The Diversity of Roles, Essay Example

A look at five people of different age groups allows to perceive the diversity of roles one can play throughout his / her life and the way these roles change with time.

The first person I would like to describe is an eight-year-old boy. He is a an active and promising school student and his main social role is learning. The boy also takes private music and foreign language classes. His father, who has long gone into taekwondo, starts involving his son in the sport. The wide range of activities and, consequently, opportunities to communicate in different situations make the boy’s socialization easy and successful. In his family, he is the child, grandchild and younger brother and is taught by his parents to be loving and caring, understand his responsibilities and compromise.

The second person is a nineteen-year-old girl. She studies History in the college and in respect to the society is an aspiring professional – scientist or teacher. Her active motivated involvement in education marks a new stage in learning in comparison to an eight-year-old boy who learns out of natural interest and follows his parents’ directions in choosing educational sphere and institution. In her family, the girl is an adult daughter who lives with the parents. She has a boyfriend and is getting used to the idea of creating a family of her own in future and assuming new responsibilities.

The example of myself indicates the next stage in the system of roles often played by people of my age (early thirties). I work in West Country Care Centre, thus realizing my professional role. I also continue my education in St. Joseph’s College to perfect my knowledge and skills. In our rapidly changing world my profession is one of those that require constant life-long learning, i.e. having a permanent role of a student. I am also an American citizen, taxpayer and voter. In my family, I have the roles of a wife and daughter.

The fourth person is twenty years my senior. The woman is an interpreter. She is a wife and mother of a child and foster-mother of another. Since her parents died, she has the role of a daughter no longer. She feels that her work is really exhausting and plans early retirement.

Finally, the fifth person is an eighty-year-old woman. She is retired and not involved in any working activity. Her adult children live in another city and her husband died. She lives quite a lonely life receiving help from a volunteer who visits her once in two days. She used to work as a sales manager for General Motors.

An analysis of the roles of five people illustrates the findings of the role theory. While the eight-year-old boy is involved in a great number of diverse activities, they all tend to fall into the categories of learning and being a junior member of the family. Although performing the role of a student may continue quite long in modern society, it is increasingly often combined with the roles of offering professional services and having more responsible family positions as people grow older. Elderly people, however, have to abandon their professional roles and reduce their social activity. In their families, they need special care without playing the roles of breadwinners and having a share in household chores. However, this is not always the case since many elderly people appreciate being able to make any contribution in social and professional spheres as well as family and still have a great number of active roles.