Man does not exist outside of society. We interact with other people and enter into various relationships with them. To indicate a person’s position among his own kind and the characteristics of an individual’s behavior in certain situations, scientists introduced the concepts of “social status” and “social role.”

About social status

The social status of an individual is not only a person’s place in the system of social relations, but also the rights and responsibilities dictated by his position. Thus, the status of a doctor gives the right to diagnose and treat patients, but at the same time obliges the doctor to observe labor discipline and conscientiously perform his work.

The concept of social status was first proposed by the American anthropologist R. Linton. The scientist made a great contribution to the study of the problems of personality and its interaction with other members of society.

Statuses exist in an enterprise, in a family, in a political party, in a kindergarten, in a school, in a university, in a word, wherever an organized group of people is engaged in socially significant activities and members of the group have certain relationships with each other.

A person is in several statuses at the same time. For example, a middle-aged man acts as a son, father, husband, engineer at a factory, member of a sports club, holder of an academic degree, author of scientific publications, patient in a clinic, etc. The number of statuses depends on the connections and relationships into which the individual enters.

There are several classifications of statuses:

1. Personal and social. A person occupies a personal status in a family or other small group in accordance with the assessment of his personal qualities. Social status (examples: teacher, worker, manager) is determined by the actions performed by the individual for society.
2. Main and episodic. Primary status is associated with the main functions in a person's life. Most often, the main statuses are family man and worker. Episodic are associated with a moment in time during which a citizen performs certain actions: a pedestrian, a reader in a library, a course student, a theater viewer, etc.
3. Prescribed, achieved and mixed. The prescribed status does not depend on the desires and capabilities of the individual, as it is given at birth (nationality, place of birth, class). What is achieved is acquired as a result of the efforts made (level of education, profession, achievements in science, art, sports). Mixed combines the features of the prescribed and achieved statuses (a person who has received a disability).
4. Socio-economic status is determined by the amount of income received and the position that an individual occupies in accordance with his well-being.

The set of all available statuses is called a status set.

Hierarchy

Society constantly evaluates the significance of this or that status and, on the basis of this, builds a hierarchy of positions.

Assessments depend on the benefits of the business in which a person is engaged, and on the system of values ​​​​accepted in the culture. Prestigious social status (examples: businessman, director) is highly appreciated. At the top of the hierarchy is the general status, which determines not only a person’s life, but also the position of people close to him (president, patriarch, academician).

If some statuses are unreasonably low, while others, on the contrary, are excessively high, then they speak of a violation of status balance. The trend towards its loss threatens the normal functioning of society.

The hierarchy of statuses can also be subjective. A person himself determines what is more important to him, in what status he feels better, what benefits he derives from being in one position or another.

Social status cannot be something unchanging, since people's lives are not static. The movement of a person from one social group to another is called social mobility, which is divided into vertical and horizontal.

Vertical mobility is spoken of when the social status of an individual increases or decreases (a worker becomes an engineer, a department head becomes an ordinary employee, etc.). With horizontal mobility, a person maintains his position, but changes his profession (to one of equal status), place of residence (becomes an emigrant).

Intergenerational and intragenerational mobility are also distinguished. The first determines how much children have increased or decreased their status in relation to the status of their parents, and the second determines how successful the social career of representatives of one generation is (types of social status are taken into account).

The channels of social mobility are school, family, church, army, public organizations and political parties. Education is a social elevator that helps a person achieve the desired status.

A high social status acquired by an individual or a decrease in it indicates individual mobility. If the status of a certain community of people changes (for example, as a result of a revolution), then group mobility takes place.

Social roles

While in one status or another, a person performs actions, communicates with other people, that is, plays a role. Social status and social role are closely interrelated, but differ from each other. Status is position, and role is socially expected behavior determined by status. If a doctor is rude and swears, and a teacher abuses alcohol, then this does not correspond to the status he holds.

The term “role” was borrowed from theater to emphasize the stereotypical behavior of people of similar social groups. A person cannot do as he wants. The behavior of an individual is determined by the rules and norms characteristic of a particular social group and society as a whole.

Unlike status, a role is dynamic and closely related to a person’s character traits and moral attitudes. Sometimes role behavior is adhered to only in public, as if putting on a mask. But it also happens that the mask fuses with its wearer, and the person ceases to distinguish between himself and his role. Depending on the situation, this state of affairs has both positive and negative consequences.

Social status and social role are two sides of the same coin.

Diversity of social roles

Since there are many people in the world and each person is an individual, it is unlikely that there will be two identical roles. Some role models require emotional restraint and self-control (lawyer, surgeon, funeral director), while for other roles (actor, teacher, mother, grandmother) emotions are very much in demand.

Some roles drive a person into strict frameworks (job descriptions, regulations, etc.), others have no framework (parents are fully responsible for the behavior of their children).

The performance of roles is closely related to motives, which are also different. Everything is determined by social status in society and personal motives. An official is concerned with promotion, a financier is concerned with profit, and a scientist is concerned with the search for truth.

Role set

A role set is understood as a set of roles characteristic of a particular status. Thus, a doctor of science is in the role of a researcher, teacher, mentor, supervisor, consultant, etc. Each role implies its own ways of communicating with others. The same teacher behaves differently with colleagues, students, and the rector of the university.

The concept of “role set” describes the whole variety of social roles inherent in a particular status. No role is strictly assigned to its bearer. For example, one of the spouses remains unemployed and for some time (and perhaps forever) loses the roles of colleague, subordinate, manager, and becomes a housewife (householder).

In many families, social roles are symmetrical: both husband and wife equally act as breadwinners, masters of the house and educators of children. In such a situation, it is important to adhere to the golden mean: excessive passion for one role (company director, businesswoman) leads to a lack of energy and time for others (father, mother).

Role Expectations

The difference between social roles and mental states and personality traits is that roles represent a certain historically developed standard of behavior. There are requirements for the bearer of a particular role. Thus, a child must certainly be obedient, a schoolboy or student must study well, a worker must observe labor discipline, etc. Social status and social role oblige one to act one way and not another. The system of requirements is also called expectations.

Role expectations act as an intermediate link between status and role. Only behavior that corresponds to status is considered role-playing. If a teacher, instead of giving a lecture on higher mathematics, starts singing with a guitar, then students will be surprised, because they expect other behavioral reactions from an assistant professor or professor.

Role expectations consist of actions and qualities. Taking care of the child, playing with him, putting the baby to bed, the mother performs actions, and kindness, responsiveness, empathy, and moderate severity contribute to the successful implementation of actions.

Compliance with the role being performed is important not only to others, but also to the person himself. A subordinate strives to earn the respect of his superior and receives moral satisfaction from a high assessment of the results of his work. The athlete trains hard to set a record. The writer is working on a bestseller. A person’s social status obliges him to be at his best. If an individual's expectations do not meet the expectations of others, then internal and external conflicts arise.

