ROLE THEORY

ROLE THEORY

Role theory is a micro oriented theory or approach to understanding social life by incorporating the structural elements of the society with its backgrounds rooted in structural and personal interractionist view.

            Role theory states that human behavior is guided by expectation held both by the individual and by other people; these expectations are inclined with the different roles that individual perform in their daily life such as mothers, fathers, police officers, a teacher, a journalist, a doctor etc. the society or family and friends already hold a preconceive expectation occupying a role that is related to a person in charge of that role; for example, a father is expected to be a protector and provider for his family because those are expected responsibilities of the father by the society and not the responsibilities expected by a daughter of the family. Every role has a set of norms that serves as a guide to behavior and reactions expected in a given situation in relation to the role being viewed.

            For role theory, the society is a written script that guides day-to-day expectations and result for every member of the society and the behavior of each role occupied can be predicted and in order to change behavior, it is important to change roles as the role filled affects beliefs and attitudes of the individual.

            Role theory is a theory that bridges the gap between social structures, individual’s expectation and the societal expectation. The society dictates the role and provides the means of social interaction that guides individual behavior. An individual in turn influences the norms, expectation and behavior expected from the role field.

Major Features of the Role Theory

1.     People spend much of their lives participating as members of groups and organizations in respective societies.

2.     In creating the bond mentioned above, people occupied distinct position

3.     Each position filled has a role and sets of functions perform by the person in the group.

4.     Role expectation in this settings are formalized with codes of conduct which states rewards for taking of an expectation and others will apply sanctions to ensure compliance.

5.     Group members checked on its members from time to time to ensure conformity to norms with anticipation that others will apply sanctions to ensure role performance

A case of role conflict sometimes occurs from time to time in these groups which threatens society’s expectation of one role to another, example, a police officer in search of a hardened criminal finds out that the criminal in question is his own son, this creates conflict between a protective father and a diligent police officer; will he hand over the criminal (his son) for prosecution and pretends to be unaware and turns away from either of the role?

            This theory has been criticized for its inability to explain social deviance out of a role space and it does not and cannot explain how role expectations come to what they are.