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TERMS, CONCEPTS AND THEIR USE IN SOCIOLOGY 33 requirements faced by a society the lower levels of the system, are not of placing and motivating individuals just disadvantaged socially but also in the social structure. Social economically. inequality or stratification is thus an unconsciously evolved device by which Status and Role societies ensure that the most The two concepts ‘status’ and ‘role’ are important positions are deliberately often seen as twin concepts. A status is filled by the most qualified persons. Is simply a position in society or in a this true? In a traditional caste system social group. Every society and every group has many such positions and every hierarchyisfixed,rigidandtransmitted individual occupies many such across generations. Modern class positions. system in contrast is open and Status thus refers to the social achievement-based. In democratic position with defined rights and duties societies there is nothing to legally stopassigned to these positions. To a person from the most deprived class illustrate, mother occupies a status, and caste from reaching the highest which has many norms of conduct as position. well as certain responsibilities and prerogatives. Activity 7 A role is the dynamic or the behavioural aspect of status. Status is Find out more about the life of the late President K. R. Narayanan. occupied, but roles are played. We may say that a status is an institutionalised Discuss the concept of ascription role. It is a role that has become and achieved status, caste and regularised, standardised and forma- class in this context. lised in the society at large or in any of the specific associations of society. Such stories of achievement do It must be apparent that each exist and are sources of immense individual in a modern complex society inspiration. Yet for the most part the such as ours occupies many different structure of the class system persists. kinds of status during the course of Sociological studies of social mobility, his/her life. You as a school student even in western societies are far may be a student to your teacher, a removedfromtheideal modelofperfect customer to your grocer, a passenger mobility. Sociology has to be sensitive to the bus driver, a brother or sister to to both the challenges to the caste your sibling and a patient to the doctor. system as well as the persistence of Needless to say, we could keep adding discrimination. Significantly those, at to the list. The smaller and simpler the Reprint 2026-27