• Human society exhibits order because the social relations of its members and their activities are integrated.
• The needs of society members can only be fulfilled when they work together, coordinating their energy, talents, time, and balancing their strengths and weaknesses.
• Individuals realize through common sense and experience that they cannot satisfy all their needs alone.
• Society members understand that no one can do everything and some tasks require specialized skills and preparation.
• Members of society occupy different places and have different responsibilities for the mutual interest of all.
• Coordination of the division of labor is achieved through the assignment of duties and rights to positions or statuses.
• Society is a network of such statuses, each with a set of expected behaviors called roles.
• Roles associated with each status distribute societal tasks among people and groups in an agreed manner.
• The existence of statuses and roles contributes to the orderliness in society and forms a key element of social structure.

THE CONCEPT OF ROLE OR SOCIAL ROLE

Meaning of Role

• According to Young and Mack, a role is the function of a status.
• Robert Bierstedt defines role as the dynamic or behavioral aspect of a status, representing what an individual does in the status they occupy.
• Duncan Mitchell states that a social role is the expected behavior linked to a social position.
• Kingsley Davis describes role as the way a person carries out the requirements of their position.

Nature of Role

• Every individual in a social group or society is bound to play social roles, making role-playing obligatory for all members.
• The number of roles an individual plays depends on the statuses they assume.
• Some social roles are shared by many people, such as adults, citizens, voters, authors, ministers, teachers, etc.
• Some roles are enacted by only one or a few individuals at a specific time and place, such as governors in India, based on the number of states.
• Certain roles may be assumed voluntarily, with individuals choosing to enact or not enact them, such as living as a city dweller, being a bowler in cricket, or joining a voluntary association.
• The assumption of some roles is largely involuntary and must be enacted continuously, such as the roles of females, males, whites, Harijans, etc., which are unchangeable.

Interrelationship between Roles and Statuses

• Role and status are interrelated. A status is a position in society or a group, while a role is the behavioral aspect of that status.
• Statuses are occupied, and roles are played. A role reflects how an individual fulfills the obligations of a status and enjoys its privileges.
• A position or status identifies a particular social role, and to define a social role is to define its expected behavior.
• Strictly speaking, defining a social position means indicating its entire role prescriptions, making the terms status and role analytically separable.
• Role is a relational term, played by an individual in relation to another’s counter-position (e.g., an advocate’s role in relation to a client’s role).
• The role concept is relevant to the individual level during interaction since individuals, not organizations, play roles and occupy positions.
• Status is a sociological concept, while role is a concept of social psychology. Individual differences explain why different individuals play different roles in the same status.
• Despite the same status (e.g., Prime Minister), individuals like Pandit Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Indira Gandhi, and Rajiv Gandhi played different roles due to personality, ability, and talent.
• Both status and role are dynamic and change constantly. A role changes with each new incumbent in a status, and status changes as its norms evolve.
• New obligations and responsibilities may be added to a status or removed over time. Changing functions of a statusmay arise from the needs of the system it is part of.
• When an association increases in size, office-bearers may acquire new duties, or new statuses may be established, reflecting the dynamic nature of both status and role.
• Statuses are cultural, and roles are behavioral in nature.
• A status without a role may denote an unfilled position, such as when the Vice-Chancellor position is vacant, and assistants temporarily take on duties without enjoying the privileges of the status.
• Similarly, roles can exist without a status. For example, a mother plays the role of a nurse at home without holding the official status of a nurse.
• Some individuals are known as good practical jokers but do not occupy the status of a clown, which is only a status in the circus.
• According to Robert Bierstedt, a status is an institutionalized role, regularized and formalized in society or an association.
• The structure of society consists of statuses, not roles. It is statuses, together with norms, that give order, predictability, and possibility to social relations.