Social status: working. Social status: concept, types, examples

A person interacts daily with different people and social groups. It rarely happens that he fully interacts only with members of one group, for example a family, but at the same time he can also be a member of the work collective, public organizations etc. Entering simultaneously into many social groups, he occupies a corresponding position in each of them, determined by relationships with other members of the group. To analyze the degree of inclusion of an individual in various groups, as well as the positions he occupies in each of them, the concepts of social status and social role are used.

Status (from lat. status- position, condition) - position of a citizen.

Social status usually defined as the position of an individual or group in social system, which has characteristics specific to a given system. Each social status has a certain prestige.

All social statuses can be divided into two main types: those that are prescribed to the individual by society or a group, regardless of his abilities and efforts, and those that the individual achieves through his own efforts.

Variety of statuses

There is a wide range of statuses: prescribed, achieved, mixed, personal, professional, economic, political, demographic, religious and consanguineous, which belong to the variety of basic statuses.

1. Prescribed status - acquired regardless of one’s desires, imposed by society regardless of the conditions and merits of the individual (social origin, place of birth). Within the framework of prescribed statuses, so-called natural statuses are often distinguished - gender, nationality, race.

2. Acquired (achieved) - positions that a person achieves himself (teacher, professor, etc.).

3. General status - the status of a person, his rights and obligations, the status of a citizen. General statuses are, as it were, the foundation of a person’s status position.

In addition to them, there are a huge number of episodic, non-main statuses. These are the statuses of a pedestrian, passer-by, patient, witness, participant in a demonstration, strike or crowd, reader, listener, television viewer, etc. As a rule, these are temporary states. The rights and obligations of holders of such statuses are often not registered in any way. They are generally difficult to detect, say, in a passerby. But they exist, although they influence not the main, but the secondary traits of behavior, thinking and feeling. Thus, the status of a professor determines a lot in the life of a given person. What about his temporary status as a passerby or a patient? Of course not.

So, a person has basic (determining his life activity) and non-basic (affecting the details of behavior) statuses. The first are significantly different from the second.

In addition, integral and personal statuses of a person are distinguished. Integral status - determines the style or way of life of a person, his circle of acquaintances and manner of behavior. The most used, aggregate, integrative indicator of a status position is profession.

Personal status is the position that a person occupies in a small or primary group (depending on how he is assessed by his individual qualities).

Behind each status - permanent or temporary, basic or non-basic - there is a special social group or social category. Catholics, conservatives, engineers (main statuses) form real groups. For example, patients, pedestrians (non-primary statuses) form nominal groups or statistical categories. As a rule, holders of non-main statuses do not coordinate their behavior with each other in any way and do not interact.

People have many statuses and belong to many social groups, the prestige of which in society is not the same: businessmen are valued higher than plumbers or general workers; men have more social “weight” than women; belonging to a titular ethnic group in a state is not the same as belonging to a national minority, etc.

Over time, public opinion is developed, transmitted, supported, but, as a rule, no documents record a hierarchy of statuses and social groups, where some are valued and respected more than others.

A place in such an invisible hierarchy is called rank, which can be high, medium or low. Hierarchy can exist between groups within the same society (intergroup) and between individuals within the same group (intragroup). And a person’s place in them is also expressed by the term “rank”.

The discrepancy between statuses causes a contradiction in the intergroup and intragroup hierarchy, which arises under two circumstances:

1. when an individual occupies a high rank in one group, and a low one in the second;

2. when the rights and obligations of one person's status conflict with or interfere with the rights and obligations of another.

A highly paid official (high professional rank) will most likely also have a high family rank as a person who provides material wealth for the family. But it does not automatically follow from this that he will have high ranks in other groups - among friends, relatives, colleagues.

Although statuses do not enter into social relations directly, but only indirectly (through their bearers), they mainly determine the content and nature of social relations.

A person looks at the world and treats other people in accordance with his status. The poor despise the rich, and the rich disdain the poor. Dog owners do not understand people who love cleanliness and order on their lawns. A professional investigator, although unconsciously, divides people into potential criminals, law-abiding and witnesses. A Russian is more likely to show solidarity with a Russian than with a Jew or Tatar, and vice versa.

Political, religious, demographic, economic, professional statuses of a person determine the intensity, duration, direction and content of social relations of people.

The essence and content of social status

Definition 1

Social status is the position that an individual occupies in the social environment, in relation to other citizens of society.

Social status is characterized by mobility. This manifests itself in its role aspect. At the same time, the content and meaning of social status is a stable process.

The essence and content of social status is reflected by the following features:

1. A social system of relationships in which a specific social subject is succinctly included.
2. Location social subject in society, the distinctive features of this place, its characteristics and the specifics of education.

Social life activity involves the functioning of individuals and social associations that enter into a system of interaction and building social contacts, depending on their location and role in society, social status. This reflects the content of a person's social status.

Social status and social environment contribute to the formation and development of personal interests, social relationships between an individual and the social environment in which he develops and functions, the formation of working and living conditions, the maintenance of health and the development of leisure activities.

Social status determines a person’s position in the social environment, which is reflected in the formation of relations of equality and inequality. In essence, social status develops social inequality. It entails the development of relations of cooperation and struggle in society. If the interests of various subjects turn out to be identical, then cooperative relationships begin to develop. And, on the contrary, if interests turn out to be completely different, then relations of struggle begin to develop.

Social status is focused on comparing the positions of individuals in society. Thus, the location of each person in the hierarchical structure of society is reflected. If the social status occupied by a person places him at a higher level, then he is capable of changing society and influencing social development. In addition, he has certain privileges of this society and occupies a special place in it.

