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TSR Wiki > Study Help > Subjects and Revision > Revision Notes > Psychology > Goffman - Symbolic Interactionist

Humans are actors each playing many role; in a series of performances controlled and managed in conformity with the definition of the situation. Part of this definition involves the allocation and the acceptance of roles; people are simply the roles they play in different situations and so it is meaningless to talk about the enduring qualities of people.

Social roles - the plots or positions that we occupy in society (Judy Gahagan).

Most social roles are interdependent - constitute role sets (e.g. teacher-pupil / parent-daughter). Role behaviour usually corresponds to role expectations (norms) which makes the expectation of other people's behaviour more predictable.

Role conflict: not knowing what is expected of me ; role partners having different expectations / occupying more than one role simultaneously.

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