Role conflict

Contradictions between role holders arise either due to inconsistency with expectations, or due to the fact that one role completely excludes another. The young man more or less successfully plays the roles of son and friend. But the guy's friends invite him to a disco, and his parents demand that he stay at home. The emergency doctor's child falls ill, and the doctor is urgently called to the hospital because a natural disaster has occurred. The husband wants to go to the dacha to help his parents, and the wife books a trip to the sea to improve the health of the children.

Resolving role conflicts is not an easy task. Participants in the confrontation have to decide which role is more important, but in most cases compromises are more appropriate. The teenager returns from the party early, the doctor leaves his child with his mother, grandmother or nanny, and the spouses negotiate the timing of participation in dacha work and travel time for the whole family.

Sometimes the solution to the conflict is leaving the role: changing jobs, going to university, getting a divorce. Most often, a person understands that he has outgrown this or that role or that it has become a burden to him. A change of roles is inevitable as the child grows and develops: infant, toddler, preschooler, primary school student, teenager, young man, adult. The transition to a new age level is ensured by internal and external contradictions.

Socialization

From birth, a person learns the norms, patterns of behavior and cultural values ​​characteristic of a particular society. This is how socialization occurs and the individual’s social status is acquired. Without socialization, a person cannot become a full-fledged individual. Socialization is influenced by the media, cultural traditions of the people, social institutions (family, school, work collectives, public associations, etc.).

Purposeful socialization occurs as a result of training and upbringing, but the efforts of parents and teachers are adjusted by the street, the economic and political situation in the country, television, the Internet and other factors.

The further development of society depends on the effectiveness of socialization. Children grow up and occupy the status of their parents, taking on certain roles. If the family and the state do not pay enough attention to the upbringing of the younger generation, then degradation and stagnation occur in public life.

Members of society coordinate their behavior with certain standards. These may be prescribed norms (laws, regulations, rules) or unspoken expectations. Any non-compliance with standards is considered a deviation, or deviation. Examples of deviation are drug addiction, prostitution, alcoholism, pedophilia, etc. Deviation can be individual, when one person deviates from the norm, and group (informal groups).

Socialization occurs as a result of two interrelated processes: internalization and social adaptation. A person adapts to social conditions, masters the rules of the game, which are mandatory for all members of society. Over time, norms, values, attitudes, ideas about what is good and what is bad become part of the inner world of the individual.

People are socialized throughout their lives, and at each age stage, statuses are acquired and lost, new roles are learned, conflicts arise and are resolved. This is how personality development occurs.

R. Merton

Social status is:

2) achieved (attainable), i.e. that which a person himself achieves during his life, making certain efforts (profession, material wealth, political influence, etc.)

d.). Sometimes a person may have a mixed social status, but most often a person has several statuses, since he is a member of different social groups (for example, a man is a boss at work, but at home he is a kind and caring father). But still, basically, a person’s social status and his position in society are determined by one, the most basic status. In most cases, it is determined by place of work.

It is important to understand the following:

Social statuses, their types

In everyday conversation, the word “status” is used to denote the position of an individual, determined by his economic position, influence and prestige. Man is social; he interacts with various social groups. Entering many social groups at the same time, he occupies a different position in each of them. To analyze the degree of inclusion of an individual in various groups, as well as positions, cat. he ranks in each of them, using the concept of social status. Status is understood as the social position of a person within a group or society, associated with certain of his rights and responsibilities; this is the rank or position of an individual in this group. . It is with the help of statuses that we identify each other in various social structures. Mother, mayor, priest, friend, boss, man, captain, child, Yakut, customer, professor and convict - all these are statuses.

Social status is a characteristic of a social position; the presence of an internally substantive side of status means that the social status characterizes what rights, responsibilities, privileges, and powers are assigned to those who perform a particular function. The presence of an external nomination form means that the SS has its own nomination: teacher, doctor, president, cleaner, grandfather, daughter, etc. In sociology, it is important that the status of a daughter is not just the status of a family relationship, but also a certain subordination to parents, the obligation to listen to their opinion, material and legal dependence on them. The total sum of all statuses - a status set - illustrates the individuality of a person and his place in the system of social relations; the totality of all statuses is organized into hierarchical rows (they are connected and subordinate to each other). Types of statuses: 1. acquired congenitally, innate - assigned (nationality, gender, race), i.e. a status inherited from birth, innate, is called ascribed (ascriptive). The generally accepted criteria for ascribed status are age and gender. For example, by law you cannot obtain a driver's license, get married, vote in elections, or receive a pension before reaching the required age. Race, religion, family and socioeconomic status are also generally accepted grounds for determining a person's status.

We obtain other statuses through individual choice and competition, this is 2.

achieved (acquired) The status acquired by an individual in society thanks to his own efforts is called achieved. No society can ignore the difference of individuals, so the success or failure of an individual is reflected in giving him a certain status based on a particular achievement. A professor, a choir director, a doctor, an actor, a university student, a priest, a policeman, a pickpocket, a company president, a trainer, and a scuba diver are all examples of achieved status. There are statuses 3. statuses associated with the kinship system, some kinship statuses are acquired (adoption, baptism). Statuses can be formalized and unformalized: formalized ones are protected by law (plant director, regional governor), a similar status arises within the framework of formal institutions, groups, so a person seeks to “protect” himself with a formal status, unformalized ones are statuses that are not based on laws (the leader of a group of friends, informal team leader). In addition to the main status associated with the profession, it is appropriate to talk about the generalized status, otherwise called. social position index – a holistic assessment of the social positions of both one’s own and others in the system of social coordinates.

Of the many statuses, it is first of all necessary to determine the main status, what exactly self-determines a person socially. Of particular importance in this is the status of the individual associated with work, profession, and property status is of no small importance. However, in an informal group of friends, these signs may be of secondary importance - here the cultural level, education, and sociability can play a decisive role. Therefore, it is necessary to distinguish the basic, general hierarchy of personality statuses, cat. works in most situations in a given society, and a specific one, used in special conditions, for special people. So, the main status is a key status that determines the social position and importance of a person, associated with certain of his rights and responsibilities. For children, the main status is age; similarly, in many societies the primary status is gender. The basic status forms the frame within which our goals are formulated and our training takes place. Statuses in society are hierarchized, the accepted hierarchy of statuses represents the basis of social stratification, the social prestige (respect, recognition) of statuses is a hierarchy of statuses shared by society and enshrined in culture and public opinion. The prestige of status is shared by society; any restructuring of social institutions is associated with changes in the hierarchy of statuses.

Each person in society has certain relationships, performs certain duties and has certain rights. All this is an indicator of the position in society that an individual occupies and the social status that he or she possesses. Social status determines the position of a group and its members in certain areas of human life.

A person’s position in society is determined by his profession, nationality, age, and marital status. (All these defining R. Merton called a “status set.”) One person has many statuses, as he participates in many groups and organizations. He is a man, a father, a husband, a son, a teacher, a professor, a doctor of science, a middle-aged man, a member of the editorial board, an Orthodox Christian, etc. One person can occupy two opposite statuses, but in relation to different people: for his children he is a father , and for his mother a son.

