In labeling theory, role engulfment refers to how a person's identity becomes based on a role the person assumes, superseding other roles. [1] [2] [3]
A negative role such as " sick" can serve to constrict a person's self-image. [4]
Jungians have highlighted the possibility of role engulfment by one's profession: 'every calling or profession has its own characteristic persona...the danger is that people become identical with their personas—the professor with his textbook, the tenor with his voice'. [5] The problem is particularly acute with what Alasdair Macintyre calls characters—'a very special type of social role which places a certain kind of moral constraint on the personality of those who inhabit them...masks worn by moral philosophies'. [6]
Role engulfment can also occur in a more mainstream context. It has been explored for example with regard to college athletes. Having initially entered college with a "broad" agenda, many then 'experienced "role-engulfment"...the "greedy role" of athletics soon dominated their time, actions, and social circles'. [7] Athletes may have themselves narrowed their focus too early: 'one of the consequences of identity foreclosure or role engulfment was the inability to foresee and plan for future roles'. [8]
Family therapy sees part of the father's role in early child-raising, faced with maternal engulfment, as 'to haul her back, to reclaim her, as it were, from the baby. So that the two of them can put their own relationship as a married couple first again'. [9] (It also notes a potentially wider need 'to see new meanings put into role names' in a family context). [10] Whereas some '"good" mothers are able to demonstrate role commitment without role engulfment', [11] others may find the role of "devoted mother" becomes an all-embracing one. 'Role engulfment, by reducing the opportunities for contacts with friends and family, leaves the parent with fewer sources of positive self-evaluation outside of the family'. [12]
Edwin Schur, building on the work of Erik H. Erikson and Kai Erikson on "The Confirmation of the Delinquent" [13] brought the term "role engulfment" to the theoretical fore in relation to deviancy: '"Role engulfment" refers to the process whereby persons become caught up in the deviant role as a result of others relating to them largely in terms of their spoiled identity'. [14] Conversely, the deviant may themselves embrace the role. 'When a particular role becomes an integral part of a person's identity, almost to the exclusion of all other roles, role merger (or role engulfment) is said to occur. Such a role is often referred to as a "master role"'. [15]
The term Role domination also refers to the process of how a particular role comes to dominate over other roles in a person's life. [18]
Role abandonment refers to the disassociation of and detachment of other goals, priorities, and roles following role engulfment. [18]
In labeling theory, role engulfment refers to how a person's identity becomes based on a role the person assumes, superseding other roles. [1] [2] [3]
A negative role such as " sick" can serve to constrict a person's self-image. [4]
Jungians have highlighted the possibility of role engulfment by one's profession: 'every calling or profession has its own characteristic persona...the danger is that people become identical with their personas—the professor with his textbook, the tenor with his voice'. [5] The problem is particularly acute with what Alasdair Macintyre calls characters—'a very special type of social role which places a certain kind of moral constraint on the personality of those who inhabit them...masks worn by moral philosophies'. [6]
Role engulfment can also occur in a more mainstream context. It has been explored for example with regard to college athletes. Having initially entered college with a "broad" agenda, many then 'experienced "role-engulfment"...the "greedy role" of athletics soon dominated their time, actions, and social circles'. [7] Athletes may have themselves narrowed their focus too early: 'one of the consequences of identity foreclosure or role engulfment was the inability to foresee and plan for future roles'. [8]
Family therapy sees part of the father's role in early child-raising, faced with maternal engulfment, as 'to haul her back, to reclaim her, as it were, from the baby. So that the two of them can put their own relationship as a married couple first again'. [9] (It also notes a potentially wider need 'to see new meanings put into role names' in a family context). [10] Whereas some '"good" mothers are able to demonstrate role commitment without role engulfment', [11] others may find the role of "devoted mother" becomes an all-embracing one. 'Role engulfment, by reducing the opportunities for contacts with friends and family, leaves the parent with fewer sources of positive self-evaluation outside of the family'. [12]
Edwin Schur, building on the work of Erik H. Erikson and Kai Erikson on "The Confirmation of the Delinquent" [13] brought the term "role engulfment" to the theoretical fore in relation to deviancy: '"Role engulfment" refers to the process whereby persons become caught up in the deviant role as a result of others relating to them largely in terms of their spoiled identity'. [14] Conversely, the deviant may themselves embrace the role. 'When a particular role becomes an integral part of a person's identity, almost to the exclusion of all other roles, role merger (or role engulfment) is said to occur. Such a role is often referred to as a "master role"'. [15]
The term Role domination also refers to the process of how a particular role comes to dominate over other roles in a person's life. [18]
Role abandonment refers to the disassociation of and detachment of other goals, priorities, and roles following role engulfment. [18]