8. ROLE CONCEPT OF PERSONALITY. STATUSES

Every person living in society is included in many different social groups (family, study group, friendly company, etc.). In each of these groups, he occupies a certain position, has a certain status, certain requirements are imposed on him. Thus, the same person should behave in one situation as a father, in another - as a friend, in the third - as a boss, i.e. act in different roles.

A social role is a way of behavior of people in accordance with accepted norms, depending on their status or position in society, in the system of interpersonal relations. Mastering social roles is part of the process of socialization of the individual, an indispensable condition for the person's “growing into” a society of their own kind. Socialization is the process and the result of the assimilation and active reproduction by the individual of social experience, carried out in communication and activities. Mastering social roles, a person learns social standards of behavior, learns to assess himself from the outside and exercise self-control. Thus, a developed person can use role-playing as an instrument of adaptation to certain social situations, while at the same time not merging, not identifying with the role. The role concept of personality originated in American social psychology in the 1930s. (C. Cooley, J. Mead) and became widespread in various sociological trends, first of all, in structural-functional analysis.

Charles Cooley believed that the personality is formed on the basis of the many interactions of people with the world. In the process of these interactions, people create their own “mirror self”, consisting of three elements:

1) how, in our opinion, we are perceived by others (I am sure that people pay attention to my new hairstyle);

2) how, in our opinion, they react to what they see (I am sure that they like my new hairstyle);

3) how we respond to the perceived reaction of others (Apparently, I will always comb my hair like this).

According to the American sociologist J. Herbert Mead, the process of personality formation includes three different stages. The first is imitation . At this stage, children copy the behavior of adults, not understanding it. Then comes the game stage , when children understand the behavior as the performance of certain roles: doctor, fireman, race car driver, etc .; during the game they reproduce these roles. The transition from one role to another develops in children the ability to give their thoughts and actions such meaning as other members of society give them - this is the next important step in the process of creating your “I”. The third stage, according to Mead, is the stage of collective games when children learn to realize the expectations not only of one person, but of the whole group. Role theory of personality describes its social behavior in two basic terms: “social status” and “social role”. A person can have several statuses. But more often than not, only one determines his position in society. It often happens that the main, or integral, status is determined by the person's position (for example, a director, professor). Social status is reflected both in external behavior and appearance (clothing, jargon and other signs of social and professional affiliation), and in the internal position (in attitudes, value orientations, motivations, etc.).

Sociologists distinguish prescribed and acquired statuses. Prescribed - it means imposed by society, regardless of the efforts and merit of the individual. It is determined by ethnic origin, birthplace, family, etc. The acquired (achieved) status is determined by the efforts of the person himself (for example, a writer, scientist, director, etc.). There are also natural and professional-official status. The natural status of the individual implies the essential and relatively stable characteristics of a person (men and women, childhood, adolescence, maturity, old age, etc.). Professional and official position is the basic status of a person, for an adult person most often being the basis of the integral status. It fixes the social, economic and production-technical situation (banker, engineer, lawyer, etc.).

Social status refers to a specific place that an individual occupies in a given social system. The totality of the requirements of an individual society, forms the content of the social role. A social role is a set of actions that must be performed by a person occupying a given status in a social system. Each status usually includes a number of roles. The set of roles arising from this status is called a role set. The social role is divided into role expectations — that which, according to the “rules of the game,” is expected from a particular role, and role-playing behavior — that which a person actually performs within his role. Every time, taking on a particular role, a person more or less clearly represents the rights and obligations associated with it, knows about the scheme and sequence of actions and builds his behavior in accordance with the expectations of others.

Social behavior tried to systematize T. Parsons. He believed that any role can be described using five basic characteristics:

1. Emotionality . Some roles (for example, nurse, doctor or policeman) require emotional restraint in situations that are usually accompanied by a violent manifestation of feelings (this is about illness, suffering, death). Family members and friends are expected to have a less restrained expression of feelings.

2. The method of obtaining . Some roles are due to prescribed statuses — for example, a child, a youth, or an adult citizen; they are determined by the age of the person performing the role. Other roles are conquered; when we talk about a professor, we mean such a role, which is achieved not automatically, but as a result of the efforts of the individual.

3. Scale . Some roles are limited to strictly defined aspects of human interaction. For example, the roles of the doctor and patient are limited to issues that are directly related to the patient's health. A broader relationship is established between a small child and his mother or father; Each parent is concerned with many aspects of the baby’s life.

4. Formalization . Some roles involve interacting with people in accordance with established rules. For example, the librarian is obliged to give out books for a certain period and to demand a fine for each overdue day from those who delay the books. When performing other roles, special treatment is allowed with those with whom you have a personal relationship. For example, we do not expect a brother or sister to pay us for the service rendered, although we could take payment from a stranger.

5. Motivation . Different roles are due to different motives. It is expected, say, an enterprising person is absorbed in his own interests - his actions are determined by the desire to get the maximum profit. But it is assumed that the priest works mainly for public benefit, and not personal gain. According to Parsons, any role includes some combination of these characteristics.

Role theory well describes the adaptive side of the process of socialization of the individual. But this scheme cannot be taken as the only and exhaustive one, since it leaves an active, creative personal beginning in the shadows.

The concept of the personality of Freud . Another image of the personality arose under the influence of the ideas of Freud, who viewed man as striving for pleasure, and society as a system of prohibitions and taboos. Unconscious (first of all, sexual) aspirations of the personality form its potential and the main source of activity, set the motivation for its actions. Due to the impossibility of satisfying instinctive needs in their natural form due to social regulatory restrictions, a person is constantly forced to seek a compromise between deep-rooted attraction and the socially acceptable form of its realization. The whole human history is considered by Freud as a history of increasing psychosis.