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So one person may have a status set that includes being a woman, a sales professional, a
mother, a daughter, a sister, a person with a European heritage, and a volunteer tutor.

Roles are the way that statuses get expressed. For instance, a person whose status in society is
'school student' will behave in particular ways. This behaviour is the 'role' the student is playing.
Likewise, a 'sales professional' will behave in a certain way, and a 'volunteer tutor' in still another
way. Each social status can be expressed through the roles we act out.

In 1957, American sociologist Robert K. Merton made the term 'role set' the topic of an article he
wrote for the British Journal of Sociology. Merton was specifically interested in the variety of
ever-changing roles a person plays when expressing a single social status. For instance, when a
lawyer is involved in lawyer-related activities, she changes her behaviour depending on the
other person or people in the interaction. When talking with a judge, a lawyer will have one set
of behaviours, compared with the role she has when she is talking with a client she is
representing. Her status as 'lawyer' includes more than one role. By describing this concept in a
way others had not before, Merton opened the door for sociologists to look at the idea of roles
more closely and have conversations about its importance.
Our interest in these sessions is how the interaction of the roles we occupy and our perceived
performance in those roles can affect our state of happiness.

The list of roles we might occupy is endless. Think about your roles in life, here are a few
examples to get you started :

Parent Aunt Friend Employer

Spouse Uncle Caregiver Employee

Partner Nephew Mentor Colleague

Sister Neice Listener Caregiver

Brother Cousin Learner Taxi driver!

Son Step Parent Teacher Manager

Daughter Nurturer Coach Volunteer

Grandparent Provider Motivator Performer

It is important to remember that you bring your own unique brand of life and personality to each
of the roles you fulfil. You are one of a kind, there is no-one exactly the same as you on this
planet, there never was and there never will be.
Understanding your own uniqueness is an important step in the process of discovering who you
really are, identifying and doing something about what matters most to you and makes you
really happy. In addition to the more obvious ones, there is a broad range of roles covering the
various activities you are engaged in life, the work you do, the interests and abilities you have.
Identifying each and every one of your roles and what they bring to your life is an important part

of your internal discovery process. Some of the roles we occupy are obligatory, some of them
we have created for ourselves. Some of them will fulfil us, others may drain us.