System, Group, and Power: Chapter One, Text Three

The Social Role as a Functional Unit
A conventional role is a prescribed rule of conduct which is expected of a person in a given situation by virtue of the position they occupy in the interaction, such as the roles of parents in a family, the center-forward in a soccer team, or a passenger on a bus. The concept refers to the ways in which group norms apply themselves to each participant.

It is not possible to simply define roles as a function of an established rule of expected conduct, but also as a pattern of reciprocal pretenses and obligations. An obligation is what one is forced to act on by virtue of the role they are assuming. But each person who assumes a role also has rights with respect to other participants. A right consists of the things which the person expects others will do for their benefit and by virtue of the transaction which bind them.

Assuming a role consists of living according to the obligations of the role which one assumes and insisting that others respect the corresponding rights. The assumption of a role is an important part of its performance. The performance of a role refers to the organization of conduct in accordance with the norms of the group; the assumption of the role implies imagining how one is viewed from the point of view of the other person.

When deliberate action is characterized by a high level of formalization, the corresponding roles are impersonal. The reciprocal rights and obligations continue existing independently of who their particular agents are. But in a society in the process of change, there are many roles which are only vaguely defined.

Tamotsu Shibutani, 1971, p. 52-59.