Social status is:

1) prescribed (attributed), i.e., one that a person receives regardless of his desire and most often from birth (gender, nationality, age);

2) achieved (attainable), i.e. that which a person himself achieves during his life, making certain efforts (profession, material wealth, political influence, etc.). Sometimes a person may have a mixed social status, but most often a person has several statuses, since he is a member of different social groups (for example, a man is a boss at work, but at home he is a kind and caring father).

Social role and social status.

But still, basically, a person’s social status and his position in society are determined by one, the most basic status. In most cases, it is determined by place of work.

To determine the social status of a person, the assessment of existing positions in the society in which a person lives and the determination of the prestige and authority of these positions are of great importance.

Social status is a certain position in the social structure of a group or society, connected to other positions through a system of rights and responsibilities. The status “teacher” makes sense only in relation to the status “student”, but not in relation to the salesman, pedestrian or engineer. To them he is just an individual.

With the help of social status, relationships in a group are regulated, norms and rules of behavior are established for representatives of groups that correspond to a certain status.

In various eras of our society, the defining indicator was: under capitalism - income, money, under socialism - the labor contribution of the employee. By performing certain duties, a person occupies a certain status in society and begins to fulfill those social roles in society that correspond to this social status.

It is important to understand the following:

1) social statuses are interrelated with each other, but do not interact with each other;

2) only subjects (holders, bearers) of statuses interact with each other, i.e. people;

3) it is not statuses that enter into social relations, but their bearers;

4) social relations connect statuses, but these relations are realized through people – status holders.

Status group and lifestyle

In my review of various definitions of status, I have so far focused on status as an individual's position in society. However, from a sociological point of view, status is much more interesting as an attribute of social groups or collectives. Therefore, we need to move from definitions of individual status to the concept of group status, community status and collective lifestyles. While the American sociological tradition has often focused on individual status, the tradition stemming from Weber has been more interested in the origins, maintenance, and social consequences of status groups and status communities as cohesive and militant social collectivities. In Economy and Society, Weber recognized the different meanings of status and prestige, but I think there were only two aspects of status that he took particularly seriously. First, the concept of status as a system of "estates" whereby society (especially the feudal system) was divided on the basis of legal, social and cultural privileges, giving rise to divided, different caste-like groups. Status groups become estates when their privileges crystallize into a system of legal and economic immunities resulting from external control or regulation, protected by custom, religion and law.

Secondly, Weber was interested in analyzing the historical and social functions of status groups or status communities, which are groups that have a similar lifestyle, a common moral system, a common language or culture, and religious differences. As a result, these shared cultural features give rise to isolated, internally solidary communities organized to protect or expand their ability to enjoy cultural and social benefits and privileges. From this perspective, social stratification creates, maintains and distributes various forms of power in society through the mechanisms of political monopoly, cultural reproduction and social exclusion. The idea that status differences are maintained through cultural exclusivity was particularly developed in the sociology of culture by Pierre Bourdieu. From the perspective of these sociological approaches, we can derive two corresponding concepts of status: status as a lifestyle (cultural status) and status as political-legal rights (civil component of status).

Weber defined status position (Stadische Lage) as an effective social claim to nobility (honour) or respect in the form of positive and negative privileges. Status is usually based on a particular lifestyle, formal training, or formal prestige derived from a particular occupation. Status, moreover, is maintained and expressed through the ranking of living and nutritional conditions, through the monopoly of privileged access to power and wealth, through the social solidarity generated by marriage, and, finally, through certain customs and status conventions. By status group he understood a set of social subjects (actors) who, in a broader social environment, successfully claim specific honor (honour) and enjoy certain social privileges. Status groups are communities that have privileged access to scarce resources, especially if those resources entail cultural, moral, or symbolic attributes.

Following Frank Parkin, we can note that status groups or communities usually arise as a result of social and political usurpation, causing a collective struggle to increase access to scarce resources and thereby strengthen a collective position in the honor system. Weber went on to compare economic classes and status communities in terms of their internal solidarity and militancy. Unlike economic classes, status groups are characteristic social groups of a communal nature, which involves the reproduction of a typical lifestyle and cultural heritage. Economic classes, on the other hand, are simply aggregates of individuals bound together by exchange and other economic relations.

Social statuses and social roles

Consequently, status communities are organized as communities for the purpose of protecting and strengthening their social privileges and rights.

The implications of these formal definitions enabled Weber to undertake a series of comparative historical studies of social structure and social change. Weber wanted to show that economic wealth is not the only criterion of social power and influence. In addition, he wanted to explore societies in which prestige achieved through education or culture was more significant than power based on ownership of the means of production. For example, in his study of Chinese society, Weber emphasized the political and cultural status of the educated. He wrote that “for twelve centuries, social rank in China was determined more by job qualifications than by wealth. This qualification, in turn, was determined by education and especially by examination. China has made education literally the sole measure of social prestige, giving it a greater role than was the case in Europe during the humanist period or in Germany.”

In Weber's view, this cultural layer contributed to the strengthening of social stability and traditionalism in China, since there were similarities between the Confucian ethics of the layer and the lifestyle of civil officials. In The Religion of India, Weber showed how religious beliefs about pollution played an important role in the organization and maintenance of the caste system. These examples highlight the fact that Weber preferred to conduct a historical study of power relations in human society rather than engage in formal development of the conceptual distinctions between class, status and party. In subsequent sociology, Weber's emphasis on the importance of history was lost. But static categorization of different strata or segments is no substitute for historical sociology.

Weber's development of the idea of ​​status groups has been used to contrast Marx's analysis of economic class. Weber wanted to show that status groups were more cohesive and socially and politically conscious than economic classes, which Weber defined as aggregates operating in the market. Status groups depend crucially on the maintenance of exclusive lifestyles aimed at preserving certain cultural monopolies. Status groups seek to reproduce themselves through educational mechanisms in order to prevent the social mobility of outsiders and to emphasize their exclusivity and particularism. It is useful to compare T. Veblen’s book “The Theory of the Leisure Class” with Weber’s interpretation of status groups:

“For Weber, as for Veblen, the function of prestige consumption, that is, to emphasize a pragmatically meaningless style of consumption requiring many years of study, was to prevent mobility and institutionalize the privileges of those who had risen to the top in previous years or eras.” . Therefore, status groups are determined by a specific lifestyle.”

Thus, a status group is a community of individuals who have organized themselves to maintain or expand their social privileges through the mechanism of social closure in order to protect existing monopoly privileges from outsiders. …The existence of status groups inevitably gives rise to social conflict and social struggle, although these forms of social struggle can often be disguised or hidden.

