Social status of the individual. Interrelation of social status and role.

Each of us occupies a certain position in society in accordance with age, gender, profession, marital status, origin. The position of one individual is connected with the positions of other personalities through a system of rights and duties, while determining the social status of the individual.

Each person takes several positions. For example: my neighbor - a young woman, a teacher, an Orthodox woman, a wife, a mother, etc. The totality of all factors is a status set.

In other words, social status is the place of a person in the hierarchical structure of society, in accordance with which he can somehow influence him.

Sociologists distinguish between the following statuses:

• Native - this is gender, nationality, race. They are unchanged throughout human life. But such a status as a member of the imperial family, for example, exists from birth to the collapse of the monarchy.
• Acquired - they are achieved by the efforts of the person himself - education, position, title.
• Prescribed (prescribed) - acquired by a person regardless of his desire (social status within the family, age). They can be both innate and acquired.

The society differently assesses the significance of certain statuses, while determining the prestige. It depends on the system of values that are characteristic of society, on the basis of which the social usefulness of the functions performed by an individual is assessed. Social status has a decisive influence on the behavior of the individual.

The social status of the individual is an element of the social structure of society, and the role is the behavioral component of the status.

Let's look at an example. There are two officials holding the same positions, performing the same duties. But they can implement them in different ways. One can do this for good, and the other can pursue other interests, which it is difficult to call a blessing for society. Consequently, having the same social status of a person, people can behave differently.

So, a social role is a model of a person's behavior of a certain status in the performance of his rights and duties prescribed by this provision. Social statuses and roles, i.e. Behavior patterns are closely interrelated.

Any of us belongs to a large number of status groups, each of which has its own hierarchy. If status is a place in this hierarchy, it is called rank.

The prestige of a status is directly dependent on the significance of its functions for the development of society, on the scale of values of this society.

It is not uncommon for a society to overestimate the prestige of one status and undeservedly understated by another. With such an imbalance, it is not able to ensure its normal, stable functioning.

The social status of an individual can be high in one group and, conversely, very low in another. For example, to a good tailor or a hairdresser, customers are recorded in advance, which indicates its high professional status. But in the family, for example, he has no proper respect.

In this case, we see a clear mismatch of statuses. This is also possible when the fulfillment of the rights and duties of one provision hinders the fulfillment of the rights and obligations of the other. So, a civil servant has no right to engage in business, a policeman should not be a mafia, it is impossible to imagine a banker who, in his spare time, asks for charity.

A person who has reached certain high positions in society, as a rule, tries to maintain his social status of the person, to correspond to him, to fulfill his status role. From him, having a specific status, people are waiting for certain actions. And he knows it.

Relationships of any person with others are always aligned in accordance with how correctly he fulfills his status role.