Signs of social status

The social position of an individual, his social status is determined by the existing system of social relations that characterize the place of the subject included in a given social structure. Such relationships in the course of practical joint activities of people are established for a long time and are objective in nature.

When determining social status, a multidimensional approach is most often used, which allows taking into account the whole variety of characteristics:

• natural characteristics (age, gender); ethnic relations;
• a set of rights and obligations;
• place in the hierarchy of political relations;
• relations between individuals in the system of social division of labor;
• economic criterion (property, financial situation, income level, family and living conditions, lifestyle, education, profession, qualifications);
• distribution relations;
• consumption relations;
• prestige is an assessment by a social group or society of the social significance of the positions occupied by people, etc.

Different sociologists use their own combination of criteria to determine the status of social groups of the population; therefore, groupings of individuals can occur in different ways. Often social status is determined by the social functions performed by an individual when interacting with other people. Social status is divided by education, skills and abilities.

An important indicator of social status in modern society are signs such as:

• scope of power,
• level of income and education,
• prestige of the profession in the field of municipal and public administration.

In the sociology of Western countries, a socio-economic index is popular, which includes measured characteristics: quality of education, income level, prestige of the profession. Socio-demographic characteristics The social status of an individual is established taking into account objective socio-demographic indicators, including: age, nationality, gender, education, material conditions, occupation, Family status, social status, specialty, social roles, permanent residence, citizenship.

Components of social status

The components characterizing social status include:

• status rights and obligations - determine what a status holder can and should do;
• status range - the designated framework within which status rights and obligations are realized;
• status image - a set of ideas about the proper appearance and behavior of the status holder;
• status symbols - certain external insignia that make it possible to distinguish between holders of different statuses; status identification - determining the degree of compliance of an individual with a status.

Signs of certain types of social status

There are a large number of different statuses, each of which has its own characteristic features:

1. The main status determines the individual’s lifestyle; others identify him in accordance with his status;
2. The prescribed status is characterized by gender, age, race and nationality.
3. The achieved status is described by the following criteria: level of education, qualifications, professional achievements, title, position, career, socially prosperous marriage, etc. M. Weber identified three main indicators: power, prestige, wealth.
4. Social-administrative status is determined by a set of rights and responsibilities.
5. Personal status is characterized by individual qualities and properties.
6. Mixed social statuses are distinguished by the characteristics of both prescribed and achieved statuses, but achieved as a result of a confluence of certain circumstances.

This work is devoted to the study of sociological concepts of social status and social roles, introduced into scientific circulation in the 19th - 20th centuries by specialists involved in the study of the life of society and the individual in it.

Personal development always occurs in a certain social space. A personality in the process of formation enters into various relationships with other individuals, groups, and social communities. In each specific relationship, a person has a certain status and plays a certain social role, which characterize his relationships with other individuals.

Social status is an indicator of the position occupied by an individual in society. A social role is an expected type of behavior of an individual, determined by the totality of requirements imposed by society on persons occupying certain social positions. An individual who occupies a certain status, but does not fulfill the role expected of him, as a rule, comes into conflict with the social structures of society, for which fulfilling this role is socially significant.

In general terms, the topic turned out to be surprisingly interesting and very useful as an extension of the level of knowledge in the sociological discipline.

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Social statuses and roles

Abstract on sociology

Performed

Tishchenko T.M.,

a history teacher

04/19/2014

Plan

Introduction

1. Statuses are the main elements of the social structure of society:

1.1. Social and personal status

1.2. Attributed and innate status

1.3. Achieved status

1.4. Main status

2. Status elements:

2.1. Social role – behavioral side of status

2.2. Status rights and obligations

2.3 Image – status image

2.4. Status identification

Conclusion

Introduction

This work is devoted to the study of sociological concepts of social status and social roles, introduced into scientific circulation in the 19th - 20th centuries by specialists involved in the study of the life of society and the individual in it.

Personal development always occurs in a certain social space. A personality in the process of formation enters into various relationships with other individuals, groups, and social communities. In each specific relationship, a person has a certain status and plays a certain social role, which characterize his relationships with other individuals.

Social status is an indicator of the position occupied by an individual in society. A social role is an expected type of behavior of an individual, determined by the totality of requirements imposed by society on persons occupying certain social positions. An individual who occupies a certain status, but does not fulfill the role expected of him, as a rule, comes into conflict with the social structures of society, for which fulfilling this role is socially significant.

While working on the topic, we studied the works of S.S. Frolova [9], A.I. Kravchenko, V.G. Nemirovsky, A.K. Skovikova, A.P. Boyko, S.S. Novikova, works on sociology edited by A.M. Wieselman

[ 7 ], A.Yu. Myagkova[ 6 ], G.V. Osipova.

A.I. Kravchenko introduces readers in great detail to the concept of social status, but speaks little and briefly about social role. But in the work of V.G. Nemirovsky, on the contrary, much attention is paid to the study of the social role of the individual in society, based on the research of world-famous sociologists, and only a few phrases are said about social status.

In the book by S.S. Novikov, to explain the concept of social role, the author uses an example taken from classical literature - a play by W. Shakespeare, which emotionally embellished the study of this topic. In the textbook A.Yu. Myagkova talks about the problem we are researching on literally two pages, which somewhat upset us, since the author’s style is simple and easy to understand even for an uninitiated reader. A reference guide for students in the form of a cheat sheet became an indispensable aid in the work.

Some difficulties were caused by the conceptual apparatus, which was given differently by the authors in different publications. Some of them were talking about the status role, others about the social role. Having asked the question whether these two concepts denote one phenomenon, we carefully studied the opinions of different parties and came to the conclusion that the concepts of status role and social role are expressions of the same thing - this is the expected behavior of a person associated with his status and typical for people this status in a given society.

