Social statuses and roles are important elements of the personality structure. The concepts of "social status" and "social role" have steadily entered the vocabulary of terms in the social sciences and humanities. In scientific circulation in the 1930s. they were introduced by the American social anthropologist and sociologist Ralph Linton (1893–1953).

Social status

The word "status" is borrowed by sociology (social sciences) from the language of Roman jurisprudence. In ancient Rome status meant the legal status of a person. Thus, under social status the position (position) of an individual in a society or a group is understood, related to his rights and obligations. Highlighting a status position allows:

• a) see a place, which a person occupies in society, a group, including through the prism of generally recognized indicators social achievements, chances of success;
• b) show the surrounding social status environment,
• c) understand volume of social benefits (resources) and rights and obligations, which he possesses.

It is customary to distinguish social statuses in a certain way.

Socio-demographic statuses (also called sociobiological or natural) may be related:

• 1) with the age of a person ( age statuses) - a child, teenager, youth, person of mature, old age;
• 2) kinship ( kinship, family statuses) - father, mother, son, daughter, etc .;
• 3) human sex ( sexual statuses) - man Woman;
• 4) race (racial status). This social category arose in the 19th century, when biologists and anthropologists tried to classify diversity physical types a person in three groups - Caucasians, Negroids, Mongoloids;
• 5) health (health status) - for example, a disabled person, a person with disabilities.

Social statuses proper - their formation and existence is possible only in society; they are the product of a system of social ties that have developed in society. These include statuses:

economic (owner, tenant, rentier, landowner, employee, etc.);

political (reflect this or that attitude of people's social positions to power);

legal (belonging to a status is often associated with the corresponding legal scope of the rights and obligations of persons);

professional (these include all professions and specialties within them);

sociocultural (consist of four basic areas: science, education, art, religion);

territorial (for example, a city dweller, a peasant; a Siberian, a resident of the Far East, etc.).

Social statuses are also subdivided into formal and informal.

Allocate prescribed (ascriptive), achievable and mixed social statuses.

Prescribed call the statuses that the individual received and possesses them without making any efforts to acquire them. For example, the status of social origin, inherited aristocratic titles, socio-demographic statuses.

Achievable are called status positions that an individual acquired through my own efforts. Thus, educational and professional and job status are examples of achieved status positions. Modern open societies are focused on ensuring that the achieved statuses are of the main, decisive importance in society (self-made-man - a man who made himself), and not prescribed, as in traditional and closed societies.

Mixed call the statuses that at the same time have signs of prescribed and attainable status. For example, children decided to follow in the footsteps of the older generation and chose the same profession as their parents, under the influence of their example, overt or tacit influence, explicit or implicit consent, assistance. This is not uncommon in the families of lawyers, doctors, actors, musicians, financiers, and successful businessmen. Positions desired by a person, but received by him through patronage, thanks to various social ties, can also be classified as mixed status.

In the aggregate of statuses, it is customary to highlight main status, i.e. the status most characteristic of a given individual; that social position by which others distinguish him and he first of all identifies himself. In modern society, the main status often coincides with the professional and official status of a person (financial analyst, chief researcher, lawyer, unemployed, housewife).

Distinguish private and social statuses.

Social status is predominant in the system of impersonal formal relations, in large organizations, among strangers... Personal status prevails among people familiar to a person. Personal statuses are informal; their influence and effectiveness are determined by the fact that it is important for most people to maintain and increase their personal status in the group. People are highly sensitive to the expectations and demands of those they know and respect personally, and sometimes risk the outrage of officials to maintain their trust.

The distinction between personal and social status is consistent with the distinction that the Chinese make between the two ways to save face. Social status refers to the position of a person in society: the respect he enjoys is based on which social category he belongs to and how this category is assessed in the system of social assessment and prestige. A person retains his social status if he lives in accordance with the norms of this social category. When the Chinese talk about conservation " mian"they mean preserving the reputation that a person has gained through his position in society. Thus, a successful businessman is expected to provide his daughter with an excellent dowry, even if for this he has to go into debt.

The Chinese also talk about conservation " lian"A person cannot live without" lian ", it depends on how he will be evaluated as a human being, the loss of" lian "will lead to the fact that he will be isolated. A person is unlikely to be forgiven if he is convicted of dishonesty, meanness, betrayal, if he has an unforgivable paucity of mind, inability to keep his word. ”The preservation of" lian "is not associated with social status, its approval depends personally on the person himself.

