Role theory examines how the roles people play in society affect their interactions. Each role has specific obligations, and people fulfill them subconsciously. Roles are not necessarily chosen by individuals, and conflicts can arise when people disagree with their assigned role. Understanding role theory can help individuals overcome challenges in their personal and professional lives.
Role theory is a way of thinking about the world that focuses on the roles people play in society. In the language of this perspective, a role roughly refers to a job or social category, such as mother, boss, or teacher. In a more nuanced understanding of this theory, the use of the term role is actually much broader and can include roles that exist only between two related people, or roles that are only temporarily adopted. The primary focus of role theory is to examine how the roles people play affect their interactions, which can help clarify why people act the way they do.
One of the most important concepts in role theory is that people play certain roles in ways that can be predicted relatively well. Each role has certain obligations to act in a specific way, and a person will typically fulfill these obligations subconsciously. A role is not something that is natural to a person, but rather a set of behaviors that the person somehow manages to fulfill.
Roles, in role theory, are not like roles in a game, but rather like states of being. One person might act as a teacher in one case, for example, and as a wife in another. Both roles belong to the person in question, but the relevant role has more influence on the situation than the irrelevant roles. When a person chooses the wrong role for a situation, such as acting as a teacher for a spouse, dire consequences can result.
According to role theory, roles are not necessarily chosen by the people who fill them. For example, a person may want to be a superior, but may be placed in a subordinate role because everyone around the person believes it is the appropriate role for the person. It is also possible for conflict to arise when a person disagrees with the constraints of a role to which they have been consigned. People are constantly redefining which behaviors belong to which roles, although the changes aren’t always apparent except on a historical scale.
In someone’s personal life, awareness of the different roles a person plays can be helpful in determining why someone is dissatisfied. If a person disagrees with a certain role but feels pressured by society to continue in that role, extreme dissatisfaction can result. Also, observing how different roles interact in a person’s life can help clarify why some relationships don’t work out. Overall, a basic understanding of role theory can help an individual overcome many challenges in their life.
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