For other uses, see Role Model (disambiguation).
The term role model first appeared in Robert K. Merton's socialization research of medical students.[1] Merton hypothesized that individuals compare themselves with reference groups of people who occupy the social role to which the individual aspires.[1] The term has passed into general use to mean any "person who serves as an example, whose behaviour is emulated by others".[2]
See also
References
- ^ a b Gerald Holton (4 December 2004). "Robert K. Merton - Biographical Memoirs" (PDF). Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 148 (4): 506–517. http://www.aps-pub.com/proceedings/1484/480411.pdf. Retrieved 2007-08-07. "He developed a theory of the reference group (i.e., the group to which individuals compare themselves, which is not necessarily a group to which those individuals belong), and elaborated on the concepts of in-group and out-group.".
- ^ "Role model". Wiktionary. http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/role_model. Retrieved 2008-04-23.
| This sociology-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)