Conflict sociology

One great controversy in sociology has arisen over the question of whether social relations are characterized primarily by agreement or conflict. Social cohesion theories seek to explain how social order is formed, and they typically argue that social stability is created by shared values ​​and expectations. Representatives of conflict sociology are impressed more by the prevalence of conflict, tension and disorder than by the areas of agreement and consensus. If we look from our time, then many of these disputes now seem to be somewhat unproductive, since at the level of common sense it is clear that all social relations give rise to both agreement and conflict at the same time. However, in the analysis of status groups and status struggles there are strong arguments for the approach of conflict sociology, since in this work I argue that status by its very nature entails endless struggle over the distribution of limited resources, especially cultural ones. Conflict sociology in its most developed form provides a general and theoretically important approach to social relations.

…The historical development of status stratification in the United States differed from the development of class systems in Europe in a number of important ways. First of all, the United States did not inherit the feudal nobility, and migration played a key role in the formation of a sense of individual success as the main component of the value system, while the social system was organized into separate competing ethnic communities. These historical differences partly explain the difference in approaches to social stratification in American and European sociology. While European social theory was primarily interested in the role of economic classes in industrial society, American sociologists were more interested in studying the social mobility of individuals, analyzing the structure of occupations, and the subjective perception of prestige.

In the American context, Weber's conflictual approach to status privileges was transformed and superseded by the "Warner school of sociology." The concepts of "status" and "class" were conflated, and the importance of conflict in the formation of consciousness was ignored. Social stratification was now seen as a continuous gradation of positions, which were equivalent to ranking by prestige. Individuals were seen as moving through these ranked positions through their personal efforts; the concept of socially exclusive status groups seeking to monopolize resources was abandoned in favor of an image of America as a classless society with greater opportunities for social mobility. The emphasis on class conflict and status group competition, essential elements in the dynamic process of historical transformation of society (as we noted in the sociology of both Marx and Weber), was supplanted by the emphasis on consensus in the study of communities by the Warner school and the structural-functionalist theory of stratification. .Davis and W.Moore. Of course, these approaches to social stratification in American sociology were eventually widely criticized because, for example, the functionalist approach to status ignored significant inequalities, the role of the interests that they generated, the monopolization of resources, and the large-scale intergroup conflicts that occur in American life.

Having outlined the variety of definitions and approaches to status, I would now like to articulate my own approach more clearly. First, I especially emphasize the political and legal features of the concept of status. As I have already noted, in Latin this word originally meant a legal position or position in society, according to which a citizen could claim various forms of relief from political and tax obligations. Therefore, by status I mean, first of all, a set of socio-political claims to society, which gives an individual (or, more sociologically speaking, a group) certain benefits and privileges, distinguishing him from among other individuals or groups. These socio-political claims concern scarce resources, especially education, culture and symbolic resources. This cultural aspect of status gives rise to a second dimension: the concept of status as a culturally specific lifestyle that distinguishes in society a status group with a special identity. In feudal societies, access to privileges was organized exclusively through classes (clergy, nobility and common people), which had their own cultural and value systems. In modern society, struggles over social privileges and distinctive symbols are more fluid and open, involving countless groups, collectives and strata.

By emphasizing the socio-political aspect, it is easier to maintain a clearer line between status and the idea of ​​economic class, since class refers to the system of economic inequality in society, using the categories of production, ownership and consumption. Therefore, I would prefer to use the concept of "economic class" as an equivalent to "social class". ...On the one hand, I want to distinguish between economic classes and status communities, and on the other, I believe that class and status analyzes are far from mutually exclusive things, they are most effectively used in combination... My analysis of social stratification shows the economic structure of society (classes) , the distribution of legal rights (citizenship) and the organization of prestige and honor in terms of “cultural capital” (status as a culturally distinctive lifestyle).

Although the reader has probably already felt that the idea of ​​status is surrounded by rather difficult terminological complexities, nevertheless, for the purposes of analysis, I introduce another distinction in this work: between status communities and status columns or blocks. The status community is, so to speak, the true form of a durable community (or, in sociological language, a Gemeinschaft relationship); these are communities where individuals share common attributes, such as language, culture, or ethnicity, over a relatively long period of time. For example, the Welsh community in South Australia or the Irish community in New York are, in my terminology, status communities of established, internally solidary collectives. Conversely, status columns or blocks are rather associations or organizations (Gesellschaft relationships) in which individuals create organizational structures to achieve specific goals, such as receiving benefits or tax benefits. An example of a status column is all persons belonging to single-parent households who claim benefits or other benefits in the welfare state. Other examples are pensioners' associations, consumer advocacy groups, disabled soldiers' charities... These are lobbying groups that often form associations in the name of civil rights to put pressure on local or national governments. Thus, status columns emerge to achieve very limited and perhaps short-term political and social goals, while status communities tend to be stable, multidimensional, complex, primary groups.

Status columns or blocs become involved in status politics, which includes claims to the state for social rights by groups experiencing some discrimination and appealing to modern, universalist legislation. Since egalitarian universalism is the main criterion of modern democracies, citizens will experience different forms of inequality in terms of status characteristics such as age, gender or nationality. Where these status columns become recipients of state aid, we have a status policy... In the political and legal sense, I mean by status (a set of social requirements for the public economy or the state) modern citizenship...

B. Turner. Status (From the book: Bryan S.Turner. Status. Open University, Milton Keynes, 1988). /Translation from English. and editing by V.I. Ilyina. Available from URL: http://www.socnet.narod.ru/library/authors/Ilyin/hrest/terner.htm

L. Warner
Social class and social structure

Status - it is a specific position in the social structure of a group or society, connected to other positions through a system of rights and responsibilities.

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 assessed 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 can be 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 represents the basis of its stratification. Certain statuses are prestigious, others are the opposite. Prestige is society’s assessment 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 the social functions that a person performs;

b) a value system characteristic of a given society.

If the prestige of any statuses is unreasonably overestimated or, conversely, underestimated, it is usually said that there is a loss of balance of statuses. 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 an individual primarily influences his behavior. Knowing the social status of a person, you 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 usually called a social role. A social role actually represents a certain pattern of behavior 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 degree of formalization: some are very clearly defined, for example in military organizations, others are very vague. A social role can be assigned to a person either formally (for example, in a legislative act), or it can also be of an informal nature.

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 internal conflict of the individual (if some of the social roles contradict each other).

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

a) the role of a worker;

b) the role of the owner;

c) the role of the consumer;

d) the role of a citizen;

d) the role of a family member.

However, despite the fact that the behavior of an individual is largely determined by the status that he occupies and the roles that he plays in society, he (the individual) nevertheless retains his autonomy and has a certain freedom of choice. And although in modern society there is a tendency towards unification and standardization of personality, its complete leveling, fortunately, does not occur. An 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 and use his abilities as effectively as possible. A person’s acceptance of a particular social role is influenced by both social conditions and his biological and personal characteristics (health status, gender, age, temperament, etc.). Any role prescription outlines only a general pattern of human behavior, offering the choice of ways for the individual to carry it out.

