4 - What Causes Role Conflicts?

Role conflicts occur for two basic reasons. One is that roles are misunderstood. During the socialization process, the person is not properly shown the duties and responsibilities of the role. Or, people view the role but chose to interpret it differently.

A more common reason for role conflicts is that society changes and so do our roles. The person does not remain up-to-date with what is considered appropriate behaviour. Today, children and young adults are allowed more freedom and given more opportunities. Those facts can raise the potential for role conflicts.

Constant change and rapid progress have contributed to the generation gap. The basis of the generation gap is differences in values and perspectives that lead to difficulty in communicating between different age levels. The result is lack of understanding that goes both ways. Our permissive society results in more lax ideas of discipline. This, in turn, causes children and young people to be more questioning of authority. How do these changes lead to more role conflicts within the family?

During the course of their upbringing, children are being exposed to many different institutions. When many different institutions share parenting responsibilities, a conflict of standards is inevitable. For example, the school and the home may be at odds over the proper handling of the child. The child then believes adult standards about roles are ambiguous.

The mass media is another source of role conflict between parent, child, and society. The mass media may portray certain lifestyles favourably, which can lead to strong disagreement from parents.

 

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