Social Status, Roles, and Identity in Human Interaction

Social Status and Position

Status refers to the social position an individual occupies, recognized by others, and is a basic element of social structure.

Both social position and status encompass expectations, responsibilities, and privileges. They significantly determine how a person acts within a social context.

Ultimately, status provides an individual with a social identity.

Status Combination

Individuals often occupy more than one social position throughout their lives, leading to a combination of statuses.

Types of Status

• Assigned Status: Ascribed at birth or involuntarily later in life (e.g., family of origin, ethnicity, health conditions, gender).
• Acquired Status / Meritocratic Status: Achieved through effort, skill, or choice (e.g., educational attainment, occupation).

Dominant Status

A dominant status often heavily influences an individual's social identity, typically stemming from occupational or professional roles. However, it can also be a characteristic like a disability.

Equal opportunities policies aim to enable individuals to achieve desired statuses based on merit, minimizing the influence of assigned characteristics.

Understanding Social Roles

Defining Social Role

A social role refers to the behavioral expectations associated with a particular status.

Every individual holds a specific status and, consequently, develops a corresponding role.

Status and Social Role Interplay

Perspectives on Status and Role

Subject's Perspective:

• Social roles emerge from social interaction. (Mead)
• Individuals perform roles to present themselves to others. (Goffman)

G.H. Mead: Social Origin of Self & Mind

Mead posited that the mind arises and develops within the social process, rooted in the empirical matrix of social interactions.

The "I," "Me," and "Self"

• Me: Represents the internalized attitudes and expectations of others within an individual.
• I: The spontaneous, unorganized, and unpredictable reaction of the individual to the "Me."
• Self: The dynamic outcome of the continuous dialogue and interaction between the "I" and the "Me."

Goffman: Dramaturgical Action

Goffman's dramaturgy views social interactions as theatrical performances. Individuals present themselves to others, actively managing the impressions they convey. In this sense, each person acts as both performer and audience.

Social Identity and Self-Presentation

Defining Identity

Identity is the specific image we wish others to attribute to us. When individuals maintain a social role, they commit to a particular self-image that aligns with their internal sense of self.

Identity is not static; rather, it is dynamic and relational, constantly shaped by interactions.

The self, in part, holds a ceremonial and sacred quality, requiring validation and communion with others.

In every social interaction, our identity is actively presented and negotiated.

Others perceive and categorize us through two main avenues: the unique aspects our personality brings to an interaction, and culturally determined attributes.

Analysis of Deviation: Stigma

Understanding Stigma

Stigma represents a complex relationship between an attribute and a societal stereotype.

Goffman argued that "normal" and "stigmatized" are not inherent qualities of individuals, but rather perspectives generated within specific social situations during mixed interactions.

Dramaturgical Concepts in Everyday Life

As Goffman famously stated, "The world is actually a wedding," implying that everyday life is a performance. Key aspects of a person's presentation include:

• Social encounters (meetings)
• Impression management
• The concepts of frontstage and backstage behavior