Some Variables in Role Conflict Analysis

Author(s): Jackson Toby

Source: Social Forces, Vol. 30, No. 3 (Mar., 1952), pp. 323-327
Published by: Oxford University Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2571598
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 VARIABLES IN ROLE CONFLICT ANALYSIS 323

heavens of achievement look quite different to
many contemporaries than they did to their pred-
ecessors. There is more "escape" from the com-
petitive world into pleasure, the arts, hobbies,
sports. People read "escapist" travel stories or
mystery and crime yarns instead of the Horatio
Alger type of novel. They try to build up psychic
defenses against their feeling of inadequacy and
develop an apathy toward the "outside." The
individual feels that he has "a certain freedom to
fail in the eyes of others without being convinced
by them of his own inadequacy."33The tremendous
growth of counseling services testifies to people's
need for adjustment to the new situation. The
substance of the counsel so often is to develop in-
ternal goals of happiness and peace of mind, to
adapt to the world as it is without protest and
criticism. It is not sheer happenstance that in
1937 Dale Carnegiewrote How to Win Friends and
Influence People (how to get on among people and
achieve), and in 1948 wrote How to Stop Worrying
and Start Living (how to adjust to one's fate and
social state).
To return to our main thesis, there seems to be
a growing complacency regarding status and role.
People seem to be increasingly interested in avoid-
ing the strains of competition in our complex
33 Ibid., p. 129.
"mass") society; they hesitate to "chance" the
climb with the attendant possibility of rebuff or
retreat. They seem to be less and less sure of them-
selves as potentially successful movers upward,
and are adjusting or accommodating their mental
states to the "life-chances" of a given level with
its status, if it is not intolerable. Many seem to be
interested only in such self-improvement as is
necessary to "hang on" or move within their
bracket, and are willing to abide by the esteem
of conformity as a compensation for the lack of
higher prestige and other social emoluments.
In general, there is evidence that the American
Dream is becoming less real for many people.
Some trends and tendencies are in process of re-
versal, at least temporarily. In the main, we seem
to be "settling" as a people. The strata are be-
coming more rigid; the holes in the sieves are be-
coming smaller. Status is crystallizing. There is
both a tendency toward restriction of access to the
means of personal and family advancement, and
an apparent reduction in the vertical mobility
drive and psyche and ethos. Needless to say, in
this rigidifying and "closing" of our class struc-
ture, and in this reduction of vertical mobility,
we may be depriving our society of many poten-
tial contributions that might emanate from the
lower ranks. The situation limits the use of in-
trinsic merit; much merit remains undiscovered.

SOME VARIABLES IN ROLE CONFLICT ANALYSIS*

JACKSON TOBY
Rutgers University

SOCIAL roles are the institutionallyproper tional group, and so on. Usually the individual's
ways for an individual to participate in his role in one group is quite distinct from his role in
society and thus satisfy his needs and wants. another group. A man can be both a father and a
But roles are also demands upon the individual, factory worker at the same time. But sometimes
norms which prescribe certain acts and forbid role obligations are difficult to reconcile. Thus, the
others. These demands come from the various non-com is subject to one set of pressures from
groups in which the individual holds member- commissioned officersin authority over him and to
ship: his family, peer group, social class, occupa- another from his fellow enlisted men. Such com-
peting obligations have been labeled "role con-
* In the course of empirical studies of role conflict
flicts," and several studies exist of verbal respon-
directed by Professor Samuel A. Stouffer and financed
ses to hypothetical role conflict situations.'
by an Air Force contract, the theoretical formulations
embodied in this paper were developed. Since the basic 1 Samuel A. Stouffer, "An Analysis of Conflicting
concepts were arrived at in conversations with Profes- Social Norms," American Sociological Review, 14 (1949),
sor Stouffer, it is difficult to say where his thoughts pp. 707-717.
leave off and those of the writer begin. Samuel A. Stouffer and Jackson Toby, "Role Con-

