The concept and types of social statuses. Formal and informal management: problems of combination Statuses about individuality

The concept of status in everyday life is equated with the characteristics of an individual associated with his economic capital, social prestige and the possibility of influence in certain areas of life. At the same time, the sociological interpretation of this concept proceeds from a special social position a person within a group or society, determined by the specifics of the rights and obligations for the individual. The status allows us to identify any person, assigning him to any group and entering into the social structure of society. Examples of statuses can be different: priest, leader, woman, child, client, professor, prisoner, father, mayor, etc. Each person is free to form his status, but he is limited by his financial situation, social relations and national culture as a whole. Any state offers its individuals a certain set of statuses that are appropriate and possible at each historical and social stage of the development of society. Moreover, society creates a field of competition for status. The specifics of this struggle are influenced by the age, gender of the individual, his social and professional affiliation. The very concept of the social status of a person has three components: sociology (adj.: social), status and personality. Sociology is the science of society. Personality is an individual who is the bearer of not only biological and psychological qualities, but also socially significant features. Many individuals make up a society. Personality is formed in the interaction of internal urges and external restrictions. · Status is a social position occupied by a person in society. Types of statuses: Personal status is the position that a person occupies in a small or primary group, depending on how he is assessed by his individual qualities. Social status is the position of a person, which he automatically occupies as a representative of a large social group or community (professional, class, national). · A status set is a collection of statuses belonging to one individual. · Prescribed status - the status that a person acquires by birth (eg: a title that is inherited) · Achievable status - a position that a person achieves through his efforts. · Natural status is a status that is based on a biological trait. (male, female) So: the social status of a person is the position of a person in society, occupied by him as a representative of a certain social group and including a certain set of rights and obligations. Social status depends on: · age; gender professions; origin; marital status; · income; education. You should not think that everyone is assigned one single social status. Each person can hold several different statuses, but one of them will prevail over others. Sociologists call this status the main one. The main status dominates in the mind of a person, influencing his life activity and motives of behavior, and the surrounding people perceive this status as leading for the individual. Thus, the influence of social status on a person is noticeable. No less influence social roles. Social status and social roles are interrelated concepts. Any status contains certain patterns of behavior, a culture of relationships and obligations. In other words, expected actions. It is these actions and what shapes behavior within a social status that is called social role. In each status, the manifestation of several roles is possible, which in sociology is usually called the "role set". The expected behavior associated with a particular role performs for society the functions of a norm, regulation of rights and obligations. The whole society is based on role relations, which once again reinforces the socializing role of the public for each individual. For example, the social status of a woman can be many-sided: wife, mother, daughter, sister, company employee, Christian, member of some organization (besides this, there are many more examples of social status). The totality of these provisions is called the status set. The above example shows how social status is determined: it is both marital status and religious views, and professional activities, and personal interests, etc. There are contradictions of statuses, which leads a person to discomfort, therefore, he strives for changes. For example: in the USA for a long time There was racial discrimination against African Americans. Over time, a representative of this race becomes the President of the United States. This means that the status system of society has changed. The ratio of prescribed and acquired statuses is reflected in the social structure. In a slave, feudal and caste society, prescribed statuses predominate, because family ties are highly valued for status. In a democratic society, acquired statuses prevail. The social role of an individual is a set of requirements that are put forward in relation to a person occupying one or another social position. Aspects of the social role: • way of behavior; formalization: a) you can communicate formally (eg: lecturer-student in class); b) communication in an informal setting (eg: the same when meeting on the street by chance); Acquired roles - in childhood they are toys, and in adulthood it's a conscious choice professional activity; scale of connections - some roles involve a wide circle of communication (ex.: journalist), and other roles a limited circle (ex.: parent by the number of children in the family); emotional aspect - judge, actor; · motivational aspect - interest, finances, prestige or otherwise. The division of social roles: · behavior of the individual; role expectation of others from the behavior of the individual. (Under the prism of the profession, it sounds something like what is possible for an actor, but not for a judge.) social roles (human activity in groups); interpersonal roles (family, friends). The process of socialization. Social roles are acquired in the process of socialization. A person observes others, and then imitates them, accepting the rules. But a person has a certain degree of freedom, which should not violate the freedoms of other people and the system of society. Socialization is the process of personality formation, during which a person learns the skills, patterns of behavior and attitudes inherent in his social role. (The individual either acts as expected of him, or improves in the role appropriate to him). There is a combination of external factors and internal qualities person. Socialization agents are members of society that influence the formation of personality. In childhood, parents, and from the age of 3, the number of socialization agents increases. Conformity - passive acceptance existing order. Forms of socialization: · Adaptation - passive adaptation to the environment; · Integration - active interaction of the individual with the environment, as a result of which not only the environment affects the individual, but also the individual changes the environment. The degree of completion of socialization is determined by: · The ability to manage finances independently of others. · The ability to secure a livelihood. Ability to live separately from parents. · Ability to choose a lifestyle. Questions for self-control: 1. What does the concept of the social status of a person mean? 2. Name three components of the social status of the individual. 3. Name the types of social statuses. 4. What determines the social status of a person? 5. What is the essence of the concept of social role? 6. What is included in the status set of a person? 7. What are the main aspects of the social role of the individual? 8. Socialization of the individual, what is it?

