societal roles
Assigned social parts
Societal roles are the behaviors, responsibilities, and expectations assigned to individuals based on their position in a social structure—parent, employee, citizen, caregiver.
These roles shape how people are expected to act in various contexts: Gender societal roles have shifted dramatically over the past century.
The term often appears in discussions of how such expectations constrain or enable individual choice.
- teacherOne who instructs others
- motherFemale parent
- traditionCustom passed through generations
- parentMother or father
- family manHusband devoted to household
stay at home mom · community · village elder · voter · social norms · hierarchy · class structure · elder · breadwinner · patriarch · scapegoat · activist · storyteller · student · outcast · colleague · taxpayer · manager
- feminismfeminism, feminist theory, gender equality, women's rights, feminist novels
- gender rolesgender roles, masculinity, femininity, gender stereotypes, traditional roles
- belongingbelonging, inclusion, acceptance, community, connection
- literary charactersSherlock Holmes, Scout Finch, Elizabeth Bennet, Macbeth, Huck Finn
- women leadersMargaret Thatcher, Angela Merkel, Indira Gandhi, Golda Meir, Jacinda Ardern
- midlifemidlife crisis, empty nest, empty nester, forties, fifties
societal rolespersonal identity
One's defining characteristics
authentic self · true self · innate traits · individuality · selfhood
societal rolespersonal autonomy
Control over one's choices
individual freedom · self-determination · individual autonomy · free will · self-expression