Concept
Social status is a position in the social structure. The term is used in 2 meanings:
- The social status of an individual is a person’s position in society, in the system of social and interpersonal relations. It is reflected in the internal position (values and orientations, motivations), in external appearance, speech culture, jargon.
- The social status of a group is the place occupied by the group in the social hierarchy. Status groups are characterized by a specific system of values, norms of behavior, a certain lifestyle, type of education and occupation.
The concept includes:
- assessment by an individual or a group of their place in the social hierarchy;
- public assessment of the activities of an individual or group.
Social status is determined by socially significant characteristics :
- natural – ethnic, age, gender;
- economic – property and financial status, lifestyle;
- social settlement – city dwellers, rural residents;
- set of rights, obligations, functions;
- place in the hierarchy of political relations - possession of power, activity in political groups, organizations, movements;
- place in the division of labor system - education, type of employment, profession, qualifications;
- prestige - the social significance of a position occupied in society.
The combination of all these characteristics determines social position . The system of social statuses forms the laws of interaction (rights and obligations, hierarchy of subordination) of individuals and groups.
Kinds
Each person occupies several status positions in society at the same time. Their number is determined by the range of connections and relationships in which the individual is a member. The set of all statuses that characterize a given person is called a status set . It is different for each person. It is based on general statuses - person, member of society, citizen.
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Of all the statuses possessed by a person, it is always possible to single out one that has the greatest meaning for him. This status is called main or integral. It is he who determines the style and lifestyle, immediate environment and forms of interaction of the individual with other members of society. The opposite of it is secondary or situational statuses. A person changes them several times a day, depending on the situation in which he finds himself (client, interlocutor, buyer).
The statuses of one person are determined by his inclusion in various social groups and are divided into:
- personal – places occupied by a person in small groups: family, peer group, work team;
- social – places occupied in large groups (gender, ethnic, religious, professional).
According to the degree of formalization, statuses are distinguished:
- formal – positions enshrined in official documents;
- informal – statuses that do not require documentation.
There are also statuses:
- innate – biologically inherited: nationality, race, gender;
- attributed (ascriptive) – acquired regardless of the individual’s desires: age, social origin, place of birth, family ties;
- acquired – received as a result of significant events: inheritance of title, fortune.
- achieved - those that a person receives as a result of his efforts;
- mixed - acquired as a result of an unfavorable combination of circumstances (war, loss of job, health).
Society not only creates social statuses, but also ensures the distribution of individuals according to social positions.
Classification: list
Since the life and functionality of a person among his own kind is diverse, there are many .
Roles that determine an individual’s place in a complex hierarchy of human contacts :
- by gender - female, male;
- by professional affiliation;
- by age - child, adult, elderly person.
Relationships between people can also be described as social roles:
- husband, wife, mother, father (family);
- leader, leader, leader;
- rejected by society, outcast, outsider;
- everyone's favorite, etc.
A person in a social system is a “performer” of many social roles. They can be distributed officially, consciously, or arise spontaneously, depending on the development of a particular life situation.
For example, regulations adopted in a work organization will dictate certain rules of the game to its employees.
Each everyday situation makes a person a participant in numerous “human games”, already colored by the formed expectations of society.
Hierarchy of statuses
Statuses in the social structure are unequal. In the public consciousness, individuals and groups are compared according to their status characteristics and are arranged in a hierarchical order. The social prestige of statuses and their hierarchy are formed under the influence of the following factors:
- the real significance of a particular status for society;
- system of values historically developed in a given culture.
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Hierarchy types:
- intergroup – covers different groups within society;
- intragroup – ranks individuals within one group.
The position of a status in a hierarchy is called status rank. It determines the level of this status - high, medium or low. The plurality of individual statuses often gives rise to their discrepancy (inconsistency). It manifests itself in cases where a person occupies different status positions in different social groups and he has to perform conflicting functions, rights and responsibilities.
The concept of social status is related to the concept of social role. However, there are significant differences between them. If social status determines the place a person occupies in society, then the role characterizes social expectations based on this status. In situations of discrepancy, inconsistency of statuses, a role conflict may arise.
Sociology, tickets 1-24 / 8 Ticket. The concept of social status. Social role
Ticket 8. The concept of social status. Social role
Social status of a person
- this is the social position that he occupies in the structure of society, the place that the individual occupies among other individuals.