Another result of socialization is the acquisition by people of various statuses, that is, certain positions in society. There are social and personal statuses. * social status- this is the position of an individual (or a group of people) in society in accordance with his gender, age, origin, property, education, occupation, position, marital status etc. For example, people studying at a university have the status of a student; those who completed their labor activity by age - the status of a pensioner; those who lost their jobs - the status of the unemployed. Each status position implies certain rights and obligations.

People have in their lives not one, but many statuses. So, a person can be both a son, and a husband, and a father, and a scientist, and a mayor, and a car enthusiast, and a patron of the arts, etc. At the same time, in the set of statuses one can single out one main status(usually official), which is of decisive importance for a given individual.

Bright example - famous Russian economic and political figure of the 1990s. Yuri Luzhkov(born in 1936). Despite the rich diversity of his positions in society (up to the senator, honorary professor Russian Academy Sciences and the author of a popular book about Moscow), after all, the position of mayor of the capital of Russia is the main social status of this person. Depending on the role played by the individual himself in acquiring his status, two main types of social statuses are distinguished: prescribed and achieved. Prescribed status(also called assigned or attributed) - this is the one that is received from birth, by inheritance or by a coincidence of life circumstances, regardless of the desire, will and efforts of a person. These are, in particular, acquired from birth, or born, statuses associated with gender (woman, man), nationality (Egyptian, Chilean, Belarusian), race (representative of the Mongoloid, Negroid or Caucasoid racial groups), consanguinity (daughter, son, sister, grandmother), with inherited titles (queen, emperor, baroness). The prescribed statuses include such “unwittingly” acquired statuses as stepdaughter, stepson, mother-in-law, etc.

Contrary to the prescribed status achieved (or being achieved) acquired through the individual's own efforts. It is associated ♦ with obtaining education and labor qualifications (student, student, worker, foreman, engineer), ♦ with labor activity and business career (farmer, banker, director, major, general, doctor of science, minister, member of parliament), ♦ with any special merit ( National artist, honored "teacher, honorable Sir cities), etc.

According to Western analysts, in the post-industrial society, it is precisely achieved(rather than prescribed) status of people. Modern societies gravitate toward the so-called meritocracy, which involves evaluating people according to their merits (knowledge, qualifications, professionalism), and not according to inherited or personal connections with VIP.

Achieved and prescribed statuses are two major status type. But life, as always, is “more bizarre” than schemes and can create non-standard situations, in particular, the status of an unemployed person, an emigrant (who became such, say, due to political persecution), a disabled person (as a result, for example, of a road accident), an ex-champion 4 , ex-husband. Where should these and other similar “negative” statuses be attributed, to which a person, of course, initially does not aspire in any way, but which, unfortunately, he nevertheless received? One option is to classify them as mixed status, for they may contain elements of both prescribed and attained status.

