ee FC AScribed 9,1. {“S€5~Statys Cia! Status Meaning, Definition and Ki nshipand One 'd and Achieveq Beane Gbice- Prestige, Eswen and Ranke Power " 2S: ma 1 Bases Achiovey Sctus-terrcten ed Sats and is Bases-Sex. Ages —_— onship of Ascribed and Achieved Sta- a enti mt The human Society exhi iviti ibits an “order whites are normally imeprated. The wins” PE8USe the social latins ofits members an when they are perpared tq Work together by eo Ta OF the members of society can be fulfilled ony and weaknesses, They Fealise by then °Y ©°-Stdinating thein energy talents, time and their strengy, eT ahd desires by himselt Treg COMMON sense ne experience that no one can sais af all and all are not pre a hey also come to Understand that no one in society can do the Work gf different plac chert AUPPed to do sg particular task. Members of society occy, Ordination of don “i8charge different responsibilities in the mutual interest of all. Thus the g 0s tio ns oF sae 10" of labour is achieved primarily through the assignment of duties and Tights ty | PenniOs OF statuses, Society itself e network of such statuses. Each status has a set of expeciy They outs called ‘roles’. By providing for such ‘roles’ associated with each status, the many thn quich a society wi I be distributed among people and groups in an agreed manner. Tk, orderliness in Society. Thus, statuses and roles constitute an important element iy ~ ants done wil Contributes to the, Social structure, 1. THE CONCEPT OF ROLE OR SOCIAL ROLE Meaning of Role } According to Young and Mack, “A roe is the function of status”. 2. Robert Bierstedt Says that a “role is the dynamic-or the behavioural aspect of status, wl role is what an individual does in the status he occupies”, 3. Duncan Mitchell writes that “a Social role is the expected behaviour associated with a soc Position. 4. For Kingsley Davis role refers to “the manner in which a person actually carries out the Tequirements of his position”. Nature of Role An analysis of ‘social role’ would reveal to us the following things. indivi i is bound to play social roles. It mea : individual member of social group or society is eae obligatory for all members. The number of roles that one plays depends on the st tuses that he assumes. 122pole and Stats a 2, Some social roles are shared by a great many people, Ex: There are many adults, citizens, ors, authors, ministers, teachers, and so on. ". Some socal roles are enacted only by one or by comparatively afew indivi ‘cir PaTal ly afew individuals ata particu isi in paticular place, Ex Tn India there can only afew governors a time depending upon the number of states. 4, Some social roles may be assumed voluntarily, The individul may choose to enact or not enact certain roles. Ex: one may choose to live in city as city dweller, play as a bowler in a cricket fom, join a voluntary association and play the role ofits executive member or no. 5. The assumption of certain roles is largely involuntary. The enactment of many such roles pas to take place continuously. Example: Females will have to continuously enact the roles of fe- males, males of males, whites of whites, Harjijans of Harijans, nd so on. They are unchangeable. Interrelationship between Roles and Statuses (@) The terms ‘role’ and ‘status’ are interrelated. A status is simply a position in society or ina group. A ‘role’ is the behavioural aspect of status. Statuses are occupied and roles are played. A role is the manner in which a given individual fulfills the obligations of a status and enjoys its privileges and prerogatives. A position or status is simply the means of identifying a particular social role. The two terms are often used interchangeably. For example, the position of ‘advocate’ identi- fies a particular body of expected behaviour or the role of advocate, To define a social role is actually todefine the essential or minimal features of the expected behaviour or role. Stricty, from the socio- Jogical point of view, to define a social position completely means to define orto indicate its (status) entire role prescriptions. In this way these two terms ‘position’ or status and role are only analyti- cally separable. (0)Role is a relational term. An individual plays a ole vis-a-vis another person’s role which js attached to a ‘counter-pasition’. For example, an advocate plays his role as advocate in relation to the client's role, Role concept is relevant atthe level of individual when he is in interaction. Because, itis individuals, not organisations, institutions, or sub-systems, who play roles and occupy positions. (&)*Role’ and ‘status’-in a way point out the divergent interests of the two sciences-social psychology and sociology. Status isa sociological concept and a sociological phenomenon. On the ‘contrary, role is a concept and a phenomenon of social psychology. Individual differences in person- ality, ability talents and behaviour can alone explain as to why different individuals play different roles in the same status. For exaniple, though the status of Prime Minister has been the same for Pandit Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi. They have played different roles in that status. (@ Both status and role are dynamic and constantly changing, Hence, role changes with each new incumbent in a status. The status changes as the norms attached to it are altered. It is quite likely that in course of time, new obligations and new responsibilities may be added to a status or old ones may be removed. Sometimes more rigorous role playing may expand the functions of a status. Similarly, these functions may change due to the newly felt needs of the system of which status is @ part. For example, when an association increases in size, its office-bearers may acquire new duties, ‘or new statuses may be