Status
- Definition: Its is a person’s social position without reference to higher or lower status. Status also shows one’s ranking in the social system with reference to higher or lower position.
- Weber’s definition: Status is the honour accorded to a person or group by the community based on family background, educational qualification, economic condition, caste, ethnicity etc.
Sociologist use the term status in two different but related meaning,
- firstly as to peron’s social position without referring to any contesting higher & lower ones.
- Secondly, the term is used to designate one’s raning in the social system with connotation of higher & lower.
Types of Status
- Ascribed status
- is a status associated with birth. Such type of ascribed status is prevalent in India, China etc.
- Other bases of ascribed status are sex, age group, ancestry etc.
- There is limited mobility in a society with ascribed status
- Achieved status
- Contrary to the ascribed status, an achieved status is the one accorded to a person on account of his personal accomplishments.
- Achieved status is found in open class society.
- In societies with achieved status there is freedom to intermingle for different strata of he society.
Role
Definition – Role can be defined as rights & obligation assigned with particular status. In other words roles are thus, “pattern of actions & interaction that people enact whenever they engage in any collective activity on when alone, when they act as directed by or for such activity.
Features
- Concept of role shows interactions b/w social positions or statuses.
- A role is a pattern of behaviour associated with a distinctive status.
- When people engage in collective activity, their interactions with each other are nothing but roles.
- For roles to come in play, some kind of social organization is important. Hence roles don’t exist independently.
- Roles are always reciprocal. Ex husband and wife, teacher and student, thief and police etc.
- If someone deviate from expected role social recognition is reduced.
Role Repertoire : The sum totals of all roles performed by an individual are known as role repertoires. A person may perform may roles at a time.
- For ex a Football player may be a friend, enemy, wife, mother etc.
Role Partners: These are persons enacting same kind of role. Example: Student, friend etc.
To perform one’s role, individual must have full understanding of role of the role. In performances of many roles a situation may come when individual is conflicting pressures b/c of conflicting role requirements. The role conflict may result in serious percussion for the society if the person involved holds aaa responsible position. Individual is always required to minimising the enhances off conflict.
Conclusion – Thus status & role go hand in hand & socially recognised positions I.e status depends upon roe it performs s societies are moving towards open class societies.