If the social status determines the place of the individual in society, then the personal one determines his position in the environment of the people directly surrounding him. * personal status - this is the position of a person in a small (or primary) group, determined by how others relate to him. Thus, each worker in any labor collective enjoys a certain reputation among colleagues, i.e. has a public assessment of its personal qualities(a hard worker is a lazy person, a kind person is a miser, a serious person is a dummy, a benevolent person is evil, etc.). In accordance with such assessments, people often build their relations with him, thereby determining his personal status in the team.

Levels of social and personal status often may not coincide. So, let's say, a minister (high social status) can be a bad and dishonest person (low personal status). And vice versa, a “simple” cleaner (low social status) due to her hard work and sincerity can be highly respected by others (high personal status).

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Second among the factors influencing the development of group cohesion is the group's history of success in completing past tasks. The more such successes, the greater the cohesion.

Certain characteristics of the group itself also lead to group cohesion. For example, if the members of a group have some common purpose leads to greater cohesion than its absence. The last contribution to group cohesion is made by the personal characteristics of group members. We already know that people love more those of their acquaintances whose views are closer to their own. The more such people in the group, the more united it is.

Once developed, group cohesion can have a significant impact on the future of the group.

One consequence of group cohesion is that group members spend more time interacting with each other, thus increasing both the quantity and quality of group interaction. The second consequence is that a cohesive group has big influence on individual members.

Another consequence is that in a cohesive group, its members get more job satisfaction, which is very important.

Finally, group cohesion is closely related to productivity. Members of a more cohesive group will adhere to the group's performance guidelines to a greater extent than members of a less cohesive group. However, it should be remembered that group norms can contribute to both an increase and a decrease in productivity.

The status of an individual in a group

Status refers to an individual's rank, value, or prestige in a group, organization, or society. Status reflects the hierarchical structure of the group and creates vertical differentiation, just as roles separate different occupations. This is another way to reduce uncertainty and clarify what is expected of us. Like roles and norms, status exists both inside and outside the organizational environment. At the broadest level of analysis, we call it social status. By dividing people according to their social status, we get social classes.

In addition to the public level, there is also a working level of division into statuses. Professional prestige is the relative status of one's profession. Professional prestige is not the same as social status because it depends on only one variable, while social status includes everything. But here the question arises: why then do not all people strive to get a job associated with high prestige? The answer, based on the results of research, is that the individual perceived prestige of a particular profession depends on family perception (family background).

Another important concept of status related to work is called organizational status. Organizational status refers to the informal divisions that take place within an organization. Just like social status, organizational status includes not one variable, but several (for example, position in organizational hierarchy, professional affiliation and performance).

Status refers to the group's recognized rank of an individual in an organization. Status helps clarify how a person should behave towards others and how they should behave in response.

Status symbols are objects or decals, which define someone's status level in a group or organization. Status symbols include the insignia of the military, the special dress of judges and doctors, as well as, for example, the furnishings of the office and the presence or absence of a personal secretary for managers. It should be noted that some symbols can raise the status of a person in some circumstances and lower it in others.

As a rule, people with higher status tend to play a dominant role in the organization, seizing more initiative. There is, however, one problem here. Since organizational status is formed by many variables, it is not clear which one causes these differences in behavior.

During our lifetime, status changes many times. And changes in status imply that a person must sometimes radically change his behavior. At the same time, the question of what exactly should be changed and what should be learned remains open. Situations in which there is no explicit sequence of events are always alarming.

