社会角色指个人在社会关系位置上的行为模式。它规定一个人活动的特定范围和与人的地位相适应的权利义务与行为规范，是社会对一个处于特定地位的人的行为期待。

角色理论是社会学的基本理论之一。

Role theory is a perspective in sociology and in social psychology that considers most of everyday activity to be the acting out of socially defined categories (e.g., mother, manager, teacher). Each social role is a set of rights, duties, expectations, norms and behaviours that a person has to face and fulfill. The model is based on the observation that people behave in a predictable way, and that an individual’s behavior is context specific, based on social position and other factors. The theatre is a metaphor often used to describe role theory.