A role (sometimes spelled rôle as in French) or a social role is a set of connected behaviors, rights and obligations as conceptualized by actors in a social situation. It is an expected behavior in a given individual social status and social position. It is vital to both functionalist and interactionist understandings of society.
Social role posits the following about social behavior:
- People spend much of their lives in groups.
- Within these groups, people often take distinct positions.
- Each of these positions can be called a role, with a whole set of functions that are molded by the expectations of others.
- Formalized expectations become norms when enough people feel comfortable in providing punishments and rewards for the expected behavior.
- Individuals are generally conformists, and insofar as that is true, they conform to roles.
- The anticipation of rewards and punishments inspire this conformity.
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