, you can see that some of them - gender, race, age - do not depend on the individual. These statuses given from birth are called prescribed. At the same time, a person becomes educated, owning a certain specialty. Thus, he acquires new statuses, they are called achievable. Different statuses of a person may conflict. For example, the work of those who received a good education (and this is associated with a high status in society) may be poorly paid, which will indicate a low status.

In open, dynamically developing societies, achieved statuses matter much more than prescribed ones. Of course, even today it is much easier to achieve a high social position, to make a career for someone who was born in a prosperous, wealthy family than for a person from the lower social classes. But purposefulness, diligence, support of relatives become an important human resource and help to overcome unfavorable "starting" conditions. For example, the founder and owner of the world famous Japanese company that produces watches and calculators, Tadeo Casio was born into a poor peasant family.

His father, in order to give his son an education, saved literally on everything. When the family moved to the city, he even gave up tram rides and walked to and from work for five hours. Tadeo himself, having become a turner at the factory after graduation, worked so hard that he brought himself to exhaustion. He was even declared unfit for military service, which was the greatest shame for that time.

Another concept is connected with the concept of social status - "prestige".

Prestige (from the French prestige - influence, respect enjoyed by someone) is an assessment by society or a social group of the social significance of certain positions occupied by people. There was a time when the professions of a pilot or an engineer were considered prestigious, and now competitions for economic universities are growing; some people, including those with higher education, go to work in shops, restaurants, etc. If you analyze your plans for the future, you will probably agree that prestige plays an important role in them.

The concept of "authority" (from Latin auctoritas - power, influence) also denotes the degree of recognition by a group of people or society of the personal and business qualities of any of their members. Authority usually reflects the degree of influence of an individual in a social group or society. Prestigious can be a profession, position, type of activity, authoritative - a very specific, specific person.

The best realization of the personality is possible when a person finds harmony of his inclinations and abilities with the activity that he performs. But often people refuse to seek such harmony and achieve only a prestigious position in society, that is, they think not so much about the realization of their abilities, but about the prestige associated with belonging to a particular social group.

From a person occupying a certain social position, others expect appropriate behavior. For example, the status of a teacher implies a specific set of actions (conducting lessons, checking notebooks, meeting with students' parents), a certain manner of communicating with students and colleagues (restraint, tact), and a fairly strict style of dress. A completely different behavior is expected, for example, from a pop star. Thus, evaluating the role behavior of a person, we correlate it with a certain typical idea (standard) of how a person of a given social position should act, behave, dress, etc.