Editing Role model (section)

{{Short description|Person who models a social role for others}}
{{Other uses|Role Model (disambiguation)}}
{{More citations needed|date=March 2019}}
A '''role model''' is a person whose behaviour, example, or success serves as a [[model]] to be emulated by others, especially by younger people.<ref>{{cite web|title=Role model|url=http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/role+model|work=Dictionary.com|publisher=Random House, Inc. 2013.|access-date=25 January 2014}}</ref> The term ''role model'' is credited to sociologist [[Robert K. Merton]],<ref name="Kaufman, Michael T.">{{cite news|last=Kaufman|first=Michael T.|title=Robert K. Merton, Versatile Sociologist and Father of the Focus Group, Dies at 92|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/24/nyregion/robert-k-merton-versatile-sociologist-and-father-of-the-focus-group-dies-at-92.html|work=New York Times|date=24 February 2003 |access-date=25 January 2014}}</ref><ref name="Calhoun, Craig J.">{{cite book|editor-last=Calhoun|editor-first=Craig J.|title=Robert K. Merton: Sociology of Science and Sociology as Science|year=2010|publisher=Columbia UP|location=New York|isbn=978-0-231-15112-2}}</ref> who hypothesized that individuals compare themselves with [[reference group]]s of people who occupy the social role to which the individual aspires,<ref name="Holton 2004">{{cite journal|url=http://www.amphilsoc.org/sites/default/files/proceedings/480411.pdf |author=Gerald Holton |author-link=Gerald Holton |title=Robert K. Merton - Biographical Memoirs | journal=Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society |volume=148 |issue=4 |pages=506–517 |date=4 December 2004 |access-date=2007-08-07 |quote=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 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070811154926/http://www.aps-pub.com/proceedings/1484/480411.pdf |archive-date = 2007-08-11}}</ref> an example of which is the way young fans may idolize and imitate professional athletes or entertainment artists.

In the second half of the twentieth century, U.S. advocates for workplace equity popularized the term and concept of role models as part of a larger [[social capital]] lexicon—which also includes terms such as [[glass ceiling]], [[