social role

n. Any recognizable pattern of behavior within a given culture involving rights, expectations, obligations, and duties which a particular individual is expected, encouraged, and sometimes trained to perform in suitable situations. As in the cast of a play, each person in social interactions has a part or parts that others expect of him or her and he/she expects of himself/herself. This can involve formal long-term roles such as mother, doctor, or real estate agent or short-term and situational roles such as sympathetic friend, bully, or peacemaker.