Joe the King and Role Theory

Role theory holds that the way in which people act is a result of the awareness of roles and the duties associated with them. For Joe Henry, the role players in his life perform their duties with such neglect and ambivalence that he is forced to compensate for their shortcomings and juggle multiple roles that he is unsuited for. As a result, he finds himself in over his head and struggles to maintain a balance. He embarks on illegality (thieving) to pay his father’s debts and restore his mother’s records. In the end, he is arrested, which is actually the best thing that could have happened for him as it takes him out of the environment he is in and allows him to resume the role of just being a child. He needs time to develop and mature and grow into the role of adult, and being taken into custody by the state is a good opportunity for that to happen. Hopefully, he will obtain a counselor who is more apt than the one he is assigned through school.
The strengths of role theory are that it provides an explanation for how roles are conceived, perceived and adopted by persons in a social group. In a healthy family, roles are divided among individuals, typically a father, a mother, and children. In Joe Henry’s family, the roles of the parents are negligible and confusing for Joe. He is assaulted for his father’s debts, put in the position of being comforter to his mother instead of receiving nurturing from her, and placed into a position of having to be bread winner for the family, which takes him away from his devotion to school. Role theory can help the social worker understand the behaviors of a delinquent child like Joe and give context for why he is always late for class, why he is stealing, and why he needs help growing up. Thus, the strengths of role theory are found in its basic premise, which is that social groups define roles (Koenig, Eagly, 2014).
The weakness of role theory is found its limited scope. It views the subject primarily through the lens of role player, when as is evident even in Joe Henry’s case it is not always simple for one to assess what role is being played. Oftentimes roles are ill-defined or not understood even by the actor. To assume that Joe is attempting to manage a diversity of roles that are beyond his ability and comprehension allows for a sympathetic approach to the subject, but it may not fully reflect the reality of the situation. It could also be the case that Joe’s actions, behaviors, attitudes, thoughts and expressions can be explained by other theories as well—for example by social learning theory, in which behavior is learned by observation, by mimicking others in one’s social environment (Miller, Morris, 2014). Strain theory and social control theory are two others that could help explain Joe’s behavior and provide pathways into a proper assessment and treatment of the subject. Strain theory posits that criminal activity occurs when individuals stew in negative environments for too long—their psyche literally breaks and they lash out at norms, laws and conventions as a result of the strain they are experiencing. Social control theory posits that when an individual sees the benefit for oneself of breaking the rules, one will attempt to free oneself from the control of such rules (Bao, Haas, Chen, Pi, 2014). Each of these could help to provide an alternate perspective on Joe’s behavior. The key to providing effective therapy is to be cognizant of the various theories that can be used to help explain behavior and to assess the subject from the perspective of these in order to see which fits most appropriately. In Joe’s case, there may be a little of each of these theories involved in the thinking/acting-processes of Joe. Being mindful of how various factors can play a part in determining behavior is a starting point in providing the appropriate counseling.
The cultural competence associated with role theory can make applying this particular approach even more difficult, which is another reason it is helpful to supplement this theoretical approach with the aforementioned approaches as well. Because of the amount of diversity in today’s society, roles are not defined by all peoples in the same manner. Some cultures view the roles of mothers and fathers and children differently; ethnic and economically-disadvantaged groups may have a different concept of fatherhood than another group that is white and upper class. Navigating the meaning of roles when applying role theory first depends upon assessing how the subject and the subject’s environment treats on the meaning of particular roles. In Joe’s case, the cultural competence of role theory will depend upon the blue collar meanings attributed to those roles in Joe’s community. There are expectations associated with being a good student, being a boy, being a father, a mother and so on. Understanding Joe will require a counselor to have an understanding of these roles in this particular culture at this particular time.
In conclusion, role theory can help a therapist to develop an appropriate intervention and treatment for a subject like Joe, but it is not entirely necessary or even effective to use just one theory when approaching a subject like this—especially one who is a boy in need of guidance. It is helpful to supplement approaches with others so as to sense a number of influences, both social and psychological, when treating a child. It is also important to be culturally mindful of meanings, especially with role theory, where roles are defined according to the environment and communal expectations. When treating a subject like Joe Henry, all these influences and inputs should be considered so as to apply the right treatment at the right time.
References
Bao, W. N., Haas, A., Chen, X., & Pi, Y. (2014). Repeated strains, social control, social
learning, and delinquency: Testing an integrated model of general strain theory in China. Youth & Society, 46(3): 402-424.
Koenig, A., Eagly, A. (2014). Evidence for the social role theory of stereotype content:
Observations of groups’ roles shape stereotypes. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 107(3), 371-392.
Miller, B., Morris, R. (2014). Virtual peer effects in social learning theory. Crime &
Delinquency, 62(12): 1543-1569.