4.2b Roles and Statuses
Roles refer to the somewhat predictable actions and attitudes associated with a social position (Abrutyn & Lizardo, 2022). For example, there is an expectation that older people are more responsible than younger people. When someone of a certain age continues to act in ways associated with younger people, they may be told to “grow up” or “act like an adult.” Status is a person or group’s social position with a specific social value. That is, a status may give prestige, stigma, or neither.
Statuses may be achieved or ascribed. An ascribed status is involuntary. People are born with an ascribed status or receive it involuntarily at some point during their life. Ascribed statuses include age, race, gender, birth order, and birth membership in a particular family. An achieved status is earned. Examples include those associated with educational background (college graduate), criminal background (convicted felon), and occupation (teacher).
Role strain is the existence of competing expectations associated with a single status. Being a college student is an achieved status with roles associated with it. The primary role of a college student is to be a learner. The expectations of being a learner include attending class, completing homework, and prioritizing school. College students are also expected to have active social lives. The many roles of a college student can result in role conflict and role strain. For example, campus culture may support learning, partying, or both. A student focused on learning, but is on a campus whose culture emphasizing partying may experience role strain.
Role conflict results from having different but competing roles associated with various statuses. A student may experience role conflict when they inhabit more than one status. For example, many college students are also student-athletes. They may have jobs, caregiving responsibilities, or a combination of these roles. The expectations associated with being a college student, an athlete, an employee, and a caregiver can come into conflict.
Photo 4.8
Student-Athletes Experience Role Conflict
Role exit refers to the process of leaving a role. Graduation is a rite of passage for those who have met all their college’s requirements and are ready to exit the role of student. Graduates now have a new set of attitudes and actions to navigate. These include the expectation that they will obtain employment in a field related to their major, go to graduate school, or start a family.
Age as an Example
Age is associated with both roles and status. Adults are supposed to be responsible and look out for children. Children can be more irresponsible or carefree and care for other children only under certain circumstances. Most U.S. states do not specify a minimum age at which a child can babysit. Among the states that do, the age minimum ranges from 6 to 14, depending on the state (World Population Review, 2024). Further, older children and teenagers are rarely left alone to care for younger children for extended periods or overnight.
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The Age at Which a Child Can Begin Babysitting Varies by State
Age is also a status category with associated prestige. Being a teenager holds a bit more status than being a younger child, and older teenagers have more status than younger teenagers. Teenagers (and young adults) drive trends in fashion, music, slang, and so on. They often influence trends to such an extent that their interests exert clear economic effects. For example, the young adult book trilogy, The Hunger Games, has become a media franchise. There are now four movies based on the trilogy and two prequel novels (one with a movie and the other with a movie planned). The films have earned about $5 billion worldwide (Carollo, 2024).