What is it called when people Share a similar position in society?

We could say that power and class are the two most important determinants of everyday life in the 21st century. Class relations – determined by the property system and the basic economic institutions within which we live – determine our opportunities, health, quality of life, and sometimes our basic freedoms. Power relations influence our careers, our opportunities, our freedoms, and very basic aspects of our behavior and choice. It is reasonable to think that the system of power and class within which we live constitutes the basic framework within which our lives and purposes unfold.Further, the two schemata of post-modern life are interrelated. The property system within which we live is like a medieval cathedral – it cannot stand without the buttresses of power that retain its structure in the face of countervailing pressures. And the relations of power that exist in a society often derive much of their voltage from the structure of property that exists. Property holders need, want, and gain power; holders of power gain property.But post-modern life is not so simple. There are multiple cross-cutting identities and positions that influence personal outcomes, not simply class or power. Race, ethnic group, gender – these are social systems that have quite a bit in common with class, and they have relationships to power as well. Race, ethnicity, and gender are also “social processing systems” – one’s status within the system of race or gender immediately influences one’s opportunities, status, prestige, and – yes, power. And one’s position within these ascriptive systems also has implications for the class system; thus black workers faced a different working environment than white workers in the Detroit auto industry in the 1950s and 1960s, and female workers earn less than male workers in many businesses.

We might define power in these terms: "access to social and material resources that permit an individual or group to control or influence social outcomes, including the behavior of other individuals and groups, the distribution of things, and the configuration of social institutions." And we can give a simple schematic description of the chief mechanisms and tactics through which control and influence are exercised in contemporary society: coercion, threat, manipulation of the agenda, manipulation of information and thought, and positional advantage. These are almost all relational characteristics -- they have to do with the relationships of influence that exist among individuals and groups.

We can also provide a simple definition of social class: “position within a system of property relations, defining one’s location with a structure of domination, control, and exploitation.” The group of people who share a similar position within the property relations of a society constitute a class. Their circumstances, resources, and opportunities are similar to those of others in the class, and they have common interests that are in opposition to members of some other classes. So class works as a social sorting process: individuals are tracked into one class or another through specific sociological mechanisms (schooling, parental attitudes, neighborhood). And it works to assign very different ranges of material outcomes to members of the various groups; working class families wind up more poorly educated, less healthy, and more vulnerable to economic fluctuations than their counterparts in the landlord class, the financial elite class, or the capitalist class. Part of the challenge of developing a sociology of class involved identifying some of the concrete pathways of difference created by class with respect to specific opportunities – education, health, adequate nutrition, access to creative work, .…Status and consciousness are also part of the sociology of class. Individuals develop specific features of mentality out of the experience they have in the class environments of their parents, their schools, and their workplaces. And these differences in turn give rise to differences in behavior -- consumer behavior, political behavior, and inter-group behavior. And members of a class may acquire a common perspective on their situation -- they may come to diagnose the social relations around them in a similar way, they may come to a common "class consciousness" that leads them to engage in collective action together.

Further, the system of class relations also creates specific features in the social networks that exist in a society. A highly democratic and egalitarian society would be expected to have a social network graph that is widely and evenly distributed across the population. But in our society, it is likely that a social network map of Chicago would be highly differentiated along class lines: business people tend to know business people, manufacturing workers tend to know other manufacturing workers, and so forth. (I am sure there is some good research on this topic, though I can't put my hands on it.) This in turn implies that there will be significant differences across classes with respect to social capital -- the ability of people to call upon their social relationships and associations in pursuit of their goals and interests. (See Nan Lin, Social Capital: Theory and Research.) (This point comes up in a different context in the earlier posting about segregation in France.)

The concepts of power and class are often linked. However, it strikes me that the two concepts or theories are not parallel; they do different work within our analysis of the society in which we live, and they require different kinds of ontologies in order for us to explicate them. “Class” is a situational feature for individuals; it defines a set of circumstances and opportunities that fundamentally influence the shape of their lives. In this respect the theory of class evokes structures first and agency and consciousness second. “Power” is a fluid characteristic of individuals within social relationships. As such, it evokes social relationships and social resources wielded by individuals and groups against other individuals and groups. “Power” is a feature of the individual's position within a set of social networks and relationships, not a social structure. Class is more akin to "the mass of the earth", whereas power is akin to "the ability to fly". The mass of the earth determines the most basic feature of life on earth -- gravity. The ability to fly is a complex and variable capacity that permits specific organisms and artifacts to accomplish flight within the general influence of gravity. What is complicated about this analogy is the fact that there are several sources of social "gravity" -- including the structures of race, gender, and religion that pull, push, and constrain us in multiple directions.

