What is social status: concept, examples, types

Lesson plan:

Man's place in society

Prescribed and achieved social status

Variety of social roles

Social roles and age

Reasons for the generation gap

Society places different expectations on teachers, doctors, parents and children, political scientists and economists, girls and boys. All of these listed positions represent diverse social statuses.

Man's place in society

Society consists of numerous groups of people, public organizations, and individuals connected by relationships. These relationships are regulated by social norms - rules of behavior accepted in society. But these rules are not the same for everyone; what is possible for some people is prohibited for others.

A police officer can carry a weapon and use force against violators of public order, but this does not mean that all other members of society have such rights. Social statuses and social roles help people understand their diverse rights and responsibilities. They depend on the age, financial and marital status of the individual, level of education, and profession. Social statuses and roles change as a person grows up, his career grows, and he gains access to power.

Social status is the position occupied by an individual in society. This provision imposes on the individual a number of responsibilities, rights, and privileges.

Example.

• Alexandra Ivanovna is a seller, this is one of her social statuses. It imposes certain responsibilities on a woman: to be in the store from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., sell people various products, advise customers on the quality or other characteristics of products. Along with her responsibilities, Alexandra Ivanovna has the rights to receive wages, take paid leave once a year, and go on sick leave in case of health problems.
• Sasha Ivanov is a seven-year-old child, this characteristic is the social status of a person. Sasha has the rights: to the care of his parents, their love, to provide him with clothes, food, toys, books and everything that Sasha needs. But along with rights, Sasha has some responsibilities: obey his parents, study at school.
• Vladimir Alekseevich is a grandfather - this is one of his social statuses. Vladimir Alekseevich has the right to see his grandchildren, buy them gifts, and share his life experience with them. His responsibilities include taking care of his grandchildren when their parents are not around.

The same individual may have several dozen social statuses, which impose on him certain rights and responsibilities. Each social status has its own manner of behavior, which is called a social role . Even by the clothes an individual is wearing, one can understand his social role and expect certain behavior from him in society. Seeing a military uniform, a doctor's robe, or a formal business suit, one can guess about the social status of a given individual.

This is interesting! In the recent past, about 200 years ago, one could understand from women’s clothing whether a woman was married or not, what her family’s income was, what social class she was from, where she was from.
Time has changed and today the rules for wearing clothes are no longer so strict, but a person’s appearance can still tell about several social roles of an individual.

Examples from life

People have different statuses - this is easy to illustrate with simple examples.

Example 1

When a child is born, he acquires a nationality, citizenship, and is assigned the permanent status of son, daughter, girl, boy. In the school class he acquires the position of a student, in the university - a student. Having received a profession, he becomes a scientist, lawyer, economist, builder. The number of positions achieved is constantly increasing. By using political resources, willpower, and experience, a person can rise to the top of the social ladder or, conversely, slide down, reducing the level of acquired status.

Example 2

A person's position determines his status set. For example, a man of Russian nationality, forty years old, working as a teacher at a university, has a wife, mother and son. In addition, he is an Orthodox Christian and a member of the editorial board. Every day he enters into various relationships, performs duties and defends the rights that preserve his position.

The attitude towards him is based on how he plays his social role and is reflected in the characteristics:

• good parent;
• excellent family man;
• devoted friend;
• loving son;
• strict teacher.

The prestige and authority of a person depends on these indicators, but the main status—position—is most often decisive for determining one’s place in society.

Prescribed and achieved social status

There are several types of social statuses:

• Prescribed;
• Found;
• Achievable.

a prescribed status from birth; he cannot choose it on his own. When a child is born, he or she acquires nationality, race, gender, and age. In some cases, certain titles and titles may pass to a person by birth. But sometimes the prescribed social status may change.

Example. Alina Sidorova is Russian by nationality, this is her innate status. But at the age of 2, Alina left with her parents for America, where over time she and her entire family received American citizenship. Alina lived all her life in the USA and forgot the Russian language, did not know about Russian customs and traditions, in this case her prescribed social status changed.