In the middle of the 20th century, Robert Merton introduced the term into scientific vocabulary "status dialing" (the term is used as a synonym for this concept "status portrait" person). Under status dialingthe set of all statuses belonging to one individual is understood.

For example, lord N is a middle-aged man, teacher, doctor of science, scientific secretary of the dissertation council, head of a department, a member of a trade union, a member of one of the parties, a Christian, a voter, husband, father, uncle, etc. This is the status set, or portrait, of a person N.

From point of view rank value highlight social statuses high, medium, low rank. The rank value, for example, distinguishes the status positions of a top manager, middle or lower level manager.

When analyzing social statuses, you need to remember about status incompatibility... There are two forms of status incompatibility:

• 1) when a person takes a high position in one group and a low position in another;
• 2) when the rights and obligations of one status contradict, exclude or interfere with the implementation of the rights and obligations of another status.

An example of the first form of status incompatibility is when the CEO large company in his family is not the head of the family, this role is performed by his spouse. Examples of the second form of status incompatibility include the fact that an official has no right to engage in commercial activities, a police officer cannot be a member of a mafia group. Criminals who are servants of the law are considered "werewolves in uniform."

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Under status understand 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 denotes a specific place that an individual occupies in a given social system.

Social status is a characteristic of social position, the presence of an internally meaningful side of status means that social status characterizes what rights, duties, privileges, powers are assigned to those who perform this or that function.

The word "status" came to sociology from the Latin language. In ancient Rome, it meant the state, the legal status of a legal entity. However, at the end of the 19th century, scientists gave it a new sound.

Status - social status of a person in society... Social status - generalized characteristiccovering the profession, economic situation, political opportunities, demographic properties of a person. Driver is a profession; a hired worker with an average income - an economic trait; member of the Democratic Party - political profile; a man in his 40s is a demographic property. They all describe the social position of one and the same person, but from different angles.

Although status is almost the most common concept in sociology, a unified interpretation of its nature in this science has not been achieved.

In understanding the status, it developed multiple approaches:

a) stratification - status as prestige or rank in the vertical hierarchy of society;

b) functional - status as a position in the social structure of society, functionally related to other positions;

c) normative-role - identification of status with a role or with norms in the socio-cultural space of society;

d) integrative - uniting into one concept of the status of many social (professional, economic, political, etc.) positions held by an individual.

The normative-role and integrative approaches, apparently, should be recognized as erroneous, and the stratification and functional, presented by R. Linton, N. Smelzer, M. Weber and P. Sorokin, can be combined into one model that has four parametersdescribing the concept of "status":

. Status name (usually consists of one word: man, teenager).

. Determination of status (describes the essence of status and its place in a group or society). Examples of determining the status: a lawyer is a person whose profession is to provide legal assistance to citizens and organizations, to protect their interests in court; shareholder - physical or entityholding shares of this joint stock company.

. Status rank - the place of this status in the social hierarchy (high, medium, low).

The last status parameter is related to stratification. A place in the hierarchy indicates certain privileges and prestige of a given status. But besides that, also on the degree of prevalence of statuses in society (Fig.).

Figure: The degree of spread of status in society

Thus, summarizing all sorts of points of view on the status problem, one can understand it as compound phenomenon, various aspects which are prestige, rank, set of rights and obligations... But status as a whole describes only one position taken by an individual in the social structure of society.

Each status is assigned certain rights and responsibilities.

Rights and obligations (status content) may be written and unwritten (formal and informal).

All or most professions have formal status determinationwhich is fixed in job descriptions... The metro passenger also has formal rights and obligations.

However, in modern society, a significant part of the statuses the content is not formally recorded, and represents a set of fixed traditions, conventional (conditional) norms... We know the rights and obligations of the guest not from formal instructions, but from life experience. Most of the rights and duties of a husband and wife are enshrined in tradition, not legal laws.

In sociology, it is customary to distinguish two statuses - personal and social.

Personal status- this is the position occupied by a person in a small group, determined by his individual qualities.

Social status — this general position personality (group) in society, associated with certain rights and responsibilities.

Depending on whether a person occupies a certain social position due to inherited traits (gender, race, nationality) or due to his own efforts, statuses are prescribed— acquired by birth (nobleman, Russian, Odessa, man, etc.) and acquired or achieved(teacher, prosecutor, wife, professor, etc.)