established. Thus, both status and role are dynamic elements in the life of a society. But the statuses are cultural and roles are behavioural in nature. (©) Though statuses and roles are correlative phenomena, i is possible 1o have one without the other. A status without a role may simply denote an unfilled position in an association, For example, when the Vice-Chancellor of a University resigns it may take some time to find a suitable successor for the post. During this time gap the duties of the Vice-Chancellor may be looked into by some of his assistants. These assistants can never enjoy privileges of the status of Vice-Chancellor. In the same manner, roles ate often played without occupying a status. For example, a mother plays the role of nurse when a member of her family is ill. Nurse isa status in hospital, but in homeaa ~ oe ATC fF is ofhis role and bis Perception of his actual role behaviens ‘Thitietepancy between his perception upon his ue ‘or example, if a person fin, ds vast ditt Conflict may have harmful effects husband and howhe actualy does by fence between-how he should act as one may even become neurotic. an inner conflict. In extreme cases, Secondly, an individual may experience confliete «i... mnay perceive some incompatibility between the lee his sare oey of roles. An individuat pinyin thet ogethr. For example one's role ann eaten Of to Or more ole when he husband or wife at home. The doctor is exper ‘ay Come into cl: it fi cted to serve the clash with one’s role as a ehave—he may experience * A family m Conflicts of this kind arise only when the occupansintiecn rhe aaa pi individual concemed ina different way, Ths, the doctor gon i i wi has a different perception of her husband’s role, Sindlaree yet eeause the doctors conflict when his opinion of his duties and obligaong 2 ee Pit pene Semis niet tees tae Worker differs from the opinions of both : Ina ake suturaly homogeneous. and relatively ‘immobile’ society, there may be compara- ely less role cont ee But ae Comparatively complex and heterogeneous social system role conflicts have incre: @ great deal. These have led to more i I individual discomforts, teed more group seifons op well na 2, SOCIAL STATUS a Meaning of Social Status sibss9. Society is understood in terms ofthe network of socal interaction and intfédinection. In any interaction situation we cannot expect every one to.respond to the stimulus in the same manner. Because everyone has his own separate identity which is already there even before entering the social situation. Example: A husband expects sexual response from his wife, but other men have ne such right to expect such a response from her. Simil. larly, patients expect treatment for their diseases from the doctors, students expect clarification for their doubts in lessons from their teachers, and so on. Thus, everyone enters a social situation with an indentity. This identity refers to his position or status. Definitions 1. According to Duncan Mitchell, social status refers to “the Position occupied by a person, family, or kinship group in a social system relative to others. This determines rights, duties and other behaviours, including the nature and extent of the relationships with Persons of other statuses’. 2. Ralph Linton says that “status is the place in a particular system, which a certain individual Occupies at a particular time”. 3. Robert Bierstedt is of the opinion that “A status is simply a position in society or ina group...the status is the position afforded by group affiliation, group membership, or group organisation. It is ‘set’ in the structure of the group or of the society before a given individual comes along to occupy it’,nan Sg ERG! SERN eee oD Nature of Status ane BVP OF Groups 1. External symbols to identify the status. As Kingsley Davis has said, a person’s identi h social situation reveals his status. Though not always certain external symbols help the identifica. tion of one’s statuses in society. The style of dress is one such indicator. Soldiers and army Officers, nurses, doctors, advocates, policemen, religious missionaries, priests wear different dresses. They Statuses could be understood by means of their dresses. The various badges the policemen, and the Ainly officials wear further pin point thei status. Sex status of men and women could be ascertainey withthe help of the dress that they wear. In some societies married and unmarried Persons, the olg and young, the merchants and craftsmen wear different costumes. This kind of identificati ion has ig limitations because some unauthorised persons may wear certain type of costumes for fun, fashion or for cheating, 2. Every status has its own rights, duties and obligations. The nature of these rights ang duties is decided by the normative system of society. A right is a legitimate expectation that one can, entertain as an occupant of a status in relation to the behaviour of a person in another position. From the viewpoint of another person their claim represents only an obligation. For example, it is the right of an employer to expect a particular behaviour from his employee and itis the obligation of the employee to behave in the so desired manner. Similarly, it is the right of an employee to expect some rewards for his labour from his employer, and it becomes the obligation; but it becomes duty on the Part of the employer to giv. e the rewards to the employee. Thus, ‘rights’ and ‘obligations’ are only different definitions of the ‘same relationship. 