• 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.