A condition called status inconsistency occurs when a person satisfies some of his characteristics, and does not meet the requirements of the status in some of his characteristics. The same problem arises when making decisions about the promotion of career ladder. People do not like that someone who is lower than them in some characteristics is in a higher position than them. All of this suggests that status inconsistency may lead to motivational and behavioral problems. Two obvious solutions to this problem are to select or appoint only those people who fully meet the requirements of status, and to change the opinion of the group about what is appropriate for a high position and what should lead to its achievement. But it should be recognized that both of these methods are too complicated to be applied in practice.

Code of Conduct

In any group, even for a short period of time, you can easily notice some patterns in the behavior of its members. These patterns are called social norms. Norms reflect the ideas shared by all members of the group about acceptable behavior expected of them. The difference between norms and roles lies in the fact that roles separate people, make them act differently from one another, while norms, on the contrary, unite members of a group, showing how members of a group act in the same way.

In the very definition of norms, two of them are given. important characteristics. First, norms include fairly clear ideas about what behavior is acceptable. Secondly, there are some agreements between the members of the group regarding these representations. In addition to these two characteristics, several more properties of norms can be distinguished. The first of these is that norms generally include an element of duty, that is, descriptions of how someone "should" behave. Secondly, the norms are more obvious and more easily recognized by people, which is very important for the group. Third, norms are enforced by the group itself. Many work behaviors are set and controlled by the organization itself, while nomes are regulated within groups. Fourth, there is wide variation in the acceptance of norms by a group and in the extent to which deviant behavior is considered acceptable.

The last property of norms given above requires additional explanations. It is important to note that there is some variation in the norms, that is, the norms do not set the exact parameters of behavior, but only the range of acceptable values. The second aspect is that different norms (for example, the time of arriving at work and the time of work itself) are of unequal importance for group members.

building bricks social structure are statuses and roles that are interconnected by functional relationships.

The word "status" came to sociology from Latin. In ancient Rome, it denoted a state legal status legal entity. However, at the end of the 19th century. English scientist G.D. Main gave it a sociological sound.

Social status is the position of an individual (or group of people) in society in accordance with his gender, age, origin, property, education, occupation, position, marital status, etc. For example, people studying at a technical school or university have the status of a student; the one who completed the labor activity by age the status of a pensioner; those who lost their jobs - the status of the unemployed. Each status position implies certain rights and obligations.

People have not one, but many statuses in their lives. So, a person can be both a son, and a husband, and a father, and a scientist, and a mayor, and a car enthusiast, and a philanthropist, etc. At the same time, in the set of statuses, one can single out one main status (usually official), which is of decisive importance for a given individual.

Depending on the role played by the individual himself in acquiring his status, two main types of social statuses are distinguished:

• - prescribed
• - achieved.

The prescribed status (it is also called ascribed or attributed) is one that is received from birth, by inheritance or by a combination of life circumstances, regardless of the desire, will and efforts of a person. These are, in particular, acquired from birth, or congenital, statuses associated with:

• - with gender (woman, man);
• - with nationality (Egyptian, Chilean, Belarusian);
• - with a race (representative of a Mongoloid, Negroid or Caucasoid racial group);
• - with consanguinity (daughter, son, sister, grandmother);
• - with inheritable titles (queen, emperor, baroness).

The prescribed statuses can also be attributed to “unwittingly” acquired statuses, such as stepdaughter, stepson, mother-in-law, etc.

In contrast to the prescribed, the achieved status (or being achieved) is acquired by the individual's own efforts. It is related:

• - with education and labor qualifications (student, student, worker, foreman, engineer);
• - with work activity and business career (farmer, director, captain, general, doctor of science, minister);
• - with any special merits (people's artist, honored teacher, honorary citizen of the city), etc.

According to Western analysts, in a post-industrial society, it is the achieved (rather than prescribed) status of people that plays an increasingly decisive role. Modern societies gravitate toward the so-called meritocracy, which offers to evaluate people on their merits (knowledge, qualifications, professionalism), and not on the basis of inherited or personal connections with "VIP" (colloquial, abbreviation from English - a very important person) .

