Causes of role conflicts and ways to eliminate them

Role conflict in sociology

Role conflict in sociology is considered as a clash of role demands placed on an individual. Psychology considers it a negative experience that affects the inner world. Most often, this is an indicator of a person’s problems interacting with others. Whether this is good or bad can be judged by what a role conflict gives a person.

On the one hand, thanks to him, the individual strives for perfection. This is driven by the role that a person takes on, or that society offers. For example, a young department manager is trying to live up to the expectations placed on him by senior management. This forces you to improve your skills, study professional literature, that is, develop.

At the same time, like any conflict, it causes negative emotions, forcing you to make certain efforts against your desire. For example, in order to master new technologies, a worker is sent to study courses. In his heart he protests against the decision, but understands that without new knowledge he will not be able to do the job.

Important! Understanding that the values of life are not easily obtained, unwanted efforts have to be made constantly. To cope with negative manifestations (the clash of the concepts “I don’t want”, but “I have to”), it is necessary to understand the essence of the role conflict and find out a way out of it.

Definition of role conflict

In social science, it is interpreted that role conflict is a process caused by contradictions between the various roles that an individual is forced to perform. To top it off, it is customary to consider such a conflict as a type of role stress that arises due to overload with responsibilities.

For your information. Brief context for role conflict is a situation in which a person is faced with two or more different demands, and meeting some makes it impossible to follow the others. This creates internal tension, resulting in a conflict situation.

Faced with the demands of several roles at the same time and not being able to combine them, a person may experience role stress

Role conflicts and ways to overcome them

Role conflict is a situation in which an individual with a certain status is faced with incompatible expectations, or, in other words, he is unable to fulfill the requirements prescribed by the role.

The following conflicts are possible:

· intrapersonal—caused by conflicting demands placed on an individual’s behavior in different social roles;

· intra-role - arises due to contradictions in the requirements for the fulfillment of a social role by different participants in the interaction;

· personal-role - arises due to a discrepancy between a person’s ideas about himself and his role functions;

· innovative - appears as a result of the discrepancy between previously formed value orientations and the requirements of the new social situation.

Resolution (overcoming) of intrapersonal conflict, including role conflict, is understood as restoring the coherence of the individual’s inner world, establishing unity of consciousness, reducing the severity of contradictions in life relationships, and achieving a new quality of life. Resolving role conflict can be constructive or destructive. When constructively overcoming a conflict, peace of mind is achieved, understanding of life deepens, and a new value consciousness arises. Resolution of role conflict is realized through: the absence of painful conditions associated with the existing conflict; reducing the manifestations of negative psychological and socio-psychological factors of intrapersonal conflict; improving the quality and efficiency of professional activities.

Deviant behavior

Deviant behavior is behavior that deviates from generally accepted, socially approved, most widespread and established norms in certain communities at a certain period of their development.

The problem of deviant behavior has been in the spotlight since the beginning of sociology. Emile Durkheim, who wrote the classic work “Suicide” (1897), is considered one of the founders of modern deviantology. He introduced the concept of anomie, which he first mentioned in his dissertation, which later grew into a scientific work on the division of social labor.

A deviant is an individual who differs in his personal characteristics and behavioral manifestations from generally accepted norms: social, psychological, ethnic, pedagogical, age, professional and others.

Group deviance : conformist behavior of a member of a deviant group in relation to its subculture (for example, teenagers from difficult families who spend most of their lives in basements. “Basement life.” Individual deviance : an individual rejects the norms of his subculture;

Primary deviation is deviant behavior of an individual, which generally corresponds to cultural norms accepted in society. In this case, the deviations committed by the individual are so insignificant and tolerable that he is not socially classified as a deviant and does not consider himself such. Secondary deviation is a deviation from existing norms in a group, which is socially defined as deviant.

Culturally approved and culturally condemned deviations.

Types of deviant behavior (Robert Merton ). Merton considered the main cause of deviations to be the gap between the goals of society and the socially approved means of achieving them.