In the process of achieving a certain status and fulfilling the corresponding social role, a so-called role conflict may arise. Role conflict is a situation in which a person is faced with the need to satisfy the demands of two or more incompatible roles.

Social status- a certain position in the social structure of a group or society, connected with other positions through a system of rights and obligations. The status “teacher” makes sense only in relation to the status “student”, but not in relation to the salesman, pedestrian or engineer. For them, just an individual.

The teacher is obliged to transfer scientific knowledge to the student, test and evaluate it, and monitor discipline. He is endowed, in particular, with the right not to certify the student and leave him for the second year. And everyone knows how this can affect the fate of a teenager. The student is required to regularly attend classes, fulfill the teacher’s requirements, and prepare homework. In other words, the teacher and student enter into social relations with each other as representatives of two large social groups, as bearers of social status.

It is important to understand the following:

• social statuses are interrelated with each other, but do not interact with each other;
• Only subjects (holders, bearers) of statuses interact with each other, i.e. people;
• It is not statuses that enter into social relations, but their bearers;
• social relations connect statuses, but these relations are realized through people who are carriers of statuses.

One person has many statuses because he participates in many groups and organizations. He is a man, a father, a husband, a son, a teacher, a professor, a doctor of science, a middle-aged man, a member of the editorial board, an Orthodox Christian, etc. One person can occupy two opposite statuses, but in relation to different people: for his children he is a father , and for his mother a son. The totality of all statuses occupied by one person is called status set(this concept was introduced into science by the American sociologist Robert Merton).

In the status set there will definitely be a main one. Main status name the most characteristic status for a given person, with which he is identified (identified) by other people or with which he identifies himself. For men, the main thing most often is the status associated with the main place of work (bank director, lawyer, worker), and for women - with the place of residence (housewife). Although other options are possible. This means that the main status is relative - it is not uniquely associated with gender, race or profession. The main thing is always the status that determines the style and lifestyle, the circle of acquaintances, and the manner of behavior.

There are also social and personal statuses. Social status is the position of a person in society, which he occupies as a representative of a large social group (profession, class, nationality, gender, age, religion).

Personal status is the position of an individual in a small group, depending on how he is assessed and perceived by members of this group (friends, relatives) in accordance with his personal qualities. To be a leader or an outsider, the life of the party or an expert, means to occupy a certain place in the structure (or system) of interpersonal relationships (but not social ones).

Varieties of social status are ascribed and achieved statuses. Ascribed is the status in which a person is born ( inborn status), but which is later necessarily recognized as such by society or group.

This includes gender, nationality, and race. Negro is an innate status in the sense that it is impossible to change the color of the skin and the physiological characteristics of the body associated with it. However, blacks in the USA, South Africa and Cuba have different social statuses. In Cuba, as in most countries, the Negro, a representative of the indigenous population, which constitutes the absolute majority, has equal rights with others. In South Africa, as in Cuba, blacks are the majority of the population, but during the apartheid period they were subjected to political and social discrimination.

In the United States, blacks are a minority of the population, but the legal situation during a certain historical period was reminiscent of the situation in South Africa.

Thus, the Negro is not only a born (given by nature), but also an ascribed status. Ascribed and innate statuses include: “member of the royal family,” “descendant of a noble family,” etc.

They are innate because royal and noble privileges are inherited by a child as a blood relative. However, the liquidation of the monarchical system and the destruction of noble privileges indicate the relativity of such statuses.

The innate status must be reinforced in public opinion and the social structure of society. Only then will it be innate and ascribed at the same time.

The kinship system gives a whole set of innate and ascribed statuses: son, daughter, sister, brother, mother, father, nephew, aunt, cousin, grandfather, etc. They are received by blood relatives. Non-blood relatives are called in-laws. The mother-in-law is the mother-in-law, the father-in-law is the father-in-law. These are ascribed, but not innate, statuses, because they are acquired through marriage. These are the statuses of stepson and stepdaughter obtained through adoption.

In the strict sense, ascribed is any status acquired against one's own will, over which the individual has no control. Unlike him achievable status is acquired as a result of free choice, personal effort and is under the control of a person. These are the statuses of a president, a banker, a student, a professor, an Orthodox member of the conservative party.

The statuses of husband, wife, godfather and mother are attainable because they are obtained at will. But sometimes the type of status is difficult to determine.

In such cases we talk about mixed a status that has the characteristics of ascribed and achieved. For example, the status of unemployed, if it was obtained not voluntarily, but as a result of a massive reduction in production, an economic crisis.

So, let's summarize what has been said: status is the position of an individual in a group or society. Therefore, there are personal and social statuses. In addition to them, there is the main (what you identify with), attributed (given by circumstances beyond your control), achieved (by free choice) and mixed.

The listed sets of statuses existing in human society are not exhausted. Attributed, achieved, mixed, social, personal statuses, as well as professional, economic, political, demographic, religious and consanguineous statuses belong to the variety main statuses.

In addition to them, there are a huge number of episodic, non-core statuses. These are the statuses of a pedestrian, passer-by, patient, witness, participant in a demonstration, strike or crowd, reader, listener, television viewer, standing in line for housing, dining in a canteen, etc.

Typically this is 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, let’s summarize: a person has basic (they determine the main ones in life) and non-basic (they influence the details of behavior) statuses. The first are significantly different from the second.

At no point in time does any person exist outside of status or statuses. If he leaves one cell, he will definitely end up in another. It is not at all necessary that at a given moment in time one person has only one status. Quite the contrary, there are a lot of them, and much more than we suspect.

Behind each status - permanent or temporary, main or non-main - there is large social group, or social category. Orthodox Christians, conservatives, engineers, men (main statuses) form real groups. All tenants, patients, pedestrians standing in line for housing (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. They are a typical object of statistics.

A person is characterized by at least two types of mismatches:

1. thoughts, words and actions (according to the principle: I think one thing, say another, and do a third);
2. needs, values ​​and motives. Both relate to our inner world.

However, there are other types of mismatches. One of them describes the external position of the individual in society or group. It's called mismatch (or divergence) of statuses.

An individual has many statuses and belongs to many social groups, the prestige of which in society is not the same: businessmen are valued higher than plumbers or general workers; men in production have greater social weight than women; belonging to the main nation is not the same as belonging to a national minority, etc.

In public opinion, it is developed over time, orally transmitted, supported, but, as a rule, is not registered in any documents status hierarchy and social groups where some are valued and respected more than others.

A place in such an invisible hierarchy is called rank. They talk about high, middle or low ranks. Hierarchy can exist between groups within the same society (in which case it is called intergroup) and between individuals within the same group ( intragroup). And here a person’s place is denoted by the same term “rank”.

Status discrepancy describes the contradiction in intergroup and intragroup hierarchies. It occurs under two circumstances:

• when an individual occupies a high rank in one group and a low rank in the second;
• when the rights and duties of one status conflict or interfere with the rights and duties of another.