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324 SOCIALFORCES
It is obvious that an individual in a role con-
flict situation is uncomfortable. For him, the cross-
fire of competing claims is an obnoxious problem
to be solved as quickly as possible. From society's
point of view, however, role conflicts may be use-
ful; they often give a social system flexibility by
providing an entering wedge for social change.
For example, GunnarMyrdal points out that white
Americans face a role conflict over the status of
Negroes.2 The subordinate status of Negroes has
a certain traditional legitimacy. But this inferiority
of status, ascribed on a racial basis, is not compati-
ble with the American creed, with the norms by
which we define the role of a human being in a
democratic state. Hence white Americans are in-
hibited in their tendency to "keep the Negro in his
place" because of their conflicting role of demo-
crat.3 Therefore, Myrdal predicts the gradual
deinstitutionalization of the ascribed inferiorstatus
for Negroes.
Valuable as role conflict may be as an initiator
of necessary change, it is not entirely desirable
from the viewpoint of the social system either.
For, after all, a social system must make provi-
sions for stability as well as for progress. Some con-
trol over incompatible claims must exist in every
society-lest available motivation be channeled
into internal tensions instead of into the mainte-
nance of the social structure. If a social system is
too flexible, stable expectations cannot exist, and
anomie results. Hence, even in a society as dy-
namic as ours, mechanisms must exist to provide
minimum control over role conflicts. These mech-
anisms are institutionalized. They serve to prevent
inevitable strains from developing into disruptive
intra-society conflicts. The following are a few of
the more obvious integrative mechanisms of Amer-
ican society:
HIERARCHIES OF ROLE OBLIGATIONS
Role conflicts resemble a jurisdictional dispute
between two unions in that both the groups de-
flicts and Personality," American Journal of Sociology,
16 (1951), pp. 395-406.
2 Gunnar Myrdal, An American Dilemma (New York:
Harper & Brothers, 1944).
3 Myrdal also considers a role conflict of Negro Ameri-
cans: Shall they accept a subservient position in the
hopes of largesse from the dominant majority? Or
should they protest the denial of their democratic
rights at the risk of greater hostility and further dep-
rivations?
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fining the roles of the individual insist that their
claim is the legitimate one. Further, just as juris-
dictional disputes are exceptional enough in union
activity to be newsworthy, so role conflicts are
unusual in that they represent situations where the
institutionalized system of priorities have proved
insufficient to avert friction. To illustrate the ordi-
nary operation of this system of priorities, consider
the following question we posed to Harvard under-
graduates:
Imaginethat your motheris en route to Cambridge
and has sent a wire asking you to meet her train at
South Station at 9 p.m. Supposeyou have a seminar
meetingfrom8 to 10 that evening,and you have been
scheduled to deliver a paper. You have no way of
leaving a messagefor your motherat the station and
no friendwho can meet her for you. What would you
probablydo?
The students questioned were unanimous in
saying that they would attend the seminar and
explain to their mother later why they were unable
to meet her. When pressed further, they usually
added that they were sure that their mother would
consider the presentation of a seminar paper more
important than meeting her train. One respondent
went so far as to say that his mother would have
expected him to attend the seminar and would
have been angry if he had cut the seminar to meet
her train.
Similarly, a death in the immediate family is
recognized as compelling reason for not appearing
at one's place of business; kinship obligations have
so clear a priority under such circumstances that a
person who fulfilled his occupational obligations
instead of staying home with his family would
probably be regarded as peculiar by his fellow
workers. In other words, institutionalization is
more specific than the mere cataloguing of an in-
dividual's rights and obligations vis-a-vis other
individuals and groups. Rights and obligations are
defined relative to one another. The applicability
of a claim depends in part upon the absence of
other legitimate claims. Thus, the "excuse" is a
highly important sociological category. It is an
approvedtechniquefor avoiding sanctions by assert-
ing that an equally high or higherclaim preventedthe
individual from fulfilling his obligations. Excuses
are most prevalent in informal interpersonal rela-
tions, but even the law recognizes their validity.
For example, the obligation to respect human life
is violated whenever one person kills another.
But, under circumstances where the "excuse" of
