Roles

Bronfenbrenner’s definition of a Role is presented and explored in this section. Social roles are defined in terms of expected activities and ways of relating with others, and how others are expected to relate to a person occupying a role. Roles are an important organizing element of the social ecosystem. The roles a person interacts with and the roles a person learns to occupy define the experiences a person will have, thus shaping the content of the person’s understanding of the ecosystem and the skills the person can learn. Bronfenbrenner proposes that development is enhanced by interaction with and participation in a greater number and variety of roles. Bronfenbrenner’s hypotheses about the functions and variations of roles are explained. The author explores types of roles, such as kinship and functional, and explains that many roles are transactional, existing in complementary pairs, such as teacher and student, or parent and child. Changes in roles occur over time, and interrelationships among roles create role conflict or compatibility or role congruence.