A highly paid banker (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, co-workers or Sunday joggers.

Another example: a woman’s relatively low production rank will most likely cause her subordinates to doubt her high professional qualities as a department head. It is generally accepted that women are bad leaders.

Another situation: it is officially prohibited to combine the functions of a people’s deputy and a minister, but unofficially, that is, again in public opinion, the combination of statuses by police officers as members of a criminal gang is not approved.

So, let's conclude: some human statuses are in harmony, while others are in contradiction. It is called status mismatch: a high rank in one social group and a low rank in another.

Although statuses do not enter into social relations directly, but only indirectly - through their carriers, 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 non-owners who complain that they have become the owners of a forest park. 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, consanguineous, economic, professional statuses of a person determine the intensity, duration, direction and content of people’s social relations.

If you want to find out what kind of relationship you will have with a non-relative or non-friend (and relative and friend are statuses in different structures), you must find out the content of their statuses. Status determines the interest that a given person will explicitly or implicitly, permanently or temporarily, pursue and defend. An entrepreneur is interested in you only as a client, a woman - as a potential sexual partner, a seller - as a possible buyer.

This is the hidden motive of their relationship with you. Interest in you, the duration and intensity of your relationship will be determined by how soon this other person realizes that you are not giving what he expected to receive from you.

Of course, a person does not express true interest directly. He disguises it and surrounds it with rules of polite behavior. The latter create the illusion that a trusting relationship has developed between you.

So, let's summarize what has been said: it is statuses that determine the nature, content, duration or intensity of human relationships - both interpersonal and social.

What is “society” and what are its main features? – The word “society” is used quite often by us in everyday life. By it we mean a certain group of people who are united by a common goal.

This may be a society characterized by a certain nationality or a group of people who at first glance are completely different, but at the same time the interests of the people who participate in it may coincide. With the advent of democracy, much more different societies have appeared in the world, and here we are not talking about society as the people of a certain country, not at all. Society does not necessarily imply the unification of people according to several criteria, such as the concept of “nationality”. It is enough for one person to find a group of like-minded people, as a result of which they can be called a small community of interests. Today the concept has a fairly wide scope of use. In every speech of a politician, you can repeatedly hear this concept used in a variety of senses. It acts as a tool that positively influences people.

Society is a developing society. Everything in our world is cyclical and society can also develop cyclically. With each new day, new factors appear that influence the formation of society and society as a whole. If in the ancient world societies were tribal tribes, today the concept of society has a broader meaning. Today, it is quite possible to form a society within a society, which indicates that society is constantly acquiring new qualities. Today, society is not perceived as a single whole - it is, first of all, a collection of individuals who can be united according to one or more characteristics.

Often people can unite into a society in order to achieve a certain goal together - this can be done if, for example, you download qip 2005 for free to your computer and begin to gather people from all over the world around you. Sometimes the strength of one person is not enough, so the leader tries to attract as many supporters as possible who will go side by side with him towards his goal. It is not uncommon for such societies to grow larger and become more influential. But if a society does not have prospects, it will lose its relevance even in the first stages of its formation. It must be remembered that any society is, first of all, a collection of people who can change their opinions as a result of certain events, so the collapse of the group may be inevitable.

There are many interpretations of the concept of “society”:
Durkheim viewed society as a supra-individual spiritual reality based on collective ideas.
According to Weber, society is the interaction of people who are a product of social, i.e. actions oriented towards other people.
Parsons defined society as a system of relations between people, the connecting principle of which is norms and values.
From Marx's point of view, society is a historically developing set of relations between people, emerging in the process of their joint activities.
Comte tried to present the social structure (statics in his terminology) as a complex organism in which special connections are established from the family to the system of religion and state.
Spencer, noting that society, as a complex organism, has a specific organ for each need or function, and the development of societies occurs through differentiation or division of existing organs. But development occurs not only through the division of existing social institutions, but also through the withering away of some and the emergence of completely new social institutions.

In general, this characteristic is still true today. Any society, and especially modern society, is complexly structured, but is an integral system of elements. This approach to the concept of society is called systemic.
The main task of the systems approach in the study of society is to combine various knowledge about society into a coherent system, which could become a theory of society. A system is a set of elements ordered in a certain way, interconnected and forming some kind of integral unity. The material basis of any system is its elements, which represent a complex hierarchy of subsystems with complex connections and interactions. For society, it is necessary that these connections and interactions are sustainable and reproduced in the historical process, passing from generation to generation, then society as a system acquires systemic qualities: when society is not just a sum of elements, but a stable system. There are several interpretations of the structure of society, depending on the point of view on the relationships of the elements and on what is taken as the original elements:
Since the initial element of any society is a person, or rather a certain number of people united by family, economic, ethnic, religious, political and other ties, the structure of society can be represented as a system of groups, classes, communities and status-role units. All these elements do not exist on their own (separately), but are connected into a social system - a holistic formation, the main element of which is people, their connections, interactions and relationships.
In addition, in society as a system, subsystems or spheres are distinguished. These are economic, political. and social subsystems. There is a tradition of dividing society into the material and spiritual spheres of people's lives. Each subsystem consists of its own blocks or institutions that perform their functions in the structure of an integral social organism; most often these functions are associated with the implementation of certain social needs.

In modern society, it is customary to distinguish, following Parsons, 4 areas within which certain public institutions function:
Economic sphere or sphere of economics. Within this sphere there are institutions of money, securities, and banks. In economics sphere is the production of material goods, the market. The main content of economics. sphere is the production, exchange and consumption of material goods.
Political or sphere of politics within which such policies exist. institutions, such as the institution of parliamentarism, the institution of presidency, government, bureaucratic apparatus, local government, political. parties, public organizations and movements. The main content, meaning is watered. relations is power, i.e. a way to influence the behavior of other people in politics. sphere. The condition that ensures the power of some people over others is the law that gives different official categories different rights in the state and political system. management.
The sphere of public life is culture, the main element of which is education, science, religion, art, morality, values ​​and ideals.
The sphere where family birth and family relationships occur. The main institutions in this sphere are the institution of marriage and divorce.

In different societies, all these spheres have significant differences: power, economy, culture, and family have different structures and have different qualities. Marxist theory is close to this, highlighting: economic, political, cultural and social. But regardless of the elements highlighted, the main thing is that society is an integral system with qualities that none of the elements included in it have.

Based on the theory of social stratification, social structure is interpreted as a set of hierarchical interconnected social groups, which are characterized by vertical and horizontal decency:
1. they occupy different positions in the system of social inequality of a given society according to basic social criteria (power, income, prestige, property);
2. they are interconnected by economic, political and cultural relations;
3. they are the subjects of the functioning of all social institutions of a given society and, above all, economic ones.