1) Conformity : compliance with cultural goals and means. Conformity is the only type of non-deviant behavior, since it supports both the goals of the activity and the means of achieving them.

2) Innovation : agreement with the goals approved by a given culture, but denial of the socially approved means of achieving them. Innovation (from the English innovation) – innovation.

3) Ritualism : denial of the goals of a given culture, but the acceptance and use of traditional, socially approved means of achieving them. Ritual (from Latin ritualis - ritual) is a type of custom or tradition; a historically established or specially established norm of behavior in which the form of execution of actions is strictly canonized and has only symbolic meaning.

4) Retreatism (from the English retreat - retreat, retreat; secluded place, refuge), escape from reality: denial of both goals and socially approved means of achieving them.

5) Rebellion, rebellion - a form of behavior that not only denies, but also seeks to replace old goals and means, a method of action that involves alienation from prevailing goals and standards, the formation of new goals and means.

Biological explanations (theories of physical types):

Certain physical traits of a person predetermine the various deviations from the norm that he commits; people with a certain physical constitution are prone to commit social deviations that are condemned by society. The first to propose looking for signs associated with criminal behavior in the features of a person’s appearance were supporters of physiognomy (for example, Lavater). They named among such signs small ears, lush eyelashes, small noses, large lips, etc. However, they could not identify any stable connection between these signs and criminal behavior.

Cesare Lombroso (1835 – 1909) is the originator of the idea of the “natural born criminal”. However, the first person to suggest looking for signs associated with criminal behavior in the features of a person’s appearance was a proponent of physiognomy, Lavater. They named small ears, lush eyelashes, small noses, large lips, etc. among such signs.

Sigmund Freud assumed that any actions of people are unconscious instincts or drives rushing out. When the controlling volitional factor is not able to suppress the natural instinct, a conflict arises that results in a crime. According to Konrad Lorenz , the source of aggression is the instinct of the struggle for survival. Humans, unlike all other living beings, have widespread violence against members of their own species. At the dawn of human history, this was not so dangerous. However, the emergence of means of mass destruction threatens the survival of humans as a species.

Sociological explanations.

Theories of conflict. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels associated the existence of crime with social inequality in capitalist society. In order to achieve equality, members of certain groups of the population become criminals primarily for the purpose of obtaining material gain.

Anomie - lawlessness, lack of norms, uncontrollability - 1) a person’s mental state when nothing is sacred or necessary for him (individual anomie); 2) violations in the value-normative system of society (lack or ineffectiveness, inconsistency of legal and moral norms), general apathy, disappointment, increased crime, mass desire for a non-working lifestyle (mass anomie); 3) the desire to achieve political goals by violating legal and moral norms (political anomie); 4) conflict of norms in culture (cultural anomie). Durkheim comes to the conclusion that crime is a normal social phenomenon.

The essence of social conflicts

Social conflict - what is it, types

Briefly put, the main essence of role-based social conflict is to overcome conflicting or incompatible demands on the individual from society. Occupying a place in a group, an individual acquires a certain position and is expected to act accordingly.

For your information. Psychologically, it has been noted that if group members understand each other’s roles, realize adequate requirements for their fulfillment, and their role behavior corresponds to situations, then the effectiveness of interaction is guaranteed. In the absence of these characteristics, conflicts arise.

Role conflict, just like any other, has positive and negative functions. The positive ones include personal stimulation. Negative functions cause possible deviations in an individual's behavior.

Role conflict: causes and examples of situations – Self-development

Every day a person enters into communication and meets new people.

During communication, sometimes misunderstandings arise , which leads to conflict.

If at the same time the individual performed certain duties, the incident is considered role-playing. Psychologists call certain types of role conflicts, each of which has certain characteristics.

You will find ways to resolve intergroup conflicts in our article.

Concept

Role conflict is a situation when a person performs a certain social role , but it does not meet his interests or internal attitudes, or the individual simply cannot cope with the responsibilities assigned to him, which this or that role implies.

Psychologists call the role of realizing oneself in society according to one’s strengths, character, and personal qualities.

