What is the Difference between Groups, Roles, and Status?

What is the Difference between Groups, Roles, and Status?

Let’s further define social structure.  In this post we’ll answer the question, “What is the Difference between Groups, Roles, and Status?”  Within each of these domains a person belongs to several Groups.  Groups are people who have something in common and who believe that what they have in common is significant.  For instance, in the intimate domain of our lives our family is an example of a group.  In the social domain, a softball team may be an example of a group.  A Reference Group is a group that a person takes as a standard in forming attitudes and behaviors.  The family is such a group for most but some people may also find that their membership in their profession as a group has instilled beliefs and values to such an extent that their daily ethic is defined largely by that membership (police, military, doctors, and clergy for instance).

Social Status is the position that someone occupies in a group.  Some of these are ascribed statuses such as the year we were borne or the color of our skin.  Each of these statuses make us a member of a specific group and yet we cannot easily change them, if we could change them at all.  Then there are other statuses which are achieved.  These are positions that we occupy in various groups that we can aspire to and improve upon.  As a Soldier [group] a person’s status may increase from private to general.  As an athlete [group] a person may climb from hometown-little league baseball pitch to pitching for the world’s greatest baseball team, The Boston Red Sox.  The membership in the groups of; athlete, baseball player, and even pitcher remains the same.  But their status progressively increases.  A status set is all the statuses or positions that an individual occupies across of their groups both achieved and ascribed.  Most statuses are accompanied by status symbols or signs that identify a status.  An engaged woman for instance may have an engagement ring.  A married couple might have a wedding band set.  Most status symbols are material items that display their accomplishments as member of a group.  A fit and healthy body may also be considered a status symbol for a person who is an athlete or member of a group that values fitness.
Next we will talk about the Roles we play in our daily lives.   Roles are the behaviors, obligations, benefits, and privileges attached to a status.

The roles we play are an integral part of our identity and intertwined deeply with our self-esteem.  In our daily lives we play many role; father/mother, police officer, baseball coach, dinner date, college student, and best friend for instance.   Erving Goffman (1922–1982) developed a type of sociology study known as dramaturgy that asserts that we play these roles in our lives in a theatrical way.  Each time we accept a new role we begin to play that role on the world’s stage.  This is known as our, “role performance” and how we play the role depends largely on who is present to see the show.  If it’s true that all the world is stage, then we are constantly either performing or rehearsing.  Places where we are expected to perform our role is essentially a, “front stage.”  For instance, the family dinner table is a front stage where a mother, father, son, or daughter may put on their best performance in such a role while setting aside their role as student, coach, or doctor.  The “back stage” is a place where we feel safe and comfortable rehearsing our roles or setting them aside completely.  Places such as the bathroom, bedroom, or our cars on the way to work.

Remember, a Venn Leader, “[has] a clear sense of identity and are a fair judge of right and wrong.  They operate with a sense of self awareness that leads to effective use of emotional intelligence; they take ownership of their decisions.”  We will discuss the roles we play in our day-to-day lives as they are associated with and intertwined with our status sets.  A Role Set is each status usually has several roles attached to it– Sergeant as a police professional; Sergeant as a patrol supervisor; Sergeant as a trainer, coach, mentor, etc.  Goffman said that our attempts to ensure others see us in the best light is, impression management.

Role-Modeling is a major part of socialization.  Our ability to play a role satisfactorily, making the appropriate impression upon our audience is based largely on how we learn to play such a role.  Role-Socialization (such as gender-role socialization) is how we learn to play a role.  Role-Models show us how to play our role.  Conversely we model for others how to play the roles that we fill (e.g. a son watches his father to learn how to play that role some day and a probational patrol officer watches her sergeant to learn how to play that role someday).

When our entire status set is look at as a whole a few things tend to stand out, perhaps one much more than others.  This is considered our master status, a master status is a status that cuts across the other statuses that an individual occupies and viewed as a dominant status.

“All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances, And one man in his time plays many parts, His acts being seven ages. At first, the infant, Mewling and puking in the nurse’s arms. Then the whining schoolboy, with his satchel And shining morning face, creeping like snail Unwillingly to school. And then the lover, Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad Made to his mistress’ eyebrow. Then a soldier, Full of strange oaths and bearded like the pard, Jealous in honor, sudden and quick in quarrel, Seeking the bubble reputation Even in the cannon’s mouth. And then the justice, In fair round belly with good capon lined, With eyes severe and beard of formal cut, Full of wise saws and modern instances; And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts Into the lean and slippered pantaloon, With spectacles on nose and pouch on side; His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide For his shrunk shank, and his big manly voice, Turning again toward childish treble, pipes And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all, That ends this strange eventful history, Is second childishness and mere oblivion, Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything” – William Shakespeare wrote, As You Like It, Act II, Scene 7