5 Social status(from lat. status - position, condition) - the position of a person in society, occupied by him in accordance with age, gender, origin, profession, marital status and other indicators and implying certain rights and responsibilities. Every person occupies several positions in society.
The word “status” came to sociology from the Latin language. In Ancient Rome it denoted the state, the legal status of a legal entity. However, at the end of the 19th century, the English historian Maine gave it a sociological sound.
Status set– the totality of all statuses occupied by a given individual.
Social set(Robert Merton) = social status + status set.
13.2 . Types (classifications) of statuses:
13.2.1. Statuses determined by an individual's position in a group:
1) social status- the position of a person in society, which he occupies as a representative of a large social group (profession, class, nationality, gender, age, religion).
Professional – job status– the basic status of an individual, fixes the social, economic, production and technical position of a person (banker, engineer, lawyer, etc.).
2) Personal status- the position that a person occupies in a small group, depending on how he is assessed by his individual qualities.
Personal status plays a primary role among familiar people. For people we know, it is not the characteristics of where you work and your social status that are important, but our personal qualities.
3) Main status- the status by which an individual is identified by others, determines the lifestyle, circle of acquaintances, manner of behavior with which a person is identified by other people or with which he identifies himself. For men, most often - status associated with work, profession; for women - housewife, mother. Although other options are possible.

The main status is relative: it is not uniquely associated with gender, profession, or race. The main thing is status, which determines the style and lifestyle, circle of acquaintances, and behavior.
13.2.2. Statuses acquired due to the presence or absence of free choice:
Ralph Linton: 1) ascriptive status (prescribed, attributed, innate status); 2) achieved status (achieved, achieved, acquired status).

Prescribed status– imposed by society, regardless of the efforts and merits of the individual (ethnic origin, place of birth, etc.).
1) Attributed status- the social status with which a person is born (innate, natural status is determined by race, gender, nationality), or which will be assigned to him over time (inheritance of title, fortune, etc.).
Natural status– essential and most stable characteristics of a person (men and women, childhood, youth, maturity, etc.).
!!! The ascribed status does not coincide with the innate one. Only three social statuses are considered innate: gender, nationality, race (i.e. biologically inherited); (negro – innate, characterizing race; man – innate, describing gender; Russian – innate, showing nationality).
2) Achievable(acquired) status - a social status that is achieved as a result of a person’s own efforts, desire, free choice, or acquired through luck and luck.
3) Mixed status has the characteristics of what is prescribed and achieved, but achieved !!! not at the request of a person: disabled, refugee, unemployed, emperor, American-born Chinese.
Political upheavals, coups d'etat, social revolutions, wars can change or even cancel some statuses of huge masses of people against their will and desire.
The title of academician is at first achievable, but later it turns into an ascribed one, because is considered lifelong.
13.3 . Hierarchy of statuses:
Intergroup hierarchy occurs between status groups; intragroup – between the statuses of individuals within one group.
Status rank– place in the hierarchy of statuses: high, medium, low.
13.4 . Status mismatch occurs: 1) when an individual occupies a high position in one group and a low position in another; 2) when the rights and obligations of one status contradict or interfere with the exercise of the rights and obligations of another status.
13.5 . Elements (components) of social status:
13.5.1. status role– a behavior model focused on a specific status;
13.5.2. status rights and obligations determine what the holder of this status can do and what he must do;
13.5.3. status range– boundaries within which status rights and obligations are exercised; free manner of behavior, suggesting behavior options in the implementation of a status role;
13.5.4. status symbols– external insignia that allows one to distinguish between holders of different statuses: uniforms, insignia, clothing style, housing, language, gestures, demeanor;
13.5.5. status image, image(from English. image - image, image) - a set of ideas that have developed in public opinion about how a person should behave in accordance with his status, how his rights and responsibilities should relate;
Image– a widespread or purposefully formed idea about the nature of a particular object (person, profession, product, etc.).
13.5.6. status identification– identification of oneself with one’s status and status image. The higher the rank of status, the stronger the identification with it. The lower the personal status, the more often the advantages of social status are emphasized.
13.5.7. status vision of the world– features of the vision of the world, social attitudes that have developed in accordance with status.

Social status and its types.

The basis of social inequality in psychological terms is the social status of individuals, social groups, and layers.

Social status: 1) innate and assigned 2) developed 3) earned

P. Sorokin emphasizes that status must be earned and always proven by the assessment of others, which is very important for a person’s self-esteem. The assessment of others in one way or another confirms a person’s status, or, conversely, destroys it.

Sociologists highlight:

1)prescribed– imposed by society, regardless of the efforts and merits of the individual. It depends on the place of birth, ethnic group.

2) acquired(achieved) – determined by the efforts of the person himself.

They are distinguished: - natural status of the individual - presupposes stable personality traits; - professional status - it records the socio-economic and production status of a person (accountant, teacher).

A person can have several statuses at once – integral status. Social status is expressed by complex connections between subjects of social relations.

Personality is the object of a number of sciences and, being a complex, multifaceted social phenomenon, requires a comprehensive interdisciplinary approach. artistic potential - the level of artistic, spiritual needs of an individual.

7 Social role is associated with status; these are the norms of behavior of a person occupying a certain status.

Role behavior is a person's specific use of a social role. His personal characteristics are reflected here.

George Herbert Mead proposed the concept of social role at the end of the 19th – 20th centuries. A person becomes a person when he acquires the skill of entering into the role of another person.

Any role has a structure:

Model of human behavior from society.

A system of representing a person how he should behave.

The actual observable behavior of a person occupying a given status.

In the event of a mismatch between these components, a role conflict arises.

1. Interrole conflict. A person performs many roles, the requirements of which are incompatible or he does not have the strength or time to perform these roles well. At the heart of this conflict is illusion.

2. Intra-role conflict. When different representatives of social groups have different requirements for the performance of one role. Staying inside a role conflict is very dangerous for the individual.

A social role is a fixation of a certain position that one or another individual occupies in the system of social relations. A role is understood as “a function, a normatively approved pattern of behavior expected of everyone occupying a given position” (Kohn). These expectations do not depend on the consciousness and behavior of a particular individual; their subject is not the individual, but society. What is essential here is not only and not so much the fixation of rights and responsibilities, but the connection of the social role with certain types of social activities of the individual. A social role is “a socially necessary type of social activity and a way of behavior of an individual” (Bueva, 1967, 14). A social role always bears the stamp of social evaluation: society can either approve or disapprove of some social roles, sometimes approval or disapproval can differentiate among different social groups, role evaluation can take on completely different meanings in accordance with the social experience of a particular social group .

In reality, each individual performs not one, but several social roles: he can be an accountant, a father, a trade union member, etc. A number of roles are prescribed to a person at birth, others are acquired during life. However, the role itself does not determine the activities and behavior of each specific carrier in detail: everything depends on how much the individual learns and internalizes the role. The act of internalization is determined by a number of individual psychological characteristics of each specific bearer of a given role. Therefore, social relations, although in essence they are role-based, impersonal relations, in reality, in their concrete manifestation, acquire a certain “personal coloring”. Each social role does not mean that patterns of behavior are absolutely predetermined; it always leaves a certain “range of possibilities” for its performer, which can be conditionally called a certain “style of playing the role.”