 VARIABLES IN ROLE CONFLICTANALYSIS
self-defense can be established, penalties are
waived.
THE ACCIDENT
Another kind of legitimate non-compliance, a
cousin of the "excuse," is the claim of the actor
that his failure to fulfill his obligations is involun-
tary. No higher claims are invoked, but the actor
escapes sanctions by demonstrating that circum-
stances beyond his control prevented him from
carrying out his good intentions. For example, a
bomber crew may not complete its combat mission
because of engine trouble. Of course, only if the
individual's failure to fulfill his obligations is re-
garded as involuntary will he remain in good stand-
ing with the group. Quite obviously, some claims
of "accident" are fabricated for the purpose of
avoiding penalties. Hence group skepticism is
necessary to check abuses. (In the case of motor-
cycle policemen, skepticism verges on utter dis-
belief.) Even though the group is not in a position
to investigate whether the accident really hap-
pened, a rough calculation of probabilities can usu-
ally be made. An individual can blame his tardi-
ness on the public transportation system occasion-
ally, but not daily.
RITUALS FOR REDUCING SOCIAL FRICTION:
ETIQUETTE
Emily Post is sometimes ridiculed by people who
pride themselves on being rational. They naively
suppose that etiquette consists of meaningless
ceremonials, for they do not realize the importance
of prescribed rituals in solving the dilemmas of
daily life. Consider the chaos of competing de-
mands for social recognition which would ensue if
etiquette did not exist. Etiquette formalizes the
rank order of claims for deference, thus avoiding in
most cases the problem of deciding between one
individual's right to attention and another's. The
very arbitrariness of the ritual takes the problem
out of the realm of idiosyncraticjudgment; preced-
ence is automatically evaluated according to the
institutionalized criteria. Less specific than eti-
quette but analogous in function are rules of social
intercourse like "first come, first served."
In the play of small children we see what hap-
pens before etiquette is institutionalized. Tom
steps on Dick's foot. Dick pushes him off with a
vigorous shove. "You don't need to push that
hard," says Tom, pushing him back. And the fight
is on. After they have beaten one another up and
gone home in tears, a parent may feel called upon
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325
to heal the breach. Observe what he does. Instead
of insisting that Tom was wrong and should be
ashamed of himself (or that Dick should not have
started the pushing), the peace-maker ignores the
question of fault and seeks to induce the boys to
apologize mutually and to shake hands.
With adults there is less likelihood for essentially
trivial issues to produce conflict. The automatic
apology of two strangers who accidentally collide
on a busy street illustrates the integrative function
of etiquette. In effect, each of the parties to the
collision says, "I don't know whether I am re-
sponsible for this situation, but if I am, you have
a right to be angry with me, a right that I pray you
will not exercise." By defining the situation as one
in which both parties must abase themselves,
society enables each to keep his self-respect. Each
may feel in his heart of hearts, "Why can't that
stupid ass watch where he's going?" But overtly
each plays the role of the guilty party whether he
feels he has been miscast or not.
LEGITIMATE DECEPTION: TACT
Lies are generally regarded as reprehensible,
and truth is held to be a virtue. But there are cer-
tain circumstances-held to be exceptional-where
it is considered "tactless" to tell the truth, where
the "white lie" is regarded as the proper response.
Consider an example of such circumstances: Tom
invites Mary to go to dinner with him on a certain
evening. Mary does not like Tom, so she refuses
the invitation, fabricating a previous appointment
as the reason for not accepting his invitation. She
may or may not deceive him. If she has on another
occasion rejected a proposed "date," he may recog-
nize that the "previous appointment" may have
been her way of indicating that she does not care
for his company. But Tom has no right to become
indignant, for Mary has been tactful. True, she
refused the invitation, which was an injury, es-
pecially if he suspects the motive for her refusal.
But she does not add insult to injury by explain-
ing it.
This solicitude for the feelings of others is the
circumstance that makes the white lie socially
"right." The ordinary lie is unreservedly disap-
proved because it lacks precisely this quality. It is
a selfish attempt to manipulate other people by
controlling their access to information. Tact, on
the other hand, is institutionalized deception for
the primary purpose of sparing the feelings of
others. Mary did not lie to Tom because she feared
losing a friend if she did not consider his feelings.
326 SOCIAL FORCES

