Charles Miller
Introduction to Sociology
Professor Jones
13 October 2014
Statuses and Roles Throughout an individual’s life it is safe to assume that their particular role may change overtime. They may occupy numerous roles in their lifetime and must often fulfill multiple roles at the same time. A young adult male can be classified as a student, a teenager, a son, and a teammate if he is on a schools sports team. Roles and statuses pend on the environment that an individual is in. At work he or she is a co-worker, at home they are a brother or sister, and on the field they are a quarterback or any other position they may play. Looking back on my high school rugby career with the knowledge I now have of roles and statuses I can now understand how I acted in different situations. Roles can affect how you interact with peers and how you think in a certain situation when you are fulfilling a certain role or a status that you are placed in. For example, my first year of playing rugby I was a big guy, wasn’t that fast or swift on my feet. So, I predicted I would be a forward; Forwards in rugby are like the linemen in football. But, to my surprise they put me in the group with the speedy backs and I credit this decision on why I didn’t start my first year. However, during the offseason because I knew they would put me at the same position the next year, I hit the gym every single day. I worked on my speed and agility mostly and trimmed down about 20 pounds. By the time rugby started again you could look up “rugby back” in the dictionary and there would be a big picture of me right next to the word. Not only did I look like a back, I run like a back, and acted like a back. I had the speed and attitude that when I got the ball I wanted to run and score every time. Every back on the team had this mentality and little did I know I was conforming under the role of rugby back without even realizing it. During my first season of rugby there was no doubt in my mind that I didn’t fit in with the athletic backs on the team. I never ran through plays with them or did