Prescribed status- a status in society that an individual occupies regardless of his consciousness, desires, will, aspirations and over which he has no control.

Achieved status- a social position that a person acquires thanks to his own efforts. Therefore, the achieved status is the reward of the individual for his talent, work, dedication, or is a consequence of his failures.

The most important measurements of status are prestige and power.

Prestige- a set of qualities that are subject to high social assessment. Prestige indicates that a social object belongs to a limited group, about its high importance in social life.

In society, individuals are endowed powerfrom its level and limitations, they occupy a certain position in society. An individual acquires powers of power either by virtue of involvement in power state structures, or because of his gaining high authority.

Anyone has many statuses, and at any moment in time, depending on the environment around us, one of the statuses can dominate over the others: at home you are a son or daughter, and in the classroom - a student or a student. Over the course of our lives, we lose some statuses (for example, a high school graduate) and acquire others (a freshman). When we lose any status, liberate any position in society, then a new person comes to our place. In this way, status is part of the social structureand has been around for a long time, while people occupying it replace each other.

Figure: Status portrait of an individual

The status portrait of a person in sociology is called the status set of an individual, which was introduced in the middle of the 20th century by the American sociologist R. Merton. Status set - this is a collection of all statuses, with appropriate one individual.

It is fashionable to bring the variety of statuses to a common denominator:

Socio-demographic statuses

Sexual statuses ... Man Woman.

Age statuses ... These statuses are also called transitive, since a person acquires them as he socializes. There are three main transitive statuses: child / adult / old man.

Racial statuses ... The entire population of our planet is divided into three main races.

Health statuses ... For example, disability changes a person's social status. The norm for the ratio of disabled people to healthy population is considered to be 10%, while in Russia disabled people make up 13% of the population.

These statuses are not a purely biological system of statuses, but are the product of social development. Thus, relatives acquired as a result of marriage are relatives not by blood, but by law (father - in - law, mother - in - law). There are about 250 of these statuses.

Social statuses

Economic status is a status that we receive regardless of education, but thanks to the place occupied by this status in economic system division of labor (owner, employee, tenant, creditor).

Political status - we understand it as belonging to the government apparatus or political associations (parties, movements). This status is aimed at retaining and effectively using power.

Professional status - any status for which one must undergo long-term or short-term training (for a single country, the norm is about 40 thousand professional statuses).

Statuses in the field of culture consist of four basic spheres (elements): science, education, art, religion.

Territorial statuses ... Citizens and people living in the village differ from each other in the standard of living. Also, territorial statuses are obtained: migrants, emigrants, tourists, refugees, people without a fixed abode.

Under episodic statuses we will only understand those that exist very a short time (pedestrian, passenger), they are also called minor.

All public statuses refer to the main . Minor (episodic) statuses - such statuses that exist short enough time (passenger, pedestrian, spectator, customer)

In a set of statuses, there is always a key, or main one. Main status is called the most characteristic status for a given individual, according to which others distinguish him or with which they identify him. Of particular importance in this is the status of the individual associated with work, profession, property status is of considerable importance. For example, for men - the status associated with the main place of work or occupation: director of a commercial bank, research assistant, policeman, worker at an industrial enterprise.

However, in the context of an informal company of friends, these signs may be of secondary importance - here the cultural level, education, sociability can play a decisive role. Therefore, it is necessary to distinguish between the basic, general hierarchy of personality statuses, which works in most situations in a given society, and a specific one, used in special conditions, for special people. So, main status - This is a key status that determines the social status and value of a person associated with certain of his rights and obligations. For children, the main status is age; likewise, in many societies, gender is the main status. The main status forms a framework within which our goals are formulated and our training takes place

Hello dear readers of the blog site. Each person is inextricably linked with the society in which he lives. Interacting with others, he takes a certain place in relation to them.

To analyze this provision, such a concept as social status was introduced. What is it and what is it for - read below.

The concept of social status - what is it

The word "status" appeared in Ancient Rome: then it bore a legal meaning - it denoted an organization's niche in the legal field.

Today, this concept implies position of a person in society, the totality of his duties and rights in relation to society.

Example. You are someone's son (daughter), mother (father), grandson, pupil, worker, student, athlete, citizen of Russia, and just part. And all these will be examples of different statuses. Each person has a lot of such statuses, and at different times and in different places their importance will change. At the institute, you are primarily a student, and at home you are a son (daughter).

