Role theory

Role theory is a perspective in social psychology that considers most of everyday activity to be living up to the roles, or expectations, of others.

It posits the following propositions about social behavior:
 * 1) People spend much of their lives in groups.
 * 2) Within these groups, people often take distinct positions.
 * 3) Each of these positions can be called a role, with a whole set of functions that are molded by the expectations of others.
 * 4) Formalized expectations become norms when enough people feel comfortable in providing punishments and rewards for the expected behavior.
 * 5) Individuals are generally conformists, and in so far as that is true, they conform to roles.
 * 6) The anticipation of rewards and punishments inspire this conformity.

The central weakness of role theory is in describing and explaining deviant behavior.

Papers

 * Google Scholar