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"

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