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Role Acquisition as a Social Process
Author(s) -
Yellin Linda L.
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
sociological inquiry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.446
H-Index - 51
eISSN - 1475-682X
pISSN - 0038-0245
DOI - 10.1111/j.1475-682x.1999.tb00501.x
Subject(s) - ambivalence , narrative , context (archaeology) , set (abstract data type) , social psychology , process (computing) , cognition , psychology , cognitive map , sociology , computer science , history , philosophy , operating system , linguistics , archaeology , neuroscience , programming language
A model of the role acquisition process is proposed based on data from 310 first‐person written narratives of a single role entrance. Content analysis of data set II ( N = 110) of narratives, which included forty‐seven different roles, provides support for the model. The model conceptualizes role acquisition as involving a sequence of four stages, characterized as (1) ambivalence, (2) absorption, (3) commitment, and (4) confidence, in which each stage involves a qualitatively different interaction between the person and the role: a different affective orientation on the part of the person toward the role, and a qualitatively different relationship between the person and role partners. Common features and heterogeneous effects of role type, social context, cognitive processes, and other factors at each stage are discussed.