Theodore R. Sarbin - Work - Role Theory

Role Theory

Sarbin became known as "Mr. Role Theory" because of his seminal contributions and publications in the field of social psychology, relating to role-taking. Roles are socially constructed and can be used to explain a range of human behaviours including acting, shamanic possession, criminality, psychopathology, and hypnosis. Sarbin emphasised the difference between role-playing and role-taking, the latter being characterised by a greater degree of subjective involvement or identification with the role and belief in it.

Read more about this topic:  Theodore R. Sarbin, Work

Famous quotes containing the words role and/or theory:

    “Totalitarianism is never content to rule by external means, namely, through the state and a machinery of violence; thanks to its peculiar ideology and the role assigned to it in this apparatus of coercion, totalitarianism has discovered a means of dominating and terrorizing human beings from within.”
    —Hannah Arendt (1906–1975)

    “Osteopath—One who argues that all human ills are caused by the pressure of hard bone upon soft tissue. The proof of his theory is to be found in the heads of those who believe it.”
    —H.L. (Henry Lewis)