Role - Role Theory

Role Theory

Role theory is the sociological study of role development, concerned with explaining what forces cause people to develop the expectations of their own and others' behaviours. According to sociologist Bruce Biddle (1986), the five major models of role theory include:

  1. Functional Role Theory, which examines role development as shared social norms for a given social position,
  2. Symbolic Interactionist Role Theory, which examines role development as the outcome of individual interpretation of responses to behaviour,
  3. Structural Role Theory, which emphasises the influence of society rather than the individual in roles and utilises mathematical models,
  4. Organizational Role Theory, which examines role development in organisations, and
  5. Cognitive Role Theory, which is summarised by Flynn and Lemay as "the relationship between expectations and behaviours"

Read more about this topic:  Role

Famous quotes containing the words role and/or theory:

    Language makes it possible for a child to incorporate his parents’ verbal prohibitions, to make them part of himself....We don’t speak of a conscience yet in the child who is just acquiring language, but we can see very clearly how language plays an indispensable role in the formation of conscience. In fact, the moral achievement of man, the whole complex of factors that go into the organization of conscience is very largely based upon language.
    Selma H. Fraiberg (20th century)

    The whole theory of modern education is radically unsound. Fortunately in England, at any rate, education produces no effect whatsoever. If it did, it would prove a serious danger to the upper classes, and probably lead to acts of violence in Grosvenor Square.
    Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)