In general terms, the topic turned out to be surprisingly interesting and very useful as an extension of the level of knowledge in the sociological discipline.

1. Statuses are the main elements of social

Structures of society. Types of statuses.

1.1. SOCIAL AND PERSONAL STATUS

The term “social status” (from the Latin status - state of affairs, position) was first used in a sociological sense by the English historian G.D.S. Maine (Ancient law. N.Y., 1885). Initially in Ancient Rome this term meant the legal status legal entity. From the mid-30s. XIX century The theory of social status was developed by R. Linton, F. Merrill, T. Shibutani, R. Turner and others. Currently, this term is used by sociologists in two main senses: a) designating the social position of an individual or group in the social system; b) designation of rank, prestige of this position. It is necessary to distinguish between two types of statuses:social and personal.

Social status is used in two meanings - broad and narrow. In a broad sensesocial status is the position of an individual in society, which he occupies in accordance with age, gender, origin, marital status.In a narrow sense, social status is the position a person automatically occupies as a representative of a large social group (professional, national).

Social statuses - “driver”, “mother”, “man”, etc. - just empty cells in the social structure of society. Each of them is filled with a certain number of people, but they are constantly changing: someone dies, someone quits and moves to another place. But the cells remain. They are necessary and useful to society: a doctor is needed to treat, a teacher to teach, and so on ad infinitum. Each cell is in its place and performs some important social function.

Every person is involved in many groups and organizations. For example, Mr. N. is a man, a teacher, a middle-aged person, a candidate of science, a scientific secretary of the scientific council, the head of a department, a trade union member, a member of the Republican Party, an Orthodox Christian, a voter, a husband, a father, an uncle, etc. The totality of all statuses of a given individual in sociology is called a status set (this term was introduced by the famous American sociologist Robert Merton).

Personal status -the position that a person occupies in a small, or primary, group, depending on how he is assessed by his individual qualities.It has been noticed that social status plays a leading role among strangers, and personal status among familiar people.

Suppose that Mr. N. hires a person against whom social group prejudices apply. At first, the employer and co-workers treat him with suspicion or caution. Then those around you change their attitude. Now personal status becomes the main thing for them. Sociologists would say that low social status gradually developed into high personal status.

1.2. Ascribed and born status.

In addition to the statuses discussed, there are others.

Attributed status - it is the status into which a person is born or which is assigned to him over time.The ascribed status does not coincide with the innate one. King is an ascribed status. Only those born into the royal family can purchase it. The ascribed status is very similar to the innate one, but it is not reducible to it.

Age is an ascribed status. During life, a person moves from one age to another. Society assigns to each age category certain rights and responsibilities that other categories do not have. People expect very specific behavior from a specific age category: from young people, for example, they expect respect for elders, from adults they expect care for children and the elderly.

The statuses of stepdaughter and stepson, although they are called daughter and son, the statuses of godfather and godmother cannot be considered innate. Even ascribed, they should be called only to the extent that the person receiving such a status is not free to choose it. Therefore, "son" can be either an innate or an ascribed status.

Only three social statuses are considered innate statuses: gender (man, etc.), nationality (Russian, etc.), race (Negro, etc.). Race, gender and nationality are given biologically; a person inherits them against his will and consciousness. Innate statuses also include personal statuses: “son”, “daughter”, “sister”, “brother”, “nephew”, “uncle”, “aunt”, “grandmother”, “grandfather”, “cousin”.

It would seem that no one can change gender, race and nationality. However, gender and skin color can be changed through surgery. The concepts of biological sex and socially acquired sex appeared. A man who has played with dolls since childhood, dressed, felt, thought and acted like a girl, becomes a woman in adulthood through the efforts of doctors. He finds his true gender, to which he was psychologically predisposed, but which he did not receive biologically. Which gender - male or female - should be considered natural?

Recently, scientists have begun to doubt whether innate status exists at all if people change gender, race and nationality in individual cases. When parents are of different nationalities, it is difficult to determine what nationality the children should be. They often choose what to write in their passport.

Thus, ascribed status closely resembles innate status, but is not reducible to it. Biologically inherited status is called innate. In contrast, socially acquired status is called ascribed status.The ascribed status is beyond the control of the individual.

In order to avoid unnecessary confusion, sociologists have agreed to call both types of status one thing - ascribed status.

1.3. ACHIEVEMENTS.

The achieved status differs significantly from the ascribed status.Achievable is a status that a person receives through his own efforts, desire, free choice, or is acquired through luck and fortune.If the ascribed status is beyond the control of the individual, then the achieved status is under control. Any status that is not automatically assigned to a person by the very fact of birth is considered attainable.

A person acquires (reaches) the profession of a driver or engineer thanks to his own efforts, preparation and free choice. He also acquires the status of world champion, doctor of science or rock star thanks to his own efforts and enormous work. Statuses such as “student”, “buyer”, etc. are given with less difficulty. Achieved or acquired statuses are the status of deputy, worker, teacher, student.

The achieved status requires independent decisions and independent actions. The status of a husband is achievable: to obtain it, the man makes a decision, pays a visit to the bride's parents, makes an official proposal and performs a lot of other actions.

Achieved status refers to positions that people occupy due to their efforts or merit. “Graduate student” is a status that graduates of a university achieve by competing with others and demonstrating outstanding academic achievements. You can become an honorary citizen or honorary doctor of a foreign university based on past achievements.

The more dynamic a society is, the more cells in its social structure are designed for the achieved statuses. The more achieved statuses in a society, the more democratic it is. Having carried out a comparative historical analysis, scientists have established: earlier in European society there were more ascribed, but now there are more achieved statuses.