Such a mechanism greatly facilitates contact between people, since we know what to expect from others depending on their social status. In case of failure to fulfill his status duties, the individual is responsible.

For example, if the tailor made you a completely different suit that you wanted, and besides, he violated all the agreed terms, then he will have to pay you a penalty and return the money for the damaged material. The cherry on top of this cake will be the tailor's tarnished reputation.

Social role and its difference from status

Social status is inseparable, although the concepts are different. I will explain using the example of the above described tailor.

Status is an activity or profession of a person, a role is an expected behavior from a person.

That is, if you come to a tailor (status), you expect him to provide services for tailoring and repairing clothes (role) and will not insist on massage or dental treatment.

If an individual with a specific social status demonstrates inappropriate role behavior, then society immediately reacts to this with indignation.

This inconsistency undermines the orderliness and predictability of human relationships.

And this is good - the system of social interaction will be intact. For example, no one praises a drunken priest who is a servant of the Lord. This will offend the mass of believers, cause a wave of indignation and lead to the expulsion of the minister from the church.

On the other hand, society becomes hostage to social boundaries... Stole once means that you will always be considered a thief. If you are a doctor, you are obliged to help people 24 hours a day and you have no right to make a professional mistake. A McDonald's employee should always be in a good mood and smile at the client. That is, people should only do what is expected of them. Otherwise, society will condemn them.

Types of social statuses

All social statuses can be divided into three types:

1. Inborn - includes the given that the individual is endowed with from birth. This includes gender, nationality, race.
2. Prescribed social status Are given, acquired regardless of a person's preferences. For example, today you are a young man, and tomorrow you are an old man: you will become one, even if you really do not want to grow old.
3. Achievable - this is what we achieve by our own efforts. Yesterday I was a student, and tomorrow, if I put in enough effort and successfully pass my final exams, I will become an economist.

Prescribed and achievable statuses can change over time. Born, in theory, does not change, although in recent times people make such attempts. For example, sex reassignment surgery.

What is status incompatibility

Status incompatibility is a phenomenon that is characterized by two signs:

1. in one group you occupy a high position (for example, you are the CEO of a large consulting), and in another - a low position (in a football club you are the worst player);
2. your rights and obligations related to one status contradict the rights and obligations of another social position (at work you are a strict and demanding boss, and in the bosom of your family you are a sweet little darling who vacuums and washes dishes for everyone).

Is it possible to increase your social status

Not only possible, but also necessary... At least this is what the majority of participants in public relations strive for. For example, at school, you can improve your grades and achieve honors status or play sports and become an athlete.

In adulthood, we all want to occupy a higher professional position with appropriate wages, to have a prestigious car and comfortable housing. Rest not in the resorts of the Krasnodar Territory, but in luxury hotels on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea.

Of course, not every social status can be changed - with age, no one can do anything, but most of them can be raised. What does it depend on?

People are different: some have full of ambitions and a developed motivational sphere, others will be happy with at least some financial income - at least 1,000 rubles a month. Who do you think has more chances to achieve a high position in society and live a well-fed and joyful life?

We are all given approximately the same opportunities and tools, but how we use them is a private matter for everyone. Therefore, it is strange to hear from people who, lying on the couch, indignantly ask the question "Why is it all for some and nothing for others?"

Good luck to you! See you soon on the blog site pages

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Types of statuses

Distinguish the following types statuses.

• 1. Acquired status - This is the status that a person has, thanks to his own efforts made to achieve it. So, no one can be born the same professor - for this you need to acquire certain knowledge, defend a thesis, gain authority in a professional environment, possess certain skills of social interaction, etc.
• 2. Prescribed status is the status that a person acquires upon birth. A striking example of prescribed status is the title of nobleman, which, as a rule, is inherited. In addition, the prescribed status is nationality, origin, place of birth, etc.
• 3. Natural status - This is a status that relies on a relatively constant, usually biological trait of a person (for example, the status of "man"). He is opposed professional legal statuses , that is, proper social statuses that exist only in the form of an agreement, as a convention, and do not have some kind of "measurable" biological and, more broadly, natural basis.

