Three paradigms have come to dominate sociological thinking, because they provide useful explanations: structural functionalism, conflict theory, and symbolic interactionism.

The functionalist perspective sees society as a complex system whose parts work together to promote solidarity and stability. This approach looks at society through a macro-level orientation and broadly focuses on the social structures that shape society as a whole.

Functionalism emphasizes a societal equilibrium. If something happens to disrupt the order and the flow of the system, society must adjust to achieve a stable state. According to Durkheim, society should be analyzed and described in terms of functions. If one part changes, it has an impact on society as a whole.

Examples include such different problems as eating disorders, divorce, and unemployment. Public issues, whose source lies in the social structure and culture of a society, refer to social problems affecting many individuals. Problems in society thus help account for problems that individuals experience.

Ascribed status is typically based on sex, age, race, family relationships, or birth, while achieved status may be based on education, occupation, marital status, accomplishments, or other factors. The word status implies social stratification on a vertical scale. One’s status tends to vary with social context.

In sociology, there are different categories of social roles:

• cultural roles: roles given by culture (e.g. priest)
• social differentiation: e.g. teacher, taxi driver.
• situation-specific roles: e.g. eye witness.
• bio-sociological roles: e.g. as human in a natural system.
• gender roles: as a man, woman, mother, father, etc.

Man is belongs to a society, and students are an important part of it. Students cannot live in complete isolation from the community-life. Even a school-going student is bound to have links with other people who together form a society. Students can play an important role in improving and strengthening the society.

Social statuses and roles are woven into identity and can include age, gender, race, sexual orientation, ethnicity, national origin, religion, and socioeconomic class. Sociologists distinguish between two types of identity: the personal identity, also called the self-identity, and the social identity.

A “role identity” (sometimes hyphenated as “role-identity”) is defined as the character and role an individual devises for him or herself as an occupant of a particular social position, or the imaginative view of oneself as being and acting as an occupant of that position (McCall and Simmons 1978, p.