Family and Child Welfare

Family and Child Welfare 3 (3+0)

Lesson 10 : Roles and Responsibilities of Parents and Children

Meaning of Role

The set of behaviours which ego is expected to perform by virtue of his position as father, mother or child is called a Social Role. A role is thus a series of appropriate and expected way of behaving, relative to a given individuals status in a given social structure or institution(Kluckohn notes-quoted in parsons, shills, 1954)

A role is the prescribed behavior and attitudes that a person occupying a particular status is expected assume. According to Sarbin (1954)” a role is a pattern of attitudes and actions which person takes in a social situation.

A role is a job description to be followed by the person performing the ‘job’ if parent or child and it include not only the statement of the expected behavior but also the statement of the expected accompanying emotion Bernard (1957). Role prescriptions for parent and child vary with time and with sub cultural groups.