Acquired status is a status that has changed under the influence of life circumstances and was obtained under certain conditions.

Example. Nadezhda Petrovna - Dima's mother. When Dima turned 30, he married Svetlana. Because of these life circumstances, Nadezhda Petrovna, against her will, acquired a new social status - mother-in-law.

the achieved social status through his own efforts. A person sets a goal for himself, depending on his desires, and achieves it. Through your own efforts, you can improve your financial situation, get a higher education, master a new profession, and gain power in society. But the acquired social status does not always completely depend on the desire or reluctance of the individual; luck and the innate capabilities and abilities of the individual play a certain role.

Examples of achieved social statuses: student, professor, president, parent, general, priest.

Variety of social roles

Each status determines the behavior of the individual and gives him one or more roles. Roles arise spontaneously, as a result of interpersonal communication in a team, or are created on the basis of social norms, requirements for the position occupied by an individual in society. Human social roles are divided into:

• Formal - associated with profession, study, exercise of power in society;
• Interpersonal – determine the behavior of people in family, friendships, and interest groups;
• Gender roles are rules of behavior assigned in society to different sexes: women and men;
• Age - depends on the number of years a person has lived;
• Demographic – roles assigned to various nations, ethnic groups, and peoples.

Depending on a person’s social status, society expects him to fulfill all social roles.

Example. Vasya Fedorov is 13 years old. His social roles at school: study, self-affirmation, competition in school competitions, preparing homework, participation in interdisciplinary quizzes, being on duty in the classroom, obedience to teachers. Social roles in the family: fulfilling the demands of parents, helping parents around the house, studying, taking care of pets. As Vasya grows up, he will have new social statuses and, in accordance with them, types of social roles.

The roles a person performs shape his image. Image is an image of a person, consisting of ideas about how she should dress, speak, look, and behave in society. Representatives of professions respected in society try to look properly in the eyes of others, take care of their appearance, follow the rules of etiquette, and adhere to certain social norms.

Example. Teachers do not allow themselves to come to lessons in shorts and a T-shirt; they wear clothes in strict colors and adhere to business attire. In addition, teachers know that they are role models for students, so they always try to speak politely, competently, and follow the rules of etiquette. At the same time, the social roles of the teacher change when he comes home from work to his family. There he is a husband, a father, and a slightly different style of clothing and behavior is expected of him. Consequently, social statuses determine social roles.

Status hierarchy

Social status is considered in two orientations (R. Budon):

• horizontal - status built on a system of social contacts, real and acceptable, assigned between the holder of the status and other individuals in an identical social position;
• vertical - status built on a system of social contacts and mutual exchanges developing between status holders and people of a different social level.

Status hierarchy is inherent in any social group, the interaction of whose members is real only due to their acquaintance. At the same time, the official structure of the organization may differ from the unofficial one. Official social status is largely determined by qualifications, personal qualities, charm, etc.

Note 2

Functional dissonance may arise between functional and hierarchical status.

Status confusion is a parameter of social disorganization, as a result of which deviant behavior can develop.

Violation of status functioning and interaction can take two forms (E. Durkheim):

• on the basis of an individual’s social status, his expectations become uncertain and the reciprocal expectations of other people also become uncertain;
• instability of social status affects the degree of individual life satisfaction and the structure of social rewards.

Social roles and age

Each age group has its own social status and social roles. The main age groups are:

• Infancy;
• Preschool age;
• Junior school age;
• Adolescence;
• Youth;
• Maturity;
• Average age;
• Elderly age;
• Old age.

Depending on a person's age, society expects appropriate behavior from an individual. For example, teenagers would look ridiculous crying loudly in a store and asking their parents to buy them a toy.

Of all ages, the transitional age is special, falling on the period from 12 to 15 years. During these years, the child is already leaving childhood behind and is just beginning to master the social roles of a teenager. A teenager acquires new social statuses in a group of peers, family, sports clubs and interest groups, and a group of friends. Along with the acquisition of new statuses, there is a rapid development of social roles in adolescence.

