3 - How are Roles Learned?

QENot all roles are learned. Some roles are ascribed. An ascribed role is one that is given to someone automatically, with no effort on the person’s part. For example, Queen Elizabeth II plays the role of queen because it was conferred upon her by inheritance.

Another example: you are automatically a son or a daughter to your parents. You do not have to learn the role or practise it; you receive that role the moment you are born.

Other roles are classified as achieved roles. They are acquired by the person through hard work, ambition, and merit. For example, the role a Prime Minister or President is achieved.

In summary, roles can be sorted into two categories. Ascribed roles are those that people are given automatically. Achieved roles must be attained through competition and individual effort. In a progressive society, achieved status is more important. Why is this true? Any society needs bright and talented people in key positions of leadership to progress. When a society is allowed to choose the most capable people instead of giving someone the position based on inheritance, the society is in the best position to make positive choices for its future success.

Our achieved roles are the ones that are learned. The question is How are they learned? Socialization during childhood acquaints us with our roles. This process refers to the notion that we develop clear ideas of what is appropriate behaviour and what is not accepted. We begin by learning how our families expect us to behave, and later we understand the expectations of our society as a whole. Ideas about proper behaviour become internalized or engrained within us to the point that we automatically accept these rules as the truth.

Parents and family are important sources of knowledge about roles. Playmates, the education system, the church, and the mass media are some other significant contacts that define roles and help the individual learn those roles. The process of identifying and imitating roles is simple and straight forward. A role is shown in a favourable way. If the appeal is great enough, the role is imitated. People are fairly impressionable in accepting new roles. For example, a little girl sees her mother hold and cuddle the baby and provide for its care. She may copy this behaviour with her doll. Later, she extends this role by caring for younger siblings.

One of the most important tasks we learn regarding our roles is gender identity. Will we look at life from the perspective of a female or a male? The child begins with selflabelling, that is understanding his or her own sex label, by three years of age. Clothing and hair styles as well as noticing a loose cluster of physical characteristics are the main criteria the child uses in determining the gender identity of others. This task may seem very simple but with unisex hair and clothing styles, the young child must make some fine distinctions. The development of a stable gender identification is usually completed by the age of five. Gender identity is distinctive in being the most stable and unchanging of all social identities. It is a very important developmental task that directs and modifies all other activities for the person.

The terms maleness-femaleness and masculinity-femininity are common. Maleness and femaleness are based on biological make-up of the body. Physical sexual characteristics (reproductive organs) are different and hormonal make-up is different. Masculinity and femininity are determined by our cultural perspective. Each culture has its own notion of what is masculine and what is feminine behaviour. Because masculinity and femininity are not determined genetically, they are expressed in a wide variety of ways.