1.4. MAIN ARTICLE.

Each person, as a rule, has many statuses. But only one of them is the main, main thing that determines a person’s position in society as a whole.The main status is the most characteristic status for a given individual, by which others distinguish him or with which they identify him.

For women in traditional society, the main status most often turned out to be the status of a housewife, and for men - both before and now - the status associated with the main place of work or occupation: director of a commercial bank, researcher, policeman. For the scientific intelligentsia, the main thing is often not the place of work or occupation, but the academic degree, and for managers it is the position or hierarchical rank. Some statuses are so bright that they turn into the main ones, regardless of what set of statuses a given individual has (for example, the status of world champion).

1. Elements of individual status in society.

Elements of status are: social role (socially approved

behavior), rights and responsibilities, status image (compliance with the image

their social and personal status), identification (psychological

identifying oneself with one's status).

2.1. SOCIAL ROLE – BEHAVIORAL SIDE OF STATUS.

The term “social role” began to be developed at the beginning of the 20th century by E. Durkheim, M. Weber, and later by T. Parsons, T. Shibutani, R. Linton and others. In our country, much attention was paid to the development of the concept of role theory of personality in their works scientists such as I.S. Kohn, V.A. Yadov. “A social role,” writes I.S. Kon, “is something impersonal, not connected ... with anyone’s individuality, it is what is expected in a given society from every person occupying a certain place in the social system.”

In world literature, the image of a person as an actor playing assigned social roles is widespread, the change of which is directly dependent on changes in his social status and age. A clear confirmation of this are the words of W. Shakespeare, spoken by him in the play “As You Like It”:

The whole world is a theater.

There are women, men - all actors.

They have their own exits, departures,

And everyone plays more than one role.

Seven acts in the play First the Baby,

Roaring bitterly in his mother's arms...

Then a whiny schoolboy with a book bag,

With a rosy face, reluctantly, like a snail

Crawling to school. And then lover

Sighing like a furnace with a sad ballad

In honor of the cute eyebrow. And then the soldier

Whose speech is always full of curses,

Overgrown with a beard like a leopard,

Jealous of honor, a bully in a quarrel,

Ready to seek mortal glory

At least in a cannon muzzle. Then the judge

With a rounded belly, where the capon is hidden.

With a stern look, a trimmed beard

A treasure trove of template rules and maxims,

So he plays a role. The sixth age is

It will be the beggar Pantalone,

With glasses, shoes, a wallet at his belt,

In pants that were wide in my youth

Changes again to a children's treble:

It squeaks like a flute... And the last act,

The end of this whole strange, complex play -

Second childhood, half-forgotten:

Without eyes, without feelings, without taste, without everything.

The concept of “role”, borrowed from theatrical life, was introduced into the language of sociology and became widespread at first among American sociologists and social psychologists under the influence of the works of G. Mead and D. Moreno. It must be said that the role concept of personality is quite widespread both in Western (T. Parsons, T. Merton, T. Shibutani, etc.) and in domestic science (I.S. Kon, V.A. Yadov, etc. ).

Currently, it is actively used in the system of categories of modern sociology.A social role is a set of norms that determine the behavior of people acting in a certain social situation depending on their status or position, and this behavior itself implements these norms.Any society or social group can be represented as a set of certain social positions (boss, subordinate, father, child, etc.). These positions dictate a person’s special behavior resulting from this position.

The social role can be figuratively represented as the point at which the individual and society meet, and individual behavior turns into social behavior. A social role has, as it were, two poles: on the one hand, these are role expectations - what others expect from a person when performing a given role, on the other hand, role behavior - what a person performs within the framework of a given role.

The content of a social role consists of value orientations personality, social norms regulating its activities in various areas of social life: from family to political. A role can be performed by a person either unconsciously, automatically, or quite consciously. Conscious acceptance of a role can be based on various personal needs (need for activity, prestige, material well-being, etc.) and external necessity.

The normative structure of a social role has four elements:

• a description of the type of behavior appropriate for the role;
• prescription - requirements in connection with such behavior;
• assessment of performance of the prescribed role;
• sanctions are the social consequences of actions within the framework of social requirements. roles.

Each normative system has a certain “set of roles”.

American sociologist T. Parsons believed that five characteristics should be used to describe a social role:

1. Emotionality. Some roles (such as doctor, teacher, or police officer) require emotional restraint in situations where people tend to express their feelings intensely.

2. Method of receipt. A number of roles are determined by prescribed statuses (for example, child, youth or adult): they are determined by the age of the person playing the role. Other roles are won: when we talk about the role of a professor, we are talking about a role that is not achieved automatically, but as a result of human effort.

3. Scale. Some roles are limited to strictly defined aspects of human interaction. Thus, the roles of the doctor and the patient are limited to issues that directly relate to the patient's health.

4. Formalization. Some roles involve interacting with people based on set rules. For example, a librarian is obliged to issue books for a certain period of time and demand a fine for each day of overdue from those who delay the books.

5. Motivation. The performance of different roles is due to different motives. Thus, it is expected that an enterprising person is absorbed in his own interests - his actions are determined by the desire to obtain maximum profit. But the priest is supposed to work primarily for the public good and not for personal gain. Parsons believes that any social role includes a certain combination of the listed characteristics.

Roles are assigned to individuals in several ways.

First, there are stable expectations of society or a group regarding the behavior of a person with a certain status. A leader is expected to be competent, decisive, and care for his subordinates, a father is expected to care about the maintenance and upbringing of children, and a friend is expected to understand and be ready to help.

Secondly, roles exist in the form of a set of value orientations of an individual, called an “internalized” (internally accepted) role.

