Role Conflict and Its Resolution

WrrH THE increasing complexity of modem society, the ubiquitous communication channels impinging on civilized man, and the heightened frequency and intensity of interaction in urban living, men today are confronted more often than ever before with those moral dilemmas sociologists call conflicts. We propose to discuss types of conflict in terms of the specific definitions of social and social developed herein and then to present a brief statement of methods of conflict resolution. Status-Role Definition Social status refers to a position within a social system as it is defined in terms of the configuration of expectations relating the position to the system as a whole and to each of the other positions within the system.' Social role refers to the incumbent's set of expectations associated with occupancy of a specific status. The meanings of these definitions may be clarified by considering how they were derived. In the Model for Role Analysis (Figure 1), all parts of the diagram to the left of the vertical line pertain