If a person increasingly dislikes the role, negative emotions accumulate inside and certain attitudes appear. The individual experiences stress, which develops into a crisis. As a result, the person may step away from the role.

For example: a person does not want to be a teacher, but circumstances force him to work in this profession. He is doing something he doesn't like, playing a role that he doesn't like .

As a result, he will either come to terms with his situation, or find another job and stop playing the role of a teacher.

Causes and meaning

The causes of these conflicts are:

contradictions initially embedded in the role;
contradictions that arise between the role and its perception in society;
contradictions that arise due to the presence of several roles at once, and they cannot coexist together.

As a rule, the established foundations in society, the rules, put pressure on a person . If a role requires the performance of complex actions and a person cannot cope with them, not only an internal conflict arises - experiences, but also an external one, when condemnation by society appears.

The actions of an individual are assessed by others and sometimes highly condemned, which only intensifies role conflict.
Role conflicts arise due to contradictions between the role positions of an individual, his capabilities and corresponding role behavior.
However, role conflicts are sometimes necessary for an individual to understand himself and understand whether the chosen role is appropriate or needs to be changed.
About the social roles of a person in this video:

How to avoid conflict in the classroom? Read about it here.

Classification

Psychologists identify the following types of role conflicts:

Intra-role . Appears when a social role involves complex relationships and conflicting expectations in society.
Interrole . It occurs if an individual has several social roles at once and they have incompatible requirements.
Personal-role . It happens when the role does not correspond to the values and needs of the individual.

Experts also highlight situational role conflict . It happens when an individual finds himself in a new role for himself, but cannot fulfill it, because he remembers the old role.

A person gets used to new responsibilities and is not ready to immediately express himself fully .

Examples and methods of resolution

There are many role conflicts that affect not only adults, but also adolescents . It is possible to resolve such situations if you make some efforts.

Careerist

An example of such a conflict is a woman who is successful in her professional activities .

She has achieved heights in her career, but when she comes home, she is completely unable to cope with the role of a wife or mother .

It is difficult for her to communicate with children, cook food, and clean the apartment. She either does not have enough time for this, or is simply lost in fulfilling the role of a mother or wife.

To solve this situation, it is necessary to distribute some responsibilities around the house between the husband and children , if the woman cannot cope alone, or the woman herself needs to see more advantages in the role of wife and mother.
She probably doesn’t really like these roles, she needs to show them in a positive light : arrange family holidays, picnics, make a gift with her own hands, show care.
Then she will like this role more, she will want to express herself more with her family.

Small victories in the role of wife or mother will especially help her , namely a deliciously prepared dinner, significant help for children with homework, and handicrafts. Relatives will definitely appreciate this, which will certainly make the woman happy.

Teenager

Another example of such a conflict is a young man growing up .

He is used to behaving like a teenager, taking liberties, having fun, not thinking about serious life issues, but a little time passes and society demands a certain seriousness from him.

The environment can exert pressure regarding the choice of profession, field of activity, or starting a family. An individual may not be internally mature for such questions, but he is forced to.

It turns out that he does not fulfill the role that age imposes on him, there is a discrepancy between internal sensations and socially established concepts.

To resolve this conflict, it is necessary to stop putting pressure on a person and give the opportunity for a certain freedom . The time will come when a person himself will unconsciously fulfill a role appropriate to his age.

He will resolve certain issues himself and avoid internal crises and stressful situations. Sometimes young people need time to find themselves and try on a certain role.

Sometimes it becomes completely unexpected even among the family. However, the choice must be made by the individual himself, without pressure exerted on him.

Change of profession

An equally interesting example is the situation when an individual changes his area of professional activity .

One specialty implied certain responsibilities, but with a change of profession they also changed; the individual needs to get used to the new role.

Very often a person is not ready for such changes : he remembers the old role and does not adhere to the new one. This may give rise to certain misunderstandings on the part of society.

To solve a problem, a person is given time , so he gets used to something new and adapts to new conditions. If he does not fully understand that he needs it, he should be told about it gently, avoiding stressful situations.