Comparison of acquired and prescribed status

personality status society socialization

In slaveholding, feudal, caste societies, prescribed statuses prevail and kinship ties are highly valued. In democratic societies, acquired statuses clearly prevail over prescribed statuses, and family ties are valued relatively low.

The line between the prescribed and acquired statuses is impossible to establish precisely. On the one hand, a person can acquire a status, which is usually prescribed, for merit (as was the case with the donation of the title of nobleman in Russia). On the other hand, the status, which is usually acquired, can be inherited in a certain sense (as, for example, in Soviet times, when the son of a prosecutor could well be equivalent in his capabilities to a prosecutor). As a rule, the acquired status can not only be acquired, but also lost, while a person loses the prescribed status much less often (for example, during significant transformations of the state system).

The society itself establishes the mechanisms for the distribution of statuses. The distinction between prescribed and acquired statuses indicates not so much the types of statuses as the methods of their distribution, one of which may prevail. Moreover, the areas in which acquired and prescribed statuses prevail and in what ratio they are located is important indicatorcharacterizing the structure of society, its type. Social structure (one of the main categories of sociological analysis of society) can be considered as the ratio of prescribed and acquired personality statuses.

Inconsistent status

If a person has statuses that are difficult to agree with each other, they talk about inconsistent status... J. Linsky suggested identifying four main dimensions of status:

• 1) income;
• 2) education;
• 3) professional prestige;
• 4) ethnicity.

Inconsistency of status occurs when the measurements of status do not correspond to each other. This leads to a feeling of dissatisfaction, which a person seeks to overcome in two ways: either by seeking to align the measurements of status, or by seeking to influence the system of status itself.

Social status (from Lat. Status - position, state) is usually defined as the position of an individual or a group in a social system that has characteristics specific to this system. Each social status has a certain prestige.

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

Social role (French role) is the behavior expected from someone who has a certain social status. Social roles are a set of requirements imposed on an individual by society, as well as actions that must be performed by a person occupying this status in the social system. A person should have many roles.

The status of children is usually subordinate to adults, and children are expected to be deferential to the latter. Soldier status is different from civilian status; the role of soldiers is associated with risk taking and taking oaths, which is not the case for other populations. The status of women is different from that of men, and therefore they are expected to behave differently from men. Each individual can have a large number of statuses, and those around him have the right to expect him to perform roles in accordance with these statuses. In this sense, status and role are two sides of the same phenomenon: if status is a set of rights, privileges and obligations, then a role is an action within this set of rights and obligations. The social role consists of:

‣‣‣ from role-playing expectation (expectation) and

‣‣‣ performance of this role (game).

Social roles are:

‣‣‣ Institutionalized: the institution of marriage, family (social roles of mother, daughter, wife)

‣‣‣ Conventional: accepted by agreement (a person may refuse to accept them)

Since society is a complex entity, its institutions function effectively only if people perform daily a huge number of duties, strictly indicated by intragroup and intergroup relationships. The simplest way to achieve a consistent performance of responsibilities is to divide all activities into many prescribed roles and teach each person from the moment of their birth to a predetermined set of roles. After the first role-based learning, ĸᴏᴛᴏᴩᴏᴇ begins in early childhood, the assigned roles must be assigned according to some criteria known as the “path to success”. Gender and age are universally used in society as the basis for role prescription. Race, nationality, class, and religion are also used in many societies as the basis for prescribed roles.

Although role-based learning is often unconscious, it does not make it any less real. It is no coincidence that since childhood, the main and most of the processes of socialization of the individual consists in teaching various types of social actions, both for men and women. Little girls play with dolls, help their mother with the housework, and are rewarded for this with the praise of adults. Teaching a girl as a tomboy, although tolerable, is considered bad form. Boys, on the other hand, believe that dolls are intended only for girls and the smallest children, and therefore the worst thing for them is to be known as a "mama's boy", "girl". Experience shows that years of separate education for boys and girls leads to the fact that in adulthood they have different abilities, feelings and preferences.

In adulthood, gender differences and roles are clearly defined, and the process of role learning becomes more complex. A woman, for example, can simultaneously act in the roles of wife, mother, citizen, etc. Her role as wife and mother includes many different roles at the same time, each of which is inseparable from the other and grows into her.

Most functions can be performed reasonably well by both women and men if they are socialized to accept their inherent tasks. For example, in Pakistan, domestic servants are traditionally male; in the Philippines, all secretaries are men; in the Marquesas, children work around the house, set the table, prepare food, and women embroider. In many parts of the world, heavy agricultural work is performed primarily by women.

