We all often hear or come across statements which say that women have a marginal or secondary status in a society. And you must have also come across such notions as the role of a mother is one of nurturer or care giver. These statements in some way capture the position of women in a social structure and they are frameworks through which actual behaviour is carried on.
Society can be thought of as being made up of a set of social positions. Sociologists call these social positions status. Imagine you are 23 years old, male, student, belong to Hindu community and in terms of jati you are a Yadav. Each of these social positions is defined by the relationship it has with other social positions in the society.
If you are a student your relationship with your teacher is defined by the status that the teacher enjoys in a society. In societies where teachers are expected to be shown respect, it is quite common for students to stand up in respect when a teacher enters the class. In some societies this may not happen and a teacher is even addressed by first name.
Image Source : 918f9ce2f933e26d324a-a30cf25863fadb0ebfac784c1629c0d0.r84.cf2.rackcdn.com
ADVERTISEMENTS:
In a similar way, your caste position in a society is defined by several related positions and contemporary situations and structures. For instance, your caste status may be inferior in relation to a more dominant grouping a certain area or it may be more dominant in relation to the more depressed caste groups.
This relative position will also indicate an access to resources. Besides this, your status as student or a Yadav or 23 years old and male is shared by others as well. So, it is quite possible that you share a status with these people but in some respects you may be different. The others may not live in a city as you do.
Status begins with birth itself like the fact that you are male and that you are born into a Hindu community and also that you are born into a Yadav community. Status that people are born into is called ascribed status by the Sociologist Ralph Linton. Sex, caste, ethnicity and to some extent religion are all ascribed statuses.
ADVERTISEMENTS:
In addition to ascribed status there is a status which is achieved by an individual and which is not given on birth. Such status has been called achieved status. Your status as student is an example of achieved status.
Among the most important achieved statuses are occupation, educational levels and income. Your religion could also be an achieved status if you changed at some time from the religion you were born into. Each status has an expectation of behaviour. Your status as an eldest boy in family certainly would be accompanied by certain expectations.
We all know that statuses of male children and female children are not equivalent, despite some changes in the structure in the recent past. Parents and others usually expect males to behave in a certain way different from females. Men are expected to be strong, rational, aggressive, the bread earner, etc.
The women on the other hand are expected to be non-aggressive, caring, emotional, etc. These expectations of different behaviour for men and women among others and the difference in upbringing bring us very close to the meaning of the concept of roles.