Thirdly, there are people whose behavior and inner appearance are considered as the ideal embodiment of the role and serve as role models.

None of the ways to secure roles is primary. The social role is formed at their intersection, but at the same time, in different cultures and spheres of public life, each of these methods has different meanings.

A person’s acceptance of a particular social role is influenced not only by social conditions, but also natural factors: gender, age, typological characteristics of the nervous system, abilities, state of health. Thus, many people cannot work in certain professions, engage in certain sports, perform the role of a father or mother, etc., for health reasons.

Each person simultaneously performs different roles.Therefore, it is important that the demands placed on human behavior by various social roles do not contradict each other.

To describe the system of social roles of the individual as a whole, traditional Russian sociology uses two concepts: “lifestyle” and “lifestyle.” Lifestyle can be defined as a set of sustainable forms of life of an individual or social group in unity with their conditions.

Lifestyle is a narrower concept and describes those types of human activity (together with their conditions) that are chosen by him independently, without external coercion.In other words, if a person’s lifestyle characterizes that side of the system of his social roles that is accepted under the influence of social norms and requirements, then the lifestyle is the social roles or their elements performed by him in accordance with his internal predisposition.

A social role, arising in connection with a specific social position occupied by an individual that takes place in the social structure, is at the same time a specific (normatively approved) way of behavior that is obligatory for all individuals performing similar social roles.

Social role is the behavioral side of status. For example, the status of a university professor implies roles such as “teacher”, “researcher”, “youth mentor”, “administrator”, “clerk”, “author” scientific articles", "specialist in his field of knowledge" and others. The set of roles associated with one status is called

R O L E R SET

Each role in the role set requires a special manner of behavior and communication with people. Even the two similar roles of a professor - "teacher" and "mentor" - involve different attitudes towards students. The first is to comply with formal norms and rules: giving lectures, checking coursework, taking exams. The second involves informal communication with students as a wise adviser or older friend. The professor has one kind of relationship with his colleagues, another with the university administration, and another with journal editors, students, and industrialists.

Society prescribes the requirements and norms of behavior for the status. For the correct performance of his role the individual is rewarded, for the incorrect one he is punished. From a person with this status, others expect very specific actions and do not expect others that do not fit with their idea of ​​this status. However, the holder of the status himself knows what others expect from him. He understands that others will treat him in accordance with how they see the fulfillment of this status.

A pattern of behavior focused on a specific social or personal status is called a status role or social role, or simply a role.Those around them build relationships with the status holder that correspond to the correct performance of the status role. They try not to meet with the offender, not to communicate, not to maintain relationships. A president of a country who makes speeches on paper and obeys his advisers or those behind him in everything will not inspire confidence in people and is unlikely to be perceived by them as a true president capable of governing the country for the benefit of the people.

The status of a king requires him to lead a completely different lifestyle than that of commoners. The role model corresponding to this status must meet the hopes and expectations of his subjects. Subjects must act in strict accordance with a set of norms and requirements.

No role is a rigidly fixed pattern of behavior. Although society imposes a social role on the individual, the individual's character has a decisive influence on the extent to which his behavior will correspond to the expectations of others.

So, the social role as a set of social functions performed by a person, determined by his place in the system of social relations and social status, is a kind of connecting link between society and the individual. It is in the system of social roles performed by an individual that social relations are personified.

When analyzing the role behavior of an individual, it is important to take into account that a person is not a passive puppet in the hands of fate. People are free to choose not only their social roles, they can significantly retreat and deviate from following the prescriptions of the social role. A person is given ample opportunities to choose one or another behavior within the framework of objective necessity and, therefore, creates the basis for the emergence of responsibility for his actions [3, p. 113].

2.2. Statutory rights and responsibilities.

A status role includes a set of precisely defined rights. A university professor has a number of rights that distinguish him from a student who does not have this status. He evaluates students' knowledge, but, in accordance with his academic position, cannot be penalized for poor student performance. The academic status of a professor gives him opportunities that other people of equal status, say a politician, a doctor, a lawyer, or a priest, do not have.

Since status rights are never strictly defined, and the status role is freely chosen by the person himself, a certain range arises within which behavior and the exercise of one’s rights vary. The status of a professor gives almost identical rights to a biologist, physicist, and sociologist. Most often they are called “academic freedom”: independence of judgment, free choice of topic and lecture plan, etc. But due to tradition and individual characteristics, a sociology professor uses his rights and behaves completely differently in lectures and seminars than a physics professor.

In the same way, the status of a neighbor presupposes a free manner of behavior. No strict formal requirements are prescribed to him. If they exist, they are rather informal or optional. The neighbor's role model of behavior includes the exchange of congratulations and greetings, the exchange of household items, permission conflict situations. But some avoid all communication with neighbors, while others may be overly sociable and intrusive in their friendship.

Rights are inextricably linked with responsibilities.The higher the status, the greater the rights its owner is endowed with and the greater the range of responsibilities assigned to him.The status of a laborer does not oblige you to anything. The same can be said about the status of a neighbor, a beggar or a child. But the status of a prince of the blood or a famous television commentator obliges you to lead a lifestyle that meets the expectations and meets the social standards of the same circle of people.

The upper classes exercise invisible control over compliance with status obligations to a greater extent than the lower ones. Failure to fulfill one's status responsibilities may be minor and not cross the boundaries of tolerance (or tolerance). If the violation is significant, the community applies formal sanctions to the culprit, not limited to informal ones, for example, a light conviction.

Thus, the court of officer honor can deprive the offender of his rank and demand expulsion from his midst. In pre-revolutionary Russia, there was a special institution - the court of noble honor, which performed punitive and at the same time educational functions. One of the means of defending noble honor was a duel, which often ended in the death of one or another opponent.

