Abstract
The concept of “social role” has long been experimental social psychology’s favorite borrowing from the sociologists. Construed in the usual way, as the rights, obligations, and normative expectations attaching to social positions (Merton, 1957a, 1957b), roles have seemed to psychologists to be one of the few aspects of social structure susceptible to treatment in laboratory settings. During the last 10–15 years, however, the role concept has come under such heavy attack that it is by now very difficult for experimentalists to tell what, if anything, their “role variables” designate. The consequence has been a notable decline in the experimental investigation of social role phenomena, to the point where social psychologists no longer consider research on role-related topics to be anywhere near the “frontiers” of the discipline.
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Athay, M., Darley, J. (1982). Social Roles as Interaction Competencies. In: Ickes, W., Knowles, E.S. (eds) Personality, Roles, and Social Behavior. Springer Series in Social Psychology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-9469-3_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-9469-3_3
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