Tactful behavior is a social obligation of adults. situations where the claims of the two groups are
We are trained to avoid hurting one another be- institutionally defined as legitimate, but where there
because otherwise it would be too difficult to con- exists no institutionalized formula for making the
trol the aggressions and hostilities at large in the demands compatible.However, pseudo-roleconflicts
system.4 arise even where true role conflicts are impossible,
and these appear very much like the genuine article
SEGREGATION OF ROLES
to the individuals involved. By pseudo-role con-
Another important device for preventing role flicts, we refer to situations where the claims of the
conflicts is the definition of roles so that attendant two groups are institutionally defined as legitimate
circumstances have to be appropriate in order to but wherea skillfulindividualmight have prevented
activate the role behavior in question. For example, the conflict from arising.5For example, the anguish
the personnel director of a corporation has a role resultingfrom appointments at two widely removed
obligation to hire the best qualified people; he also places at the same time is potentially avoidable.
has obligations to his family. But if his daughter Nevertheless, whether an individual is caught in
were looking for a job and did not have the quali- a true or a pseudo-role conflict, there are only a
fications for any that were open, no one would ac- limited number of alternatives open to him:
cuse him of failing in his father role because he did Repudiationtof His Role in One Group. The in-
not hire her. In our society the occupational and dividual gets out of the dilemma but in a manner
the familial roles are definedas segregated. Nepo- analogous to Alexander's cutting of the Gordian
tism, though it occurs, is regardedas a fault rather knot. Complete repudiation of role obligations is a
than a virtue. drastic solution, inviting sanctions from the group
The fact that the same person is properly treated which is defied. Depending on the group's im-
differently when he occupies different roles is of portance to him-his identification with it and the
incalculable importance in clarifying the limits of severity of the sanctions it is likely to impose-
obligations. An Air Force major who is in command he may be unable to face the consequences of de-
of a fighter squadron is entitled to one kind of fiance. A sergeant whose commanding officer in-
treatment from a pilot in his squadronbecause he is structs him to enforce an unpopularregulation may
a major and quite different treatment because he is not be willing either to disobey his superior or to
the Commanding Officer.And it may be important outrage the sentiments of his men. Other sergeants
to understand when the major is occupying one might be willing to enforce the regulation, no
role, when the other, and when he occupies neither. matter how their men griped. Still others might
At the Officers Club, for instance, it may be ap- refuse to carry out the order.
propriate to regard him in the role of friend. In- Playing OfJ One Group against the Other. The
terestingly enough, officers frequently dress in individual achieves a precarious equilibrium by
civilian clothes at their clubs, perhaps because this indicating to each group the incompatible demands
has functional significance for the segregation of simultaneously being made upon him by the other.
military roles from the roles appropriate to con- In this way he induces each group to mitigate its
vivial interaction. demands sufficiently so that his role obligations are
In spite of these various mechanisms to prevent compatible. A union official might be under pres-
incipient conflicts from developing, individuals do sure from union members to press for a substantial
find themselves in situations where two or more wage increase and under pressure from the Fed-
groups make incompatible demands upon them. eral Government to hold the line against inflation.
This is due in part to the imperfect integration of If he could convince the rank and file that the
all social systems; if the integrative mechanism national welfare permitted only a small wage in-
functioned perfectly, true role conflicts would be crease and the appropriate federal agency that a
impossible. By true role conflicts, we refer to token wage boost was necessary to avert a wild-
cat strike, the problem would be solved. There is a
4Children seem to have much more overt conflict
than adults, i.e., arguments as well as physical aggres- certain similarity between this technique of re-
sions. Perhaps this difference can be explained as due solving a role conflict and the invoking of institu-
in part to a difference in the employment of tact. It
would be interesting to experiment with children and 5This notion of variability in skill at avoiding
see whether lessons in tact,could diminish intragroup pseudo-role conflicts was suggested by Professor Talcott
friction. Parsons.