Gradually the new role will be learned and accepted by the individual. He will not want to part with her and will be surprised by the fears that troubled him in the past.

How to avoid?

To avoid role conflicts, there are several principles to keep in mind:

You should share your doubts that worry you with your family and friends . Understanding from others and their advice can gain confidence in your abilities and help you get rid of worries. It is especially important if a person tells his family about his experiences. Their advice may be the most valuable.
You need to learn to listen to others, be able to find a common language with them . Then, if difficulties arise in the process of realizing one’s potential, society will not condemn, but will provide support. The ability to build communications, not to hide all the worries from others can really help and be beneficial.
You need to love all the roles you perform and find your advantages in them . In this case, it will be easier to cope with certain responsibilities. The individual must see the role in a new light, he must love it, experience sympathy. If this cannot be achieved, it makes sense to think about changing the role.
If a person has changed his field of professional activity, he should take the initiative in mastering a new role. We must treat this as gaining a new experience - positively.
A negative attitude will certainly lead to internal conflict. A boost of motivation and energy will help you get used to something new, so fear and anxiety can only hinder your path to improvement.

Prevention also includes the fight against internal unrest and emotions. Meditation, yoga and Pilates will help. Reducing anxiety and fear will help you feel calmer and more positive about your role .

If an internal conflict does develop, you should seek help from a psychologist who will help solve the problem.

Role conflicts happen often: they can appear not only in adults, internally mature people, but also in adolescents who are just learning to try on new roles, getting used to the previously unknown, and learning to behave in society in a certain way.

It is quite possible to cope with such situations. The main mistake that individuals make is trying to solve a problem on their own, without turning to loved ones for help, for fear of misunderstanding.

By taking into account certain circumstances, studying oneself and talking with family, a person will come to a constructive decision much faster and the internal conflict will be resolved. If you don’t fight this, you won’t be able to overcome the crisis and stress.

What causes social conflicts? Find out the answer right now.

The video briefly and clearly talks about the essence of role tension and role conflict:

Source:

Role conflict: causes, methods of resolution and varieties. Examples of role conflicts:

Communication and relationships are as important to humans as breathing. After all, without them we will not be able to learn even the most basic things. From the very beginning of life, we communicate with our family, then with children, adults, and then we ourselves grow up.

Relationships with every page of life change: first we are children, sisters, brothers, then for some we are friends, classmates, colleagues, subordinates or managers.

Depending on the functions we perform, we play different social roles.

The place of social role in our life

A person, entering society, carries something with him and takes something for himself. Being a member and direct participant of one of the public social groups, he has some status.

Conflict - what kind of phenomenon?

It should be noted that in order to fulfill a social role, a person needs certain skills and time to learn how to do this. Sometimes it turns out that the same subject must perform conflicting duties. A striking example is the wife-director. At home she should be subordinate to her husband, and at work she should indicate to her subordinates.

Because of this, contradictions appear within the individual (internal conflicts) and tense relationships with others. It is precisely because of his status and position in society that certain requirements are imposed on a person. Social role is the behavior of people depending on different requirements for them.

One and the same person can simultaneously be a brother, father, son-in-law, worker, friend.

We often hear the words “conflict”, “conflict person”, “intrapersonal conflict”, what kind of concepts are these? These are certain contradictions that already exist or may exist between different social actors. They arise on the basis of a discrepancy between interests, motives of behavior, values, needs, and so on.

Source: https://donpi.ru/psihologiya/rolevoj-konflikt-prichiny-i-primery-situatsij.html

Types of role conflicts with examples

Intrapersonal conflict in psychology - types, causes and consequences

Varieties of role conflicts with examples will help you understand the meaning of the clash of social roles:

The conflict between different social roles is illustrated by the position of the mother of the family. She is respected in the profession, consulted with, and promoted. In a family, immersed in the household routine, a business woman becomes a typical housewife.
For a conflict within one social role, an example is the situation: a school graduate with a humanitarian mindset, at the insistence of relatives, goes to study at a technical university. Of course, he will feel out of place. And such a student will not succeed in his studies, there will be no true interest, since everything is subordinated to the word “should”. Conflict: for his family, he is the pride of the family, since he studies at a prestigious university, but is not the most diligent student in his studies.