Social differentiation is inherent in all forms of human existence. Personal behavior is explained by social inequality in society. It is influenced by social background; ethnicity; the level of education; job title; prof. belonging; power; income and wealth; lifestyle, etc.

The performance of the role is individual in nature, but determined socioculturally.

Types of roles:

Psychological or interpersonal (in the system of subjective interpersonal relationships). Categories: leaders, preferred, not accepted, outsiders;

Social (in the system of objective social relations). Categories: professional, demographic.

Active or current – ​​currently executing;

Latent (hidden) – a person is potentially a carrier, but not at the moment

Conventional (official);

Spontaneous, spontaneous - arise in a specific situation, not determined by requirements.

F. Zimbardo (1971) conducted an experiment (students and prison) and found that the role greatly influences human behavior. Role prescriptions shape human behavior. The phenomenon of deindividuation may arise - the phenomenon of absorption of the individual into a social role. A person loses control over his individuality (example: jailers).

Role behavior is the individual performance of a social role - society sets the standard of behavior, and the performance of the role is personal. Mastering social roles is part of the process of socialization of the individual, an indispensable condition for the “growth” of the individual in a society of his own kind.

Jung identifies the concept of person and role (ego, shadow, self). During socialization, it is important not to merge with the “person”, so as not to lose the personal core (self).

Social role is the fixation of a certain position that one or another individual occupies in the system of social relations. A number of roles are prescribed from birth (to be a wife/husband). A social role always has a certain range of possibilities for its performer - a “role performance style.” By mastering social roles, a person assimilates social standards of behavior, learns to evaluate himself from the outside and exercise self-control. Personality acts (is) the mechanism that allows you to integrate your “I” and your own life activities, carry out a moral assessment of your actions, and find your place in life. It is necessary to use role behavior as a tool for adaptation to certain social situations

9 Socialization- this is the process (and result) of the assimilation and active individual of social experience, carried out in communication, activity and behavior, the experience of social life, the system of social connections and social relations.

Socialization- this is the process of transforming an initially asocial subject into a social personality, i.e. a person who possesses socially accepted behavior patterns and has adopted social norms and roles. Through socialization, people learn to live in society and interact effectively with each other, especially in conditions of socially significant joint activities.

Socialization presupposes the active participation of the individual in mastering the culture of human relations, in the formation of certain social norms, roles and functions, in the acquisition of skills and abilities necessary for their successful implementation. Socialization includes a person’s knowledge of social reality, mastering the skills of practical individual and group work. Public education is of decisive importance for the processes of socialization.

There are several sources of individual socialization.

Transfer of culture- it is carried out through such social institutions as the family, the education system, training and upbringing.

Mutual influence of people- it occurs in the process of communication and joint activity.

Primary experience- it is associated with the period of early childhood, with the formation of basic mental functions and elementary forms of social behavior.

Self-regulation processes- they correspond to the gradual replacement of external control of individual behavior with internal self-control.

The system of self-regulation is formed and developed in the process of internalization of social attitudes and values. Interiorization is the formation of mental structures in an individual through the assimilation of methods of external social activity and behavior. Interiorization is the transformation of interpsychological (interpersonal) relationships into intrapsychological (intrapersonal relationships with oneself). In development, the following stages of internalization are distinguished::

1) an adult uses a word to influence a child, encouraging him to do something;

2) the child adopts the method of address and begins to influence the adult with words;

3) the child begins to influence himself with words.

In general, the socialization process can be characterized as:

Gradual expansion (as the individual gains social experience) of the sphere of his communication, activity and behavior;

Development of self-regulation and the formation of self-awareness and an active life position.

The institutions of socialization are the family, preschool institutions, schools, labor and other (for example, leisure) groups.

In the process of socialization, a person is enriched by social experience and individualized, becomes a personality, acquires the opportunity and ability to be not only an object, but also a subject of social influences, to influence the socialization of other people.

The fundamental concept in the theory of socialization is the concept of the original antisocial person (child). In this case, socialization looks like the process of transforming a subject, initially asocial, into a social personality.

However, the literature does not particularly discuss the question of whether a human baby is born social or asocial. In principle, it is considered asocial. Although there are opposing points of view. Sometimes they say that a child’s sociality comes down to the need for communication. That is, the child is initially asocial, but if we assume the presence of some kind of minimal innate sociality, then it is expressed in the need for communication. It seems that this thesis is not correct enough. Nothing is known about the presence or absence of a child’s need for communication if there is no communication itself, if the experience of communication does not come to him from the outside. After all, such situations are known: when children are raised by wild animals until a certain age. Yes, it was still not possible to humanize them in a certain sense of the word, despite decades of tireless work by psychologists (the literature describes a case of such observation and work for more than twenty years), but this fact says nothing about the need for communication as such.

There is reason to believe that the socio-psychological literature has not resolved the issue of the relationship between the concepts of “socialization”, “training”, “upbringing”, “personal development”, etc. One of the points of view is that the concept of “socialization” does not replace The concepts of “learning”, “upbringing”, “personal development”, well known in pedagogy and educational psychology, in other words, all these concepts are not synonyms.

Assimilation of social norms, skills, stereotypes;

Formation of social attitudes and beliefs;

Entry of the individual into the social environment;

Introducing the individual to the system of social connections;

Self-actualization of the self;

The individual's assimilation of social influences;

Social training in socially accepted forms of behavior and communication, lifestyle options, joining groups and interacting with their members.

Without going into a discussion about the content of the concepts of “training,” “upbringing,” and “personal development,” we note that everything listed above is included in their scope. It turns out that these three concepts and the concept of “socialization” are still synonyms.

It seems that the relationship between these concepts should be sought not in the plane of their content, but in their connection with each other. And this connection is the same as between the concepts of “goal” and “means”. Socialization is the goal. It consists in obtaining an individual, firstly, adaptive to society, and secondly, adequate to it. Everything else is means: training, education, formation, development, etc.

Society does not care what the result of socialization will be. If this result is negative, did the individual’s socialization take place in this case or not? Yes, it has taken place, but society is not satisfied with the degree of this success. It takes additional measures and efforts to achieve adaptability and adequacy from the individual, and these additional efforts seem to continue the process of socialization. If this cannot be achieved at all, then society localizes the individual for life in a habitat specially created for these purposes, and some societies legitimately physically destroy such an individual.

The individual not only assimilates, but also actively reproduces the system of social connections; therefore, he simultaneously acts in the process of socialization as both its object and its subject.

The process of socialization can occur under conditions of spontaneous influence on a person of various circumstances of life in society, as well as purposeful activity on the part of both society and the individual.

The benefits of international humanitarian law regarding the legal status of participants in combat and peacekeeping operations.

QUESTION 3. Administrative-territorial and territorial units: concept and types.

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