Each person simultaneously has several social statuses in different social groups.
Types of social status
:
- Natural status
. As a rule, the status received at birth is unchanged: gender, race, nationality, class or estate.
- Acquired status.
A position in society achieved by a person himself. What a person achieves in the course of his life with the help of knowledge, skills and abilities: profession, position, title.
- Prescribed status.
The status that a person acquires regardless of his desire (age, status in the family), it can change over the course of his life.
The totality of all the statuses a person currently possesses is called a status set
.
Natural status of personality
– significant and relatively stable characteristics of a person: man, woman, child, youth, old man, etc.
Professional and official status
is a social indicator that records the social, economic and production position of a person in society. (engineer, chief technologist, workshop manager, HR manager, etc.)
Social role
- this is a set of actions that a person occupying a given status in the social system must perform.
Moreover, each status involves performing not one, but several roles. A set of roles, the fulfillment of which is prescribed by one status, is called a role set
.
The systematization of social roles was first developed by Parsons, who identified five grounds on which a particular role can be classified:
1.
Emotionality.
Some roles (for example, nurse, doctor or police officer) require emotional restraint in situations that are usually accompanied by violent expression of feelings (we are talking about illness, suffering, death).
2.
Method of receipt.
How to get a role:
- prescribed (roles of man and woman, young man, old man, child, etc.);
- achieved (the role of a schoolchild, student, employee, employee, husband or wife, father or mother, etc.).
3.
Scale.
By the scale of the role (that is, by the range of possible actions):
- broad (the roles of husband and wife involve a huge number of actions and varied behavior);
- narrow (roles of seller and buyer: gave money, received goods and change, said “thank you”).
4.
Formalization.
By level of formalization (officiality):
- formal (based on legal or administrative norms: police officer, civil servant, official);
- informal (that arose spontaneously: the roles of a friend, “the soul of the party,” a merry fellow).
5.
Motivation.
By motivation (according to the needs and interests of the individual):
- economic (the role of the entrepreneur);
- political (mayor, minister);
- personal (husband, wife, friend);
- spiritual (mentor, educator);
- religious (preacher);
The normal structure of a social role usually has four elements:
1) description of the type of behavior corresponding to this role;
2) instructions (requirements) associated with this behavior;
3) assessment of the performance of the prescribed role;
4) sanctions - the social consequences of a particular action within the framework of the requirements of the social system. Social sanctions can be moral in nature, implemented directly by a social group through its behavior (contempt), or legal, political, or environmental.
The same person performs many roles, which may be contradictory and inconsistent with each other, which leads to role conflict.
Social role conflict –
it is a contradiction either between normative structures of social roles or between structural elements of a social role.
Elements of social status
The structure of social status consists of several elements:
- functions, rights and responsibilities – normative, socially approved behavior;
- status range – conditional boundaries within which an individual fulfills his status rights and obligations;
- status symbols - external signs of belonging to a certain rank (uniform, clothing style, hairstyle, jewelry, tattoos);
- status image – adequate appearance and role behavior;
- status identification – psychological identification of oneself with one’s status;
- status worldview - social attitudes and value guidelines inherent in the bearers of a given status.
An indicator of status is a person’s lifestyle. In most cases, it is associated with a profession, type of activity, or position.
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Social status as an indicator of well-being
The social structure of the world in which humanity lives today is governed by various sets of rules in all areas of human relations. From how and what we brush our teeth to the way we drive a car, our world is very predictable. This predictability is determined by the social structure of any society. Social structure unites people into society, it also puts everything and everyone in its place, and also determines what, how and why we do every day of our lives. Without this, uncontrolled chaos and anarchy would reign in human society.
Social structure directs people to perform everyday tasks and provides direction on how we should perform those tasks.
In a broad sense, social status refers to the position a person occupies in society. It provides the individual with certain rights and privileges; on the other hand, it also puts forward its responsibilities, which its owner is forced to fulfill.
High social status is perceived by many as synonymous with success in life. This analogy, of course, is not without foundation, but from the point of view of a deep understanding of the issue, everything is a little more complicated.
According to psychologists, social status seems to be the most important incentive and motivating force of social behavior: it is known that the more noticeable the disproportions in status, the more people care about increasing it. Here we are talking not only about the material side of the issue - every person, willingly or unwillingly, reflects on the place he occupies in relation to his peers, colleagues, acquaintances or even family members.
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