The definition of male and female roles is subjective and depends on the specific place and time. Every society has customs, traditions and norms related to the performance of male and female roles. Individuals can afford to circumvent some elements of these traditions and customs, but they risk being alienated from society until they fulfill these roles in accordance with their gender. Few individuals ignore these requirements, as such deviations from prescribed roles are condemned by society.

Prescribed and attainable statuses are fundamentally different, but, despite this, they can interact and overlap. The main social position in society (social class status) is prescribed (ᴛ.ᴇ. reflects the statuses of the parents) and is partially achieved with the help of the abilities and aspirations of the individual himself. In many respects, the boundary between prescribed and attainable statuses is purely arbitrary, but their conceptual separation is very useful for studying these social phenomena.

The ideal of a society in which most statuses are attainable is the desire for people to occupy positions according to their abilities. This not only makes it possible for high talents to appear, but also excludes the possibility of justifying shortcomings.

In a society where most statuses are prescribed, the individual cannot expect to improve his position. Those with low remuneration or low prestige do not feel guilty that they have low status. Each of them considers their role and their status to be correct, and the current state of affairs is fair. Such an individual does not compare his position with that of others. He is free from feelings of insecurity, ambitious discontent, or fear of losing his status. This is because the socialization of the individual is not associated with the expectation of a change in status; he only learns and assumes the prescribed roles. At the same time, it is difficult to accept low status in the event that hereditary barriers are removed and opportunities are opened for the manifestation of all their abilities. If the acquisition of statuses takes place on the basis of a competition and access to appropriate training is open to everyone, then the reason for the low status should only be inability and incompetence. At the same time, even in this case, mediocrity finds an opportunity to achieve a high status, using preemptive rights, group quotas, benefits, etc.

The achieved status maximizes the performance of roles based on individual abilities. The roles that accompany him tend to be difficult to learn and often conflicting. The existing currently achieved statuses are probably associated with both the effective use of human potential and the greatest threat to the individual spiritual world of the individual in the event of his unsuccessful socialization to the achievable roles.

The interaction of the individual and society as a central relationship of social life. Variants of interaction between the individual and society.

Factors determining the interaction between man and society:

1. A person, his properties and qualities:

Physical data of people (body, health)

Intelligence, intelligence level

Human status in general

Personal experience of a person, images, culture

2. Social groups, organizations, institutions with which a person interacts

3. Place of residence (city, village, village)

4.the society in which a human lives

5. the ratio of the world, international relations in the world.

Variants of personality interaction in society:

1) _ Structural approach

The general has a rigid structure of elements of rules, norms, opportunities and prohibitions.

Common in the main and main determines the life of a person and his activities.

2) Everyone has consciousness and will. He himself decides at every moment what to do and how to do it.

Jean P Ol Sartre ʼʼ we are sentenced to freedomʼʼ

3) Integral

A person lives in society, therefore, depends on him, but within the framework of these opportunities and limitations, he makes decisions himself. He builds himself

your destiny.

A person interacts with different people and social groups on a daily basis. It rarely happens when he fully interacts only with members of one group, for example, a family, but at the same time he can be a member of a labor collective, public organizations, etc. social groups, he occupies in each of them the corresponding position, due to the relationship 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, state) - the position of the citizen.

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

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

Variety of statuses

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

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

2. Acquired (achievable) - 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 an individual's status position.

In addition to them, there are a huge variety of episodic, non-mainstream statuses. These are the statuses of a pedestrian, a passer-by, a patient, a witness, a participant in a demonstration, a strike or a crowd, a reader, a listener, a TV viewer, etc. As a rule, these are temporary states. The rights and obligations of the holders of such statuses are often not registered in any way. They are generally difficult to identify, say, from a passer-by. But they are, although they affect not the main, but the secondary traits of behavior, thinking and feeling. So, the status of a professor determines a lot in the life of a given person. And his temporary status as a passer-by 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 former are significantly different from the latter.

In addition, the 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 demeanor. The most used, cumulative, integrative indicator of the 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 (minor statuses) form nominal groups or statistical categories. As a rule, carriers of non-basic statuses do not coordinate their behavior with each other and do not interact.