Status-role

When classifying the types of role conflicts, they are first of all called status-role conflicts. It is also considered interpersonal because the object is either intergroup positions or status in interpersonal relationships.

Status-role conflict often arises in family relationships and becomes the cause of discord between spouses

An example of this type of clash is typical for rivalry in the family, when spouses fight for dominance. Psychologists say that the most acceptable resolution to this conflict situation will be adaptation, when one side makes concessions to the other. It is useful to use a compromise when the parties agree among themselves, peacefully distributing responsibilities.

Self-concept

The reason for this type of role behavior is to overcome the contradictions that arise in the individual due to the discrepancy between the expectations of society and personal abilities. It happens that it is difficult for a person to cope with fulfilling a new role for the reason that he has not yet “grown up” to it. For example, a young specialist finds himself in a large company in a responsible position. A role crisis can occur from the realization that there is not enough experience and it is difficult to fulfill the requirements. In such a situation, a change in self-concept is required. It is always painful because it is associated with emotional experiences.

Ambiguous conditions

This type of intrapersonal contradiction is ready to arise when different demands are placed on a person within the same role. For example, there is no workflow development at the enterprise. At the same time, work can only be done with the help of certain rules. Such an ambiguous situation causes role stress in the employee due to different requirements, since the conditions are ambiguous.

For your information. To follow a social role means to have a certain degree of lack of freedom. We have to act not as individuality requires, but as prescribed by the norms. For example, an assembly line worker is so regulated that almost every action he takes is limited. Such performance often causes a feeling of psychological oppression and alienation.

The social role requires a person to behave in a regulated manner, which can cause a feeling of psychological stress

Based on insufficient resources

No less common are situations when a professional position does not allow one to reveal and demonstrate one’s abilities and realize one’s life aspirations due to insufficient resources, for example, there is no motivation, not enough education, or little time to realize a goal.

The optimal relationship between personality and role will be one in which feasible demands are made on the person, tasks that can be solved for him are offered, and he himself has the necessary resources for this.

For your information. Psychological comfort and the quality of fulfilling role responsibilities are related to the extent to which the position corresponds to the personal characteristics of the individual, and his skills and abilities to the role requirements.

Concept, types and characteristics of the role

In psychology, interaction between people is determined by role relationships. On the other hand, roles are individual personal characteristics of subjects. Most of what a person thinks and does relates to his social roles.

Society controls the interaction of people in accordance with the repertoire of their roles, which are performed by communicating people. For each individual, a wide variety of roles are provided throughout life: child, schoolchild, student, father or mother, engineer, doctor, representative of any segment of society, etc.

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Role training is needed in order to:

Performing duties and exercising rights depending on the role accepted and performed;
Acquiring attitudes and behavioral skills that correspond to the accepted role and have an adequate emotional state.

A role, from the point of view of sociology and psychology, is a set of social norms that society (group) encourages a person to master. Most often, a role is defined as a dynamic aspect of status, a list of real functions that a group assigns to its member, a system of expected behavioral stereotypes for performing a specific job.

Types of roles determine the characteristics of the groups in which the individual is included. In accordance with social relations, social and interpersonal roles are distinguished. The first of them relate to social status, profession or type of activity (for example, teacher, student, seller, client, etc.). Socio-demographic roles (for example, husband, wife, daughter, son) are also considered separately. Man and woman are also certain roles that are biologically predetermined and involve specific aspects of behavior.

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Note 1

Interpersonal roles in psychology refer to interpersonal relationships regulated at the emotional level (for example, leader, family idol, etc.).

In accordance with the norms and expectations that are assigned to a particular role, they are divided into:

represented roles (system of expectations of a person and a certain group);
subjective roles (expectations a person associates with his status, i.e. his subjective idea of how he will act in relation to persons with a different status);
roles played (the observable behavior of a person who has a given status in relation to other people with a different status).

