A Case for the Theory of Familial Role Differentiation in Small Groups

Abstract

and involving parents and children. This type of counseling aims toward favorable changes in the personalities and behaviors of clients who seek help in the management of their marital and family affairs. Hence, marriage and family counseling needs to be socially based on a valid theory of personality and behavior. It is suggested that role theory, with its heavy emphasis on the social self and on social acts, provides a reliable basis for counseling practice and for empirical research related to this type of practice. The utility of a valid theoretical orientation is outlined in this paper, and the central ideas of role theory are delineated. Human conduct is organized and goal-directed. Activities of any given person are organized in terms of the reciprocal activities of other significant persons in his life. These activities are generally channeled in ways that the person perceives to be consistent with his concept of himself in relation to those who paricipate with him in social situations. Hence, significant changes in maladaptive behaviors require basic changes in the person's self-concept. This is the prime objective of marriage and family counseling, if not of all personality counseling and psychotherapy. The social origins of the conceptual self are explained in terms of internalization of role expectations. At the same time it is emphasized that the total personality includes a reactive organism, and a perceiving, judging, creative, autonomous self. On the basis of the role theory approach to human conduct, certain clinical and research hypotheses pertaining to marriage and family life are suggested. The integrative quality of a marriage, for example, is viewed as a function of role perception, role expectation, and role performance of marital partners. A reliable method of role conflict analysis is indicated for research purposes, and counseling methods consistent with role theory are suggested.