3. Social statuses are governed by norms. These norms vary with persons, situations and Spituses. even though they are believed to be common to all. For example, the norms like ‘be hones’, “be truthful et., are believed to be common to all. But in practice we know that a doctor eanne, always tell the truth to the patient regarding the state of his disease. Similarly, a merchant cannot Practise honesty ‘atways in his trade. Thus norms are always relative to situations. Which norms apply in a given Case depends upon the relations between the statuses of the interacting persons and the situations in which they interact. 4, One individual may have several statuses. Since society can be understood as the network of statuses, itis quité natural that in every society we find a large number of groups which have many statuses. Every individual occupies many such statuses. His status will differ with the type of group. {In a modern complex society each individual during the course of a single day may find him- self in a large number of statuses. Example: A college student may be a student to his teachers, a customer to the shopowner, a depositor to his banker, a passenger to the bus driver, a brother to his sister, a son to his father and mother, a secretary to the members of the cricket club, a male to all females, a patient to his doctor, and so on. It means the individual occupies the statuses such as student, customer, depositor, passenger, brother, son, secretary of the cricket club, patient and many such statuses in the course of a single day. It becomes thus impossible to enlist all the statuses that each one is likely to occupy at one time or other in the course of his enti ire life. Of course, in smaller and simpler societies an individual can have only a fewer statuses. 5. Statuses exercise an influence upon the careers of individuals. The behaviour of indi- viduals can be understood only by understanding the statuses that the groups or societies. For example, an Eskimo cannot think of becoming a nuclear physicist because such a status is not there in his society. Similarly, no American boy at present wants to become a witch-doctor because there is no such status in his society. 6. Statuses differ with their degree of importance. Some statuses are more important than others in deciding the position of an,individual in society. Different societies have different criteria Y assume in their respectivepole and Status 127 iding the importance of statu: . for deciding tl ses. Sociologist E.T. Hill 5 *s position in cant -T. Hiller bi 4 se ma poten meme en a in hip stations ei ots tmstly influences is various other statuses In ome societies, kinship statuses, religious statuses or even political ea and hence become Key cane - In India, caste status and octasatiatt ana a te mre npr tant, Russians may atach more weightage to political status and so on. In primiti ry be more impor- and kinship statuses are important than others, . In primitive societies age, sex 7, Statuses add to social order and social - iety i The statuses of farm . society. We are not creating them afresh. ler, soldiers, teachers, clerks etc., at i i may find obi Clerks etc., are not our creations. In exceptional cases some May ew ways and new paths of living and thus may create new statuses. Liké oter elements of culture, statu, which is cultural item, is also dynamic. Some satses, ma ia course of time, become obsolete, and disappear from the social structure. But most of the ndivigu- als, in most of the cases occupy statuses that are already there established in the societies in which they are born. _8, Social status has a hierarchical distribution also. All the statuses in society are not equally distributed among all. Thus a few persons occupy the highest positions while the majority assume the so called ‘ordinary’ statuses. The theoretical assumption behind the distribution of the statuses is that the statuses are determined competitively by the possession of abilities relative to, the demand for abilities in society. Thus, it could be said in the competitive struggle those who possess greater abilities and qualities assume higher statuses in society. But in-actuality, the relation between the: possession of abilities and the assumption of higher statuses has not been found to be invariable. The factors such as private property, inheritance, social services, etc, all modify the form of the distribu- tion of statuses. 3, THE ORGANISATION OF STATUSES Every individual in society occupies many different statuses. As an occupant of these statuses he has to fulfil his obligations and duties towards others in the counter positions. Hence in the interest of the individual and the society it is essential that these statuses get integrated or organised properly. sitvit Sometimes we recognise a particular individual as an occupant of a pagfigular status even though he may be an occupant of several other statuses at the same time. We also speak of the status or the social position of a given individual by which we imply the sum total of his specific statuses and roles. Example: We may speak of Mr. X as a good advocate or Mrs. Yasa renowned dancer. Here we implicitly accept that the person concerned has many statuses and we are-pointing out only one of them for a particular reference. ; The statuses that an individual occupies and the roles that he plays constitute an essential element in hi "The time, energy and ability that an individual has, are very much limited. cel ee and satisfy ee For this the system of his statuses must be integrated 10 some extent. Otherwise, he may feel unhappy. His personal efficiency, confidence and contentment also depend on the integration of his various social positions. pe Qa dies of view, the total system of statuses in the entire society or group pst be integrated to some reasonable extent. The very existence of society depends on such an a ‘on, Normally, occupational, familial, religious, political and other statuses are built in sucl ‘ aie rn ad a Tene en through an interlocking system of rights an ot eo