In addition, during adolescence, young people begin to learn gender roles in society. Girls learn to cook, sew, take care of younger family members, begin to use cosmetics, and acquire their first communication skills with the opposite sex. Boys learn to handle various household tools and master self-defense skills.

Diversity of social roles in adolescence:

• Son daughter;
• Leader/outcast;
• Brother/sister;
• Housewife/host;
• Pupil/student;
• Athlete/athlete;
• Boyfriend/girlfriend;
• Reader/Writer;
• Video blogger;
• Excellent student/good student/C student;
• Boy/girl;
• Conscript (for the military registration and enlistment office);
• Artist;
• Musician;
• Dancer.

For deviation from the role expectations prescribed by society for a teenager in connection with his social status, society can punish him with disapproval, the introduction of prohibitions and additional requirements.

Example. Marina Nikolaeva is the class leader. This social status of a teenager prescribes a certain type of behavior for Marina: she must set an example for her classmates, be responsible, not skip school, and be responsible for the safety of the school magazine. Recently, Marina persuaded her classmates to skip a physics test. The whole class immediately agreed. It turned out that they skipped not an ordinary test, but an important section of knowledge for the 8th grade. The class teacher found out about this incident and Marina’s misconduct and appointed another head teacher in her place as punishment for what she had done.

Reasons for the generation gap

Young people and teenagers are often offended by the older generation for the many prohibitions and restrictions imposed on them. Psychologists call this a breakdown of connections between generations. But when parents forbid teenagers from watching TV, playing computer games, drinking alcohol, or staying in the company of friends, they are simply fulfilling their social roles. Parents are strict not out of harshness or lack of love towards their children, but out of duty towards them.

Teenagers dream of growing up faster, they promise themselves never to act in the same way towards their future children, they dream that when they become adults, they will allow their children to do whatever they want. But having matured, teenagers change their view of the world and, having become parents, also show some severity towards their children. The problem of a breakdown in communication between generations leads to a lack of mutual understanding between older and younger ones. To fix this, everyone needs to try to put themselves in the other’s place.

Call to action

You just need to write “write your comments and like” - what’s so complicated about that? A call to action is one of the most important parts of a post, and you can’t approach it so formally. Even if your post is interesting, without the right appeal, the reader will pass by.

Our goal is to receive as many comments as possible. Let's look at the mistakes that are most often made when calling for this action.

• The call is out of touch with the topic. A post about marketing, and at the end you ask subscribers to describe their first date. As soon as they tune in and delve into one topic, they are immediately, without preludes, switched to another. Do not do it this way.
• Closed questions. “Have you read this book?”, “Do you wear tights in winter?”, “Did you go on vacation this summer?” It seems like you can answer this, but why? You won’t be able to show off your intelligence, express an opinion, or boast. Then why do people comment on this?
• Complex open questions. People don't want to spend a lot of time commenting. Preparing an answer to the question “Why does the Earth gain 400 tons of weight every day?” will take more time than they are willing to spend. Therefore, this question will remain unanswered.
• Too many questions. Two questions is already too many. This will make it much more difficult for subscribers. And most likely they won't answer any of them.
• How to write the right call to action?
• Decide on a target action. In our case, these are comments. Of course, one post can have several actions. For example, comment, like and save. Then it is better to write a call to them in different places. For likes and saves - always at the beginning or in the middle of the post, for comments - always at the end.
• Analyze the post itself. What desire should it evoke in the reader? What thoughts should you suggest? What would you like to share after reading your post?
• Create a call to action. It should sound natural and look like a continuation of the post. With this single sentence, you must show that you are not indifferent to the subscriber’s opinion, that you will be very interested in learning more about him. “Write your comments”, “I’m waiting for your comments”, “express your opinions” - such calls are definitely not suitable.

The text is written, the picture is selected. It's time to publish a post and respond to comments.