Roles and rules - social psychology

Question 1

What are roles?

Answer 1

Roles are norms that apply to categories of persons (Brown)

Question 2

What does structuralist role theory try and do?

Answer 2

make connections between macro social structures and patterns of micro conduct

Question 3

Who came up with the concept of the ‘role set’?

Answer 3

Merton

Question 4

what is the ‘role set’?

Answer 4

‘that compliment of role-relationship in which persona are involved by virtue of occupying a particular social status’

Question 5

criticisms of role theory

Answer 5

• View of actor as ‘judgemental dope’ (Garfinkel). This is because we in accordance with appropriate role expectations
• Goffman: role distance

Question 6

Outline the structuralist view of roles and rules

Answer 6

• being socialised into roles and their expectations also leads to internalisation of associated rules for conduct in those roles
• social interaction is viewed as directed by roles
• Garfinkel - social conduct views people as judgemental dopes
• rules are deterministic