Formation of role conflict

Interpersonal conflict - what is it in psychology

It has become characteristic of modern society that a person has to fulfill many social roles, often with conflicting demands and expectations. However, the character and abilities of an individual are not always appropriate for the chosen role.

It is useful to choose roles according to your temperament, abilities, character, or, conversely, adapt to them yourself. For example, it is difficult to choose a profession or a social group that suits yourself – it is difficult to become a musician without musical abilities.

Or everyone at least once had to adapt to a new position, for example, joining the army, becoming a student, a young husband, or starting an activity. Some processes occur simultaneously, but at different speeds and intensities, which can give rise to conflict.

The essence of the concept of “personal-role conflict”

Definition 1
Personal-role conflict is a situation in which the requirements of an individual’s social role are in conflict with his interests and life aspirations.

In the course of his activities, a person performs many roles and their inconsistency may arise, which can develop into an intrapersonal role conflict. A kind of split personality occurs, forced to fulfill social roles with opposing requirements. It turns out that role conflict is a contradictory situation when people face different demands and must fulfill several roles simultaneously. A person in this situation faces a difficult choice.

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Note 1

Traditionally, there are two types of role conflicts: personal-role conflict and inter-role conflict.

Personal-role conflict is a conflict between the “I” and the role. This is where differences arise between the requirements of a role and how the individual represents that role. The problem arises when the individual is unable or unwilling to meet the requirements of the role.

There are two ways to resolve this issue - refuse to fulfill the role or accept this role, but change yourself. To resolve the contradiction, a compromise option is possible.

Personal-role conflicts are quite common, lead to stress and even mental illness and require moral regeneration of the individual.

The second type of conflict is inter-role. Its essence lies in the contradiction that arises between different and incompatible roles, for example, for some reason it is impossible for an individual to combine family and work.

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The factors that determine the strength of this type of conflict are as follows:

degree of incompatibility of role expectations;
stringency of requirements;
characteristics of the individual and his attitude towards role expectations.

Those conflicts that affect the zone of standard roles are especially tragic, because when resolving the conflict, the need arises to change the self-concept of the individual.

A way out of the conflict in this case is also possible - this is the use of intrapersonal defense mechanisms, which postpones the solution to the problem or blocks its awareness.

Western and domestic psychology have different attitudes - domestic psychologists consider the mental world of the individual as an integrity, and conflict is defined as an element of a difficult situation for the psyche. Western conflictologists divide conflicts into specific types and work with each form separately.

Both approaches have their strengths and weaknesses, and if they shared a common methodological platform, then everyone would benefit from this interaction.

Why and when may it occur

Experts identify the main reasons why role conflict arises. The main reason is considered to be a situation in which the intended status-role development of the individual does not occur. A typical example is that a person is ready to defend his dissertation, but he is not allowed to do so, believing that it is too early. In addition, role conflict may be due to the following reasons:

Conflicting roles and needs;
Mismatch between abilities and role;
Inadequate performance of the role.

The cause of the conflict may be a mismatch between abilities and role

Sociology of conflict

It has been noticed that most conflicts occur in the sphere of professional activity. It's all to blame for violations of norms and rules that are an integral part of any interaction, for example, etiquette norms and house rules.

In sociology, the following methods of exiting role conflict are most often recommended:

Conscious highlighting of negative aspects, that is, rationalization, occurs when the role is unattainable. In common parlance - “I didn’t really want it.” So, a woman believes that among men she has no equal, so she is not married.
Temporary exclusion of one position from life, that is, separation of roles. For example, a person is on a ship on a long voyage, they do not tell him about the death of a relative so that there is no stress;
Shifting responsibility for consequences to others - role regulation. For example, the habit of some at the peak of action is to step aside, as if to “wash their hands.”

An individual has many social roles in society. If you perform them correctly in accordance with your abilities and requirements, order and comfort in life will be ensured.