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Social Role Valorization

What is SRV?

SRV stands for Social Role Valorization.

SRV is a scientific description of how people are devalued, assigned low-value roles, and treated poorly, often to the extent of risk to their own lives. This poor treatment is given to any group which is given low value by powerful forces in society.

Difference

These groups may include people with the following difference from the valued norm:

People with Mental Difficulties (including those states labeled as Mental Illness and Learning Disability).
People with Physical Capability Differences (including those labeled as having difficulties with mobility, body control and bodily integrity).
People with Physical Appearance Differences (including those labeled as facially disfigured, unusual appearance, overweight or underweight).
People Perceived to be of a Different Ethnic or Racial Group.
People of Different Gender or Sexuality.
People who are labeled criminals (whether legally or morally so nor not).
People who do not accept Societal Norms for whatever reason.
People who use drugs (including those who use Alcohol and Nicotine as well as those who use chemicals more usually called drugs in society).
People who Exhibit Lack of Control according to the expectations of that Society.

THE ABOVE CATEGORIES ARE NOT EXHAUSTIVE; INDEED, MANKIND'S ABILITY TO CREATE NEW DIVIANT GROUPS IS APPARENTY UNLIMITED!

So, we may summarize: people who differ in any way from the societal expectations or desirability, where this difference is negatively valued, will be badly treated by that society.

SRV States That

Powerful Groups in Society will:

Define people as different
Treat people with the same or similar differences as a group
If the difference is seen as negative, it will treat such groups badly.

Roles

It will assign Negative Deviancy Roles to such groups and people.

These deviancy roles include: Not Human (Animal-like, Plant-like, Less that Human, Not yet Human, Used to be Human, Alien), Waste, Trivium, (Clown-like, humorously insignificant), Threat, Burden of Charity, Death Related Roles.

Image and Role Messages

SRV suggests that role messages are largely conveyed by image, whether of the individual or of the surroundings (including accompanying people). So a person's potential roles may be limited or assigned by: the company they keep, the surroundings in which they live, or the activities they engage in.

Competency and Role

SRV suggests that Role Occupancy is dependent on apparent competency in that role. So the availability of roles may be limited or assigned by the person's ability (or, more importantly, the lack of ability) to perform the necessary role requirements for the effective performance of that role. People cast into such negative roles will be denied the good things in life.

The Good Things in Life

Family or small intimate group
An intermediate, but still small-scale, group
A transcendental belief system
Absence of imminent threats of extreme privation
To be viewed as a human and treated with respect
To be treated justly
Friends
Work, especially meaningful work
Opportunities and expectations to discover and develop skills, abilities, gifts and talents
To be dealt with honestly
To be treated as an individual
Access to the 'sites of everyday life'
Being able to contribute, and having ones contributions recognized as valuable.

'Wounds' or Bad Things Which Happen to Devalued Persons

Societal recognition of difference, which may be societally defined as an "Impairment", and which may be based on Physical Difference, Psychological Difference, Social/Behavioral Difference and may lead further to functional difference/impairment.

These together may lead to:

Relegation to low ('deviant') status
Rejection, perhaps by family, neighbors, community, society, or service workers
Cast into one or more historical deviancy roles
Symbolical stigmatizing, 'marking', 'deviancy-imaging', or 'branding'
Being multiply jeopardized, scape-goated
Distantiation, usually via segregation and also congregation
Loss of Control, perhaps even autonomy and freedom
Discontinuity with the physical environment and objects
Social and relationship discontinuity, even abandonment
Absence or loss of natural/freely-given relationships, and substitution of artificial/'boughten' ones
Deindividualisation
Involuntary material poverty, material/financial exploitation
Impoverishment of experience, especially that of the typical, valued world
Exclusion from knowledge of, and participation in, higher order value systems
Having one's life 'wasted'
Being the object of Brutalisation, 'killing thoughts', and deathmaking

Other Reactions to Bad Treatment

Additional Mental/Behavioral response patterns that are evidence of disturbed interactions with the world, and that are engendered by certain wounds and wound clusters:

Feeling like being an alien in the world
A sense of worthlessness, dislike of self, despair
Insecurity
Failure sets and avoidance mentalities
Awareness of being a source of anguish to those who love one
Searching for the abandoner
Fantasy and inventions about relationships that do not exist, and may never have existed
Seeking/demanding physical contact, perhaps insatiably
Problematic testing of genuineness of personal and social relationships, particularly new ones
Turning the hurt into resentment, hatred towards privileged people, benefactors, society, God
Withdrawing from human contact, perhaps even from reality
Rage, perhaps violence
A sapping of energy, both physical and mental, resulting in a lowering of intelligent behavior, and possibly even of intelligence

Avoiding Negative Roles and Outcomes

SRV suggests that in trying to avoid the above, it is most useful to seek positive valued roles for the devalued people and groups. SRV suggests that such role re-valorization may be considerably more effective than other means of assisting people in devalued states. Consequently, SRV suggests that enhancing competency and image of the person and their surroundings, will result in positive roles being made a possibility for devalued people.

If such positive roles are supported and defended, then the devalued person will be able to achieve more of:

The Good Things in Life

And Avoid:

The Wounds and other Negative Effects Secondary to Devaluation.

Actions at Different Levels

In order to ensure that positive roles are available to persons who have been devalued by society, it is necessary to consider actions at multiple levels:

The level of the person them self (personal appearance and competency)
The level of the usual immediate environment of the person (where they live, work, learn and play)
The level of all arenas in which a person may live their lives (everywhere else they engage with society)
And finally, The level of society itself (how one may effect political, legal and moral change regarding the devaluation of individuals)

SRV suggests that by these means, people who have been devalued by society may be rescued (or may rescue themselves) from the effects of devaluation, and may manage to live their lives occupying valued roles and become seen as valued by society.