People have many statuses and belong to many social groups, whose prestige in society is not the same: merchants are valued above plumbers or handymen; men have more social "weight" than women; belonging to a titular ethnic group in a state is not the same thing as belonging to a national minority, etc.

Over time, in public opinion, it is developed, transmitted, supported, but, as a rule, the hierarchy of statuses and social groups is not registered in any documents, where some are valued and respected more than others.

A place in such an invisible hierarchy is called rankwhich is high, medium, or low.

Hierarchy can exist between groups within the same society (intergroup) and between individuals within the same group (intragroup). And the place of a person 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 the status of one person contradict or interfere with the fulfillment of the rights and obligations of another.

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

Although statuses enter social relations not 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 don't understand people who love cleanliness and order on their lawns. A professional investigator, albeit unconsciously, divides people into potential criminals, law-abiding ones, 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.

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Social statuses and roles. Prescribed and achievable statuses

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

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

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

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

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

As a rule, the basic status expresses the position of the person.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Marriage is a prime example of mixed status.

In addition to these types, natural and professional-job statuses are also distinguished.

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

Professional and job status- This is a social indicator that captures the social, economic and industrial position of a person in society. Thus, social status designates a specific place that an individual occupies in a given social system.

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

Social roleis a set of actions that must be performed by a person holding a given status in the social system.

Moreover, each status assumes the performance of not one, but several roles. A set of roles, the performance of which is prescribed by one status, is called a role set. It is obvious that the higher the position of a person in society, that is, the more social status he has, the more roles he performs.

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

1) emotionality, i.e.

some roles involve a wide manifestation of emotionality, others, on the contrary, - its containment;

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

3) scale- the scope of authority of one role is clearly defined, while others are uncertain;

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

5) motivation- playing a role for their own benefit, or for the sake of the public good.

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

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

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

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

In the normal structure of a social role, four elements are usually distinguished:

1) a description of the type of behavior corresponding to the given role;

2) prescriptions (requirements) related to this behavior;

3) assessment of the performance of the prescribed role;

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

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

Anastasia Stepantsova

3) The achieved status is acquired by one's own efforts, by the efforts of the individual. It is associated with obtaining education and labor qualifications, with labor activity;

4) Personal status - the position of a person in a small group, determined by how the environment relates to him.

5) social status - the position of a person in society in relation to others.

Personal and social status may not match. The chief physician of a polyclinic has a high social status because he holds a highly regarded position in society. But in the sambo group, he has a low status, since he does not practice much and his indicators are low.

Status types:

1. Territorial - a resident of a city or village, a particular country, etc. (150-200 species);

2. Religious- believers and atheists, ministers of various cults, etc. (up to 300 types);

PRESCRIBED AND ACHIEVED STATUSES

Political - supporters of certain parties, statesmen, etc. (up to 500 species);

4. Professional - representatives of different professions (up to 40,000 species);

5. Economic - owners and employees, entrepreneurs and the unemployed, etc. (up to 50 types);

6. Floor- male and female;

7. Age - childhood, adolescence, maturity, old age (3-9 species);

8. Race- Caucasians, Mongoloids, Negroids;

9. Nationality - (5000 species);

10. Health - from absolutely healthy to disabled (100 species);

11. Marriage and family - father, mother, sister, granddaughter, married, single (200 species).

Any person has a status set - a collection of all statuses belonging to one individual.

A social role is certain actions that a person performs in accordance with his status, the behavior that is expected from a person. For example, a person with the status of a father is “supposed” to love his child, take care of him, provide for him, educate him, develop comprehensively, etc.

If the father does not take care of the child, beats him or abandons him altogether, this is discrepancy between status and role, status-role conflict. Society can apply sanctions to such a father (fine, deduct alimony from the salary), and sometimes deprive him of status (deprive parental rights)

Another reason for the status-role conflict is the contradiction between different status-roles. Numerous statuses and roles are intertwined in a person's life.

And, for example, a police officer is at the same time an informant of any gangster group. All this inevitably plunges a person into a state of discord with himself and leads to the destruction of the personality.

Topic 4: Socialization of personality.

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

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

§ 2. PRESCRIBED AND ACHIEVED STATUSES

(student, pensioner, director, wife).

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

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

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

Personal status - This is the position of a person in a small (or primary) group, determined by how others relate to him. (hardworking, diligent, benevolent).

Also stand out natural and professional statuses.

