Social position

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A social position is - in an analogy to relative spatial arrangements - the respective place of a person in a network of social relationships and with relative reference to the positions of other people. Unlike in legal or political networks, absolute social positions are not determined.

description

Social positions can be associated with different material (income, wealth) and immaterial (power, influence, education, prestige) resources. If a social position is defined by the resources available to it and evaluated socially on the basis of these resources, one speaks of a person's social status . Status (plural) as socially valued positions form the basis for studies on social stratification ; A distinction is often made according to income status, educational status, etc.

In role theories , the respective social position is linked to certain social roles, i. H. associated with tasks, functions and expectations and is defined by them. Social roles are independent of the actual actions of a role holder. If the actual action agrees with the expectations attached to the position, one speaks of role actions .

In the past, a distinction between position and status that deviated from the above-mentioned distinction was widespread. It can be found in the role theory of the American cultural anthropologist Ralph Linton and in the systems theory of the American sociologist Talcott Parsons , who is based on Linton. Position and status are used synonymously here:

" The role he holds is status translated into action, the role beeing the 'processual aspect' of status, as status is the 'positional aspect' of the role. "

Freely translated:

The role is the status translated into action; where the role is the process (or dynamic) aspect of the status and the status is the positional (or static) aspect of the role. "

Individual evidence

  1. Talcott Parsons : The Social System , New York 1951, Free Press, p. 25.