Achieved and prescribed statuses are the two main types of statuses. But life, as always, is "more bizarre" than schemes and can create non-standard situations. In particular, the status of an unemployed person, an emigrant (became, say, due to political persecution), a disabled person (as a result, for example, of a road accident), an ex-champion, an ex-husband. Where should these and other similar “negative” statuses be attributed, to which a person, of course, initially does not aspire in any way, but which, unfortunately, he nevertheless received? One option is to attribute them to mixed statuses, since they may contain elements of both prescribed and achieved status.

His social status determines the place of the individual in society, while his personal status determines his position in the environment of the people directly surrounding him.

Personal status is the position of a person in a small (or primary) group, determined by how others relate to him. Thus, each worker in any labor collective enjoys a certain reputation among colleagues, i.e. has a public assessment of his personal qualities (a hard worker is a lazy person, a kind person is a miser, a serious person is a dummy, a benevolent person is evil, etc.). In accordance with such assessments, people often build their relations with him, thereby determining his personal status in the team.

social stratum political individual

These include those that exist for a very short time (pedestrian, passenger, etc.).

SOCIAL TIME

All statuses exist in time, if by time we understand the life of a person. With his death, his social time ends. At human society time is much longer.

Timeless statuses. Some statuses of an individual (they are called ascribed) do not disappear as long as he is alive. In our sense, they exist forever. For example: gender, nationality, race and some others.

Permanent(basic) statuses are statuses that persist for a long time.

Temporary statuses. Most statuses are temporary. And the most striking of them are episodic. They are named so due to their short duration. You can be a guest for several hours or days, but hardly for several years. The same can be said about the passenger, the buyer or the patient of the clinic. A striking example episodic status - in the queue. The queue with its generally accepted norms and rules, the distribution of roles and informal statuses arises spontaneously and for a short time. After a while, you left the store and went outside. Now you have the episodic status of a passerby. And after 10 minutes you went down to the subway and turned into a passenger. On the wall of the car hang the rights and obligations assigned to this status.

Economic, political, religious statuses can be temporary and permanent. Examples of political statuses. Permanent ones that are included in the system of the state (government, police). Voter status is temporary. Confidant of the President in the election company - temporary status. A presidential candidate is also a temporary status, but the presidential representative in the field is a permanent one.

SOCIAL PORTRAIT OF A PERSON

With the help of statuses, a sociologist can characterize the object of research just as accurately as an artist, drawing a portrait of a person with a set of individual features. Can we say that the totality of statuses characterizes this specific person?

The status portrait of a person has another name in sociology - the status set of an individual, which he introduced in the middle of the 20th century American sociologist R. Merton.

A status set is a collection of all statuses belonging to one individual.

The status set of each person is individual, that is, unique in all details. It is worth changing one of them, say, gender or profession, and leaving all the others unchanged, as we get a similar, but different person. Even if all the main statuses of two people coincide, which does not happen so often, the non-main ones will certainly differ. Of two completely similar people in status, one in this moment may end up in the subway (episodic status "passenger"), and the other - to move on his own "Audio" ("driver - owner of his own car").

Main and personal statuses

In the set of statuses there will always be a key or main one. The main status is the most characteristic status for a given individual, according to which others distinguish him or with which they identify him.

For women, the main thing has traditionally been the status associated with the position of the husband. AT modern society the position is changing. For men, the status associated with the main place of work or occupation: director of a commercial bank, researcher, police officer, worker in an industrial enterprise.

The main thing is the status that determines the lifestyle, the circle of acquaintances, the manner of behavior, etc. For the scientific intelligentsia, the main thing is often not the place of work or occupation, but academic degree, for managers - position or hierarchical rank.

For a man, this is the status of an employee in social production (the status of an employee), for a woman, it is a housewife. Society assigns these statuses to them. In the process of life, a person learns what society imposes on him. How stronger man identifies with a major status, the harder it is for him to lose it. Unemployment is terrible for a man because it deprives him of his main status - the breadwinner of the family.