Natural status personality assumes significant and relatively stable characteristics of a person (men and women, childhood, adolescence, maturity, old age, etc.).

Professional and job - This is the basic status of the personality, which for an adult is most often the basis of an integral status. It records the social, economic, production and technical situation (banker, engineer, lawyer, etc.).

Social status denotes a specific place that an individual occupies in a given social system. Thus, it can be noted that social statuses are structural elements of the social organization of society, providing social ties between the subjects of social relations. These relations, ordered within the framework of social organization, are grouped in accordance with the socio-economic structure of society and form a complex coordinated system. Social connections between the subjects of public relations, established about the provided social functions, form certain intersection points in the vast field of social relations. These points of intersection of ties in the field of social relations are social statuses.
From this point of view, the social organization of society can be represented in the form of a complex, interconnected system of social statuses occupied by individuals who, as a result, become members of society, citizens of the state.
Society not only creates social status, but also provides social mechanisms for the distribution of members of society in these positions. The relationship between social statuses prescribed by society to an individual, regardless of efforts and merit (prescribed positions), and statuses, the replacement of which depends on the person himself (achieved positions), is an essential characteristic of the social organization of society. Prescribed social status is predominantly those whose replacement occurs automatically, due to the birth of a person and in connection with such characteristics as gender, age, kinship, race, caste, etc.

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

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Social relations: role and place in society, structure, management problems

The nature of social relations. The role and place of public relations in society. The system of social relations. Varieties of social relations. Problems of public relations management in an open and closed society.

Society at any stage of its development and in any specific manifestation is a complex interweaving of many different connections and relationships of people. The life of a society is not confined to the life of its constituent individuals. A complex and contradictory tangle of human relations, actions and their results is what constitutes society.

If individual people, their associations and actions are quite obvious, graphic, then connections and relations between people are often hidden, ethereal, immaterial. That is why the enormous role of these invisible relations in public life was not immediately understood. The study of society that began in the middle of the 19th century from the point of view of social relations within the framework of Marxism ("Society does not consist of individuals, but expresses the sum of those connections and relations in which these individuals are to each other" - concluded Marx), then in the twentieth century continued within the framework of other, non-Marxist schools of thought (for example, P. Sorokin).

Indeed, there is no society without people. And yet, such an answer is superficial, for it boils down to the empirically ascertained fact of the existence of a totality of people. At the same time, those inherent in society remain in the shadow communication,which connect disparate elements into a single integral system. These connections are reproduced in the activities of people and are so stable that many generations can replace each other, but the type of connections that characterize this particular society remains. Now the words of K. Marx become clear: "Society does not consist of individuals, but expresses the sum of those connections and relations in which these individuals are to each other."

It would be wrong to interpret this position in the sense of reducing the entire diversity of the social system to social relations alone. Marx singles out the most important specific feature of society and, at the same time, what makes society a system, binds individuals and their disparate actions into a single, albeit internally divided whole.

Prescribed and achievable statuses and roles

Finding and analyzing such connections - public relations - the greatest merit of K. Marx, an important element of his philosophical concept of society. But what do they represent?

Social relations are inseparable from activities. They do not exist by themselves, in isolation from the latter, but constitute its social form. So, production activity always takes place in the form that gives this activity a stable character and due to the presence of which production is organized on the scale of society. It is precisely this organizing role of the internal structure, of the active form that production relations play.

Existing as a form of human activity, social relations have a transpersonal, supra-individual character. It is not the individual with his inclinations and inclinations that determines social relations, but on the contrary: a person, being born, finds already established, functioning social relations. As a member of a certain society, class, social group, nation, collective, etc., he is involved in various forms of activity and enters on this basis into certain relationships with other people.

Activity and social relations form a person as a social, social being. Socialization of a person occurs as sociality is actively mastered by him, is transferred into his inner world, becomes a general scheme of action given to him by society and passed through his individual experience. The formation of a person as a social being is at the same time his formation as a person.

In this way, social relations connect the individual with a social group, with society. And thus they are a means of including the individual in public practice, into sociality.

All the activities of large social groups are carried out in the forms of social relations: economic, political, legal, moral. The relations that have developed in society turn into a kind of algorithms for the activity of social groups. This does not mean that social relations are given from above: they are generated by the activity of real people and exist only as forms of this activity. But having arisen, they have great activity, stability, give the society a qualitative certainty.

The types of social relations are presented in the diagram.