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 VARIABLES IN ROLE CONFLICTANALYSIS
tionalized priorities to prevent the conflict from
arising. But an important difference should be
noted. The individual who plays off one group
against another does not have institutionalized
backing for his compromise. It is by dint of his
personal skill in negotiation and his ability to com-
municate his plight and invoke sympathy that he
solves the problem.
Stalling until the Pressures Subside. If the cross-
pressures are of a temporarynature, it may be pos-
sible for the individual to postpone making a decis-
ion until one or both of the groups relax their
demands. Stalling is, however, not passive waiting;
it is an art. It involves placating and promising
while the competing obligations are not being ful-
filled. A role conflict amenable to such a tactic oc-
curs when a woman comes to visit her son and
daughter-in-law, and the two women resent one
another. The son might stall until his mother's
visit is over, thus avoiding a fight with either his
wife or his mother.
Redefinitionof the Role (or Roles). The individual
reacts upon the situation and changes it so that
the role expectations are no longer incompatible.
For example, the daughter of immigrant parents
may be able to redefine her role in the family ac-
cording to American patterns, thus resolving the
conflicting claims of her parents and her girl friends.
Of course the opportunities for reeducating a group
are comparatively infrequent. More often, a dif-
ferent type of redefinition of role is possible. The
individual does not change the role requirements
of the group, but he finds a formula whereby his
behavior can, by Procrustean efforts, be defined as
fulfilling the requirements. For example, suppose
that the parents of an adolescent boy forbid him
to drink intoxicating beverages, whereas his friends
drinaka good deal and bring pressure upon him to
join them. He might solve this role conflict by
drinking beer-if he could convince his parents that
"beer isn't liquor" and his friends that beer is a
manly and highly satisfactory "drink."
The DoubleLife. The individual takes advantage
of the fact that he is not simultaneously in contact
with both groups. He plays the approved role in
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327
each group, ignoring its expectations when in con-
tact with the other. Deception is a vital element
in this solution, and thus it is limited to circum-
stances where deception is possible. Moreover,
this sort of deception, unlike the white lie, is en-
tirely self-oriented and would be recognizedas such
by others-if they found out about it. It is not
always necessary to practice double deception.
That is to say, one of the groups might have no
objection to the individual's playing a different
role when not in contact with it. A nudist colony
would, for example, probably approve of its mem-
bers wearing clothes "on the outside." But nudists
might still have to keep their membership in the
colony secret.
Escape from the Field. The individual may find
his position in the cross-fire so unpleasant that he
moves to a different social system. Of course this
does not necessarily imply geographic mobility,
although that is the most common device. A
foreman under pressure both from his superiors in
the company and from the shop steward of the
union may resign his job. Excape from the field,
though similar to role repudiation, involves re-
tirement from both groups and withdrawal from
the effective range of their sanctions. Suicide would
be the limiting case.
Illness. If the pressures become unbearable and
the individual does not perceive as appropriate to
his problem any of the above mentioned devices,
he may become prey to mental or physical illness.
Illness is an excuse for failing to conform to role
expectations, an excuse which has general ac-
ceptability. Thus, we might call this a solution to the
conflict. On the other hand, it may simply signify
the breakdown of the coping mechanisms of the
organism under the pressure of the problem.
To sum up: Institutionalized techniques exist
for preventing role conflicts from arising. These are
not perfect, however, and role conflicts arise. But
there are only a limited number of possible solu-
tions to these dilemmas. The problem for research
is the conditions under which one solution is chosen
over another.