Thus, the higher the rank of status and the more prestigious it is, the stricter the requirements for status duties and the more severely their violations are punished..

2.3. I m and j - st at u s y o r a z .

Status rights, responsibilities and roles create a status image. It is often called image.Image is a set of ideas that have developed in public opinion about how a person should behave in accordance with his status, how rights and responsibilities in this status should relate to each other.

The idea of ​​what a lawyer, doctor, or professor should be like regulates and guides the behavior of those involved in legal proceedings, medical practice, and teaching. The expression “not allowing yourself too much” accurately describes the image and sets the boundaries within which each of us strives to remain in order to look appropriate in the eyes of others. In other words, to match the image of your social or personal status. The teacher is unlikely to come to class dressed in a sweatshirt, although he works only in it in the garden. The doctor, even after retirement, does not allow himself to look sloppy. After all, he is used to being in public all the time. Those who act differently do not live up to their status image.

2.4. Status and identification.

Status identification - this is the identification of oneself with something or someone - indicates the extent to which a person brings himself closer to his status and status image. Thus, a mandatory attribute of today's professor should be a suit and tie.

However, many teachers wear a sweater and jeans to lectures, doing so completely intentionally. Thus, they show that they do not want to distance themselves too much from the students, inviting them to behave more relaxed and trusting.

Reducing the inter-status distance is sometimes called familiarity. But it arises only in those cases when such a distance is reduced to a minimum. The desire to stand “on an equal footing” with a person of a different rank is what leads to familiarity. Young men who speak disrespectfully to their elders or address them on a first-name basis are being over-familiar.

If a subordinate does the same in a relationship with his boss, then he is also being familiar, but a boss who addresses his subordinates on “you” is not being familiar, but being rude.

The higher the rank of status, the stronger the identification with it and the less often its bearer allows familiarity or rudeness towards himself, the stricter the inter-status distance is maintained. The higher the status, the more often its owners resort to symbolic paraphernalia - orders, regalia, uniforms, certificates.

The lower the personal status, the more often the advantages of social status are emphasized. The official's arrogant treatment of visitors indicates that he identifies himself with social status rather than personal status. Identification with status is stronger the less talent a person has.

Status identification may or may not coincide with professional and job identification. The executioner, who knows no leniency, and the official, who literally follows official instructions, are examples of high professional and official identification.

An official who takes bribes is an example of low identification with the position. If he holds a high government position. But doing without a company car is an example of low identification with social status.

Conclusion

Each person occupies a certain place in society and performs specific functions ( roles ), having the corresponding rights and obligations, i.e. has a certain status. There are social and personal statuses.Social status- a person’s position in society (profession, class, nationality). Personal status characterizes the position that an individual occupies in a small or primary group, depending on how he is assessed by his individual qualities.

Examples of personal status: husband, son, uncle, life of the party, friend. Social status can also be divided: 1) into ascribed (i.e. received independently of the subject, often from birth - gender, age, nationality, race), for example: Russian, man; 2) achieved (i.e. acquired through the individual’s own efforts), for example: deputy, worker, teacher, student; or which is assigned to him over time, for example: an adult, mother-in-law, son-in-law, unemployed.

Each person has many statuses, but only one of them is nice - the most characteristic status for a given individual.

Social role - this is the expected behavior of a person associated with his status and typical for people of this status in a given society. The set of roles corresponding to a given status is called a role system.

T. Parsons identifies 5 main features of any social role:

Emotionality (some roles require looseness, others require restraint); -method of obtaining (some prescribe, others conquer);

Scale (some roles are strictly formulated, others are blurred);

Formalization (action in strictly established rules, or arbitrarily); -motivation (for personal profit, for the common good, etc.).

Social statuses are unequal. When it comes to ranking them, the concept of “social prestige” is used. Prestige is a hierarchy of statuses, enshrined in culture, in public opinion, and shared by society. A society in which there is an unreasonable understatement of the prestige of some statuses and, conversely, an unreasonable overestimation of the prestige of others, cannot function normally.

For example, in modern Russia the status of a scientist, student, teacher, doctor is underestimated, i.e. the balance of statuses has been lost. At the same time, there is a discrepancy between the real importance of some individuals and social groups and their social status, between work and the reward for it. This phenomenon can be characterized as social injustice.

So, social status is rights and obligations, and social role is the expectation of behavior typical for people of a given status in a given society, a given social system, i.e. a set of requirements imposed by society on an individual possessing one or another status.

List of used literature

1. Kravchenko A.I. Introduction to Sociology. – M.: New School, 1995. – pp. 93-112.
2. Kravchenko A.I. Introduction to Sociology. M., 1996.
3. Nemirovsky V.G. General sociology. -Rostov n/d: Phoenix, 2004. – p. 105-113.
4. Novikova S.S. Sociology: History, foundations, institutionalization in Russia.- M: MSSI; Voronezh: NPO "MODEC", 2000.p. 270-273.
5. Skovikov A.K., Boyko A.P. Sociology cheat sheets. Answers to examination questions for university students: Educational and practical guide - M.: Publishing house "Exam", 2004. - 64 p.
6. Sociology. Fundamentals of general theory: Textbook for university students. / Ed. A.Yu. Myagkova. – M.: Flint Publishing House, 2003. – p. 65-67..
7. Sociology. Fundamentals of sociological teachings: A textbook for university students. / Ed. A.M. Wieselman. – M.: SSU, 1999. –75 p.
8. Sociology. Textbook for universities / Ed. G.V. Osipova et al. - M., 1995.
9. Frolov S.S. Fundamentals of Sociology. M.,: Lawyer, 1997, p. 228-250

And accordingly, the owner of many different statuses. The entire set of human statuses is called status set. The status that the person himself or those around him consider to be the main one is called main status. This is usually professional or family status or status in the group where the person has achieved the greatest success.

Statuses are divided into prescribed(obtained by birth) and achieved(which are purchased purposefully). The freer a society, the less important the prescribed statuses become and the more important the achieved ones.

A person can have different statuses. For example, his status set could be as follows: man, unmarried, candidate of technical sciences, computer programming specialist, Russian, city dweller, Orthodox, etc. A number of statuses (Russian, man) were received by him from birth - these are prescribed statuses. He acquired a number of other statuses (candidate of sciences, programmer) after putting some effort into it - these are achieved statuses. Let's assume that this person identifies himself primarily as a programmer; therefore, programmer is his main status.

Social prestige of a person

The concept of status is usually associated with the concept of prestige.

Social prestige - this is a public assessment of the significance of the position that a person occupies in.

The higher the prestige of a person’s social position, the higher his social status is assessed. For example, the professions of economist or lawyer are considered prestigious; education received in good educational institution; high post; specific place of residence (capital, city center). If they talk about the high importance not of a social position, but of a specific person and his personal qualities, in this case they mean not prestige, but authority.

Social role

Social status is a characteristic of a person’s inclusion in the social structure. IN real life a person's status is manifested through the roles he plays.

Social role represents a set of requirements that society places on individuals occupying a specific social position.

In other words, if someone occupies a certain position in society, they will be expected to behave accordingly.

A priest is expected to behave in accordance with high moral standards, while a rock star is expected to act scandalously. If a priest begins to behave scandalously, and a rock star begins to read sermons, this will cause bewilderment, dissatisfaction and even condemnation of the public.

In order to feel comfortable in society, we must expect people to fulfill their roles and act within the rules prescribed by society: a university teacher will teach us scientific theories, not; the doctor will think about our health, not his earnings. If we did not expect others to fulfill their roles, we would be unable to trust anyone and our lives would be filled with hostility and suspicion.

Thus, if social status is a person’s position in the social structure of society with certain rights and responsibilities, then a social role is the functions performed by a person in accordance with his status: the behavior that is expected from the holder of this status.

Even with the same social status, the nature of the roles performed can vary significantly. This is due to the fact that the performance of roles is personal, and the roles themselves can have different versions of performance. For example m with r. the owner of such a social status as the father of the family can treat the child in a demanding and strict manner (play his role in an authoritarian manner), can build relationships in the spirit of cooperation and partnership (democratic style of behavior) or can let events take their course, giving the child a wide degree of freedom (permissive style). In exactly the same way, different theater actors will play the same role in completely different ways.

Throughout life, a person's position in the social structure may change. As a rule, these changes are associated with the transition of a person from one social group to another: from unskilled workers to specialists, from rural residents to city dwellers, etc.

Features of social status

Status - this is a social position that includes a given type of profession, economic status, political leanings, and demographic characteristics. For example, the status of citizen I.I. Ivanov is defined as follows: “salesman” is a profession, “a wage worker receiving an average income” is an economic trait, “member of the LDPR” is a political characteristic, “a man aged 25” is a demographic quality.

Each status, as an element of the social division of labor, contains a set of rights and obligations. Rights mean what a person can freely afford or allow in relation to other people. Responsibilities prescribe the status holder with some necessary actions: in relation to others, at his workplace, etc. Responsibilities are strictly defined, recorded in rules, instructions, regulations, or enshrined in custom. Responsibilities limit behavior to certain limits and make it predictable. For example, the status of a slave in the ancient world implied only duties and did not contain any rights. In a totalitarian society, rights and responsibilities are asymmetrical: the ruler and senior officials have maximum rights and minimum responsibilities; Ordinary citizens have many responsibilities and few rights. In our country in Soviet time Many rights were proclaimed in the constitution, but not all of them could be realized. In a democratic society, rights and responsibilities are more symmetrical. We can say that the level of social development of a society depends on how the rights and responsibilities of citizens are related and respected.

It is important that the individual’s duties presuppose his responsibility for their high-quality fulfillment. Thus, a tailor is obliged to sew a suit on time and with high quality; if this is not done, he must be punished somehow - pay a penalty or be fired. The organization is obliged under the contract to supply products to the customer, otherwise it incurs losses in the form of fines and penalties. Also in Ancient Assyria there was such a procedure (fixed in the laws of Hammurabi): if an architect built a building that 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 and the level of social development. In modern society, rights, freedoms and responsibilities are determined by social norms, laws, and traditions of society.

Thus, status- the individual’s position in, 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 man, a resident of Penza, a salesman, a member of the LDPR, an Orthodox Christian, 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, key one. The main status is the most characteristic for a given individual and is usually associated with his main place of work or occupation: “salesman”, “entrepreneur”, “researcher”, “bank director”, “worker at an industrial enterprise”, “housewife”, etc. P. The main thing is the status that determines the financial situation, and therefore the lifestyle, the circle of acquaintances, and the manner of behavior.

Specified(natural, prescribed) status determined by gender, nationality, race, i.e. characteristics given biologically, inherited by a person against his will and consciousness. Advances in modern medicine make some statuses changeable. Thus, the concept of biological sex, socially acquired, appeared. With the help of surgical operations, a man who has played with dolls since 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 it at birth. Which gender—male or female—should be considered natural in this case? There is no clear answer. Sociologists also find it difficult to determine what nationality a person whose parents are of different nationalities belongs to. Often, when moving to another country as children, emigrants forget old customs and their native language and are practically no different from the native inhabitants of their new homeland. In this case, biological nationality is replaced by socially acquired nationality.

New Status is a status that a person receives under certain conditions. Thus, the eldest son of an English lord after his death inherits this status. The kinship system has a whole set of acquired statuses. If innate statuses express consanguinity (“son”, “daughter”, “sister”, “brother”, “nephew”, “uncle”, “grandmother”, “grandfather”, “aunt”, “cousin”), then non-consanguineous ones relatives have acquired status. So, having married, a person can receive all his wife’s relatives as relatives. “Mother-in-law,” “father-in-law,” “sister-in-law,” “brother-in-law” are acquired statuses.

Achieved status - socially acquired by a person through his own efforts, desire, luck. Thus, a person acquires the status of a manager through education and perseverance. The more democratic a society is, the more statuses are achieved in the society.

Different statuses have their own insignia (symbols). In particular, the uniform of the military sets them apart from the mass of the civilian population; In addition, each military rank has its own differences: a private, a major, a general have different badges, shoulder straps, and headdresses.

Status image, or image, is a set of ideas about how a person should behave in accordance with his status. To correspond to a status image, a person must “not allow himself too much,” in other words, look the way others expect of him. For example, the president cannot oversleep a meeting with the leader of another country, university professors cannot sleep drunk in the entrance, as this does not correspond to their status image. There are situations when a person undeservedly tries to be “on an equal footing” with a person who has a different rank status, which leads to the manifestation of familiarity (amicoshonism), i.e. unceremonious, cheeky attitude.

Differences between people due to ascribed status are noticeable to varying degrees. Usually, each person, as well as a group of people, strives to occupy a more advantageous social position. Under certain circumstances, a flower seller can become the deputy prime minister of the country, a millionaire. Others do not succeed because their assigned status (gender, age, nationality) interferes.

At the same time, some social strata are trying to improve their status by uniting in movements (women's movements, organizations such as the “union of entrepreneurs”, etc.) and lobbying their interests everywhere. However, there are factors that hinder the attempts of individual groups to change their status. These include ethnic tensions, attempts by other groups to maintain the status quo, lack of strong leaders, etc.

Thus, under social status in sociology, we understand the position that a person (or social group) occupies in society. Since each person is a member of different ones, he is the owner of many statuses (i.e., the bearer of a certain status set). Each of the available statuses is associated with a set of rights that determine what the status holder can afford, and responsibilities that prescribe the performance of specific actions. In general, status can be defined as the position of an individual in the social structure of society, connected with other positions through a system of rights, duties and responsibilities.

Good afternoon, dear friends! Today I prepared a cool material about what social status is. Anyone taking the Unified State Exam in social studies needs to know this topic, because it is basic for understanding both the social sphere and other areas. In the last post we discussed. But the topic is so necessary that I decided to write a separate post.

Concept of social status

Social status is a person’s fixed position in society. A very simple definition. Society is a layer cake of social strata. Each person occupies a fixed position in one country or another, which can, however, be changed.

For example, student status at school. The student may be a first-grader (first grader), a 10th-grader, or a high school graduate. Each of these statutes assumes a different position in the school and in society. There are much more demands from teachers on a school graduate than on a first-grader, and there is more responsibility.

The status of a child implies that the child must obey his parents, go to kindergarten, school, exploring the world, and fulfilling their household duties.

The same applies to other aspects of social life. At any enterprise there are specialists who have been working here for 10-20 years. And there are interns who were hired recently. An intern and a specialist have a different share of responsibility and different functions.

A teacher must develop in his students the competencies necessary for their professional life. It’s normal for a driver to drive a bus or car so that passengers don’t feel like they’re riding in a cattle truck, etc.

In addition to responsibilities, status gives its owner rights. For example, if you are a bus driver, your annual leave should be at least 35 days, and if you are a teacher, then at least 56 :)

Thus, status has the following characteristics: the scope of responsibilities in relation to society, the scope of rights, status symbols (for example, among the military), its social role.

Types of social statuses

In order to cover this topic in more detail, I took this information card from my bins:

Download this info card in full size

If you understand the types of statuses, then I think everything is clear too.

Primary or main social status- the one that is significant to you in your life. It is clear that if you are a Hollywood star, like Mat Damon (shown on the info card), then you can’t escape him. Your life will be connected with him. If you are a doctor, then it is clear that your main job is treating patients.

Secondary- we change several times a day: a bus passenger, a buyer in a store, etc. Of course, we identify ourselves with him much less weakly than with our main social status. For example, when you go out onto the street, you will not feel like a pedestrian until you reach the traffic light.

Ascriptive- which is assigned to you regardless of your desire and your will. If you were born into a Bashkir family, you will be a Bashkir; if you were born into a Buryat family, you will be a Buryat. If you were born a boy, you will be uh... well, in most cases, a boy; if you were born a girl, you will most likely remain that way :)

Achieved social status- which you achieve as you go through life. It can be professional, basic, etc.

Mixed status- assigned when your position on the social ladder is unclear. Perhaps you have become a lumpen or a social outsider. To become familiar with these terms, read the article. Examples: the Pepsi generation, the thumb generation... well, this is when you constantly press the buttons on your phone so that your thumb became more flattened.

Your child will be born with a normal, flattened finger, so that it is more convenient to press the phone :) This is the generation of the thumb.

Personal social status the one you receive in social group. Usually it can be both formal (direction manager, director, foreman, etc.) and informal (diver, bespectacled - the one who wears glasses; macho, dude, chick, homeless, scourge, loser, healthy or unhealthy - teremnoe).

I hope the topic has become clearer. Subscribe to new articles, share this material with your friends on social networks!

Best regards, Andrey Puchkov