Role Conflict

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"Role conflict

Role conflict is a special form of social conflict that takes place when one is forced to
take on two different and incompatible roles at the same time. Consider the example
of a doctor who is himself a patient, or who must decide whether he should be present
for his daughter's birthday party (in his role as "father") or attend an ailing patient (as
"doctor"). (Also compare the psychological concept of cognitive dissonance.)

Often, two or more roles collide in certain situations. Take for example a father who
is the coach of his son’s baseball team. The man takes on both the role of father and
coach. If the boy makes a bad play in the game a father would be inclined to support
and comfort his son, but a coach would be inclined to show the boy exactly what he
did wrong. This collision represents role conflict where two roles in an individual's role
set cannot cooperate in a specific social situation.

Role conflict exists when two or more social roles overlap and are incompatible.
Conflict occurs because the performance of one role interferes with the performance
of another. Role conflict can be time-based, strain-based, or behavior-based.

There are two types of role conflict: intrarole conflict, referring to incompatible
requirements within the same role, and interrole conflict, referring to clashing
expectations from separate roles within the same person. Intrarole conflict can arise
in two ways. First, different people sometimes have inconsistent conceptions
concerning the requirements and expectations that constitute a particular role. Jane’s
conception of being a good mother might consist of having a job outside of the home.
She might also believe that providing socioemotional support to her family is a
necessary ingredient in her role as a mother. However, Jane’s mother-in-law might
think that to be a good mother Jane would need to relinquish her job to provide
around-the-clock care for her children. Because of these differing conceptions
concerning the role of a mother, Jane is likely to experience intrarole conflict.

Intrarole conflict can also occur when the role itself has contradictory expectations or
requirements. Jane might feel that her role as a mother requires her to provide
emotional warmth to her children. The same role might also require her to discipline
her children following misbehavior. Because being sensitive and supportive is at odds
with enacting discipline, Jane is likely to experience intra-role conflict in situations
where her children misbehave. To resolve intrarole conflict, the role can be
compartmentalized. In her role as mother, Jane might justify her job outside the home
by noting that it allows her to care for her children financially. Working outside the
home provides them with groceries, housing, heat, schooling, medical care, and so
on. As such, it fits with Jane’s conception of the motherhood role. An additional way
to resolve intrarole conflicts is to avoid those who define a role differently. As such,
Jane might avoid her mother-in-law because of their clashing conceptions concerning
the motherhood role.
Interrole conflict arises when the requirements and expectations of one role interfere
or conflict with those of another role. Jane’s role as mother is likely to conflict
occasionally with her role as a worker employed outside the home. When one of her
children becomes ill, Jane may find that the demands of her job (e.g., staying at work)
are in conflict with the demands of motherhood (e.g., taking her child to the doctor).
There are a number of ways to resolve interrole conflicts. Often, people will prioritize
their roles. In some situations, such as when an important deadline looms at work, it
may be more important for Jane to stay late at work. In this situation, her role as a
worker will take priority over her role as a mother. At other times, such as when her
children are ill and in need of care, her role as mother will take priority. We can also
compartmentalize different roles. For example, Jane may find that she interacts with
others very differently at work and home. By compartmentalizing her roles, she can
be task-oriented in her role as a boss, but socioemotionally oriented in her role as
wife and mother. Roles can also be specialized. If children need to be disciplined,
Jane and her husband can develop a system in which her husband is in charge of
discipline while Jane is in charge of providing warmth and comfort.

The experience of role conflict has been associated with negative health,
psychological, social, and work related outcomes. Role conflict is positively correlated
with experienced stress level and depression and negatively correlated with self-
esteem.

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