Question

(TCOs 5, 6, and 8) Define and give examples of ascribed status, achieved status, master status, role conflict and role strain.

Answer 1

Ascribed status is a status thrusted on an individual without the individual doing anything about achieving it. Status such as, race, ethnicity or even becoming adult, adolescent are all examples of ascribed status.

Achieved status on the other hand refers to the status one achieves through one's efforts and hard work. Educational qualifications, promotion in the company, political leadership are few examples for it.

Master status refers to the one particular role one chooses over the other in their life time. For example, a man can be a manager, father, husband, son, grandfather, friend etc. but the man might prefer to identify himself as a manager over all the other role he plays.

Everyone strives hard to fulfill almost all the roles that they have in hand as in the above example. The man may struggle hard between being a father, manager and a husband by sparing adequate time for the roles the man has and in the event of not balancing the time and performance, the man would face role conflict which would stress them out.

Although role conflict is the result of managing multiple roles, role strain happens within a role. For example, a person might struggle hard to work as a manager meeting all the target requirements and role competency expected by the company.