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Man is a social animal. Human beings interact with each other in their day-to-day lives and the lives of different people in the society are entangled with each other, in one way or the other. In the society, each of us is related to others through relations, either personal or public. The subject of sociology studies the relations people share with each other in a society. The defined positions that each person owns in a society are referred to as ‘Status’. The status of each person can be relative to those of others. Status of a person can be of two types, either Ascribed (assigned to a person by birth) or Achieved (earned through effort). Each person in a given social status is expected to have certain responsibilities in the society. These expectations on people of a given social status, in terms of behaviour, obligations and rights are called ‘Social Roles’. This article tries to describe in brief social roles, enumerate the different types of social roles and cite examples.

Social roles include a defined set of actions assigned to every individual in the society. In the concept of social roles, the world is imagined as a stage and the individuals who take up different social roles are thought of as actors. The role theory, which is based on the observation that people behave in a predictable way, puts forward the thought that the activities of a person are out of defined categories. It says that the behaviour of a person is context-specific, based on factors like social position. For example, the social roles of an electrician, a doctor, a psychologist, a mother, a grandfather are all different from each other. When you have achieved the status of a doctor, you are expected to play the social roles of being able to provide treatment for illnesses, be knowledgeable, be able to prescribe the necessary medication and so on. It is expected that different individuals acquiring the same kind of social position behave in a uniform way.

According to Bruce Biddle, a famous sociologist, the five major models of social role theory are:

Functional Role Theory – examines social roles with importance to shared social norms.
Symbolic Interaction Role Theory – focuses on the impact of individual interpretation of responses to behaviour on social roles.
Structural Role Theory – utilizes mathematical models to examine the influence of the society as a whole on roles
Organizational Role Theory– looks into the role development in organizations
Cognitive Role Theory – examines the relationship between expectations and behaviours

The different categories of social roles in sociology are:

Cultural Roles – Culture is one of the major attributes of society. People often engage with different aspects of culture. A person who is into the domain of culture has to fulfil the expectations on him/her. For example, a priest has to fulfil duties like performing rites and ceremonies.
Social Differentiation – This refers to the changes in social roles with profession and relations. Individuals practising different professions, such as teaching, nursing and plumbing have different roles to fulfil.
Situation – specific roles – People take up different roles, according to the situation. Sometimes, a person turns out to be a victim of an accident, or an eye witness due to unpredictable situations.
Bio-sociological roles – Human beings in the environment have multiple responsibilities towards the conservation and preservation of nature and its members.
Gender roles – We are expected to play roles according to the gender we belong to, like the roles of father, mother, woman etc.

There are different concepts related to Social Roles. Let us see in detail some of those:

Role conflict: Role conflict refers to the situation that happens when a person is expected to act in contradictory roles in everyday life. The conflicts can either be a product of contradictory interests or when there exists different norms on what the responsibilities of a particular role are. Role conflicts happen in personal as well as professional life. An example of role conflict is the situation that occurs when a working mother is judged to not fit into the role of a “good wife”.
Role Distancing: Role distancing refers to the practice of distancing oneself from a role. For example, an actor may have to put into practice the concept of role distancing very often, between professional and personal perspectives.
Role exit: The process of discontinuing from a role in order to establish a new one. An example is the transformation of an individual into a parent.
Role expectation: This refers to the set of actions that are expected from a person playing a certain role. For instance, each profession has a specific set of roles that are expected from them.
Role performance: Role performance is a term that refers to the level of performance of a person with respect to the role that s/he is assigned with.
Role reversal: It refers to the act of people exchanging their roles with each other. For examples, a psychologist can at time seek help from a close friend or relative.
Role segregation: Refers to the separating of role partners from each other. For examples, a judge of Court would not appear for a case which s/he has personal connections with.
Role set: It refers to the cumulative set of roles that an individual has, from various roles that s/he plays.
Role strain: This refers to the stress that a person experiences in meeting expectations and obligations associated with any role. An example is when a person is working on a laptop, but wishes to cook food for his children at the same time.
Role taking: The act of assuming to take up the role of another person so as to understand things from their point of view. An example is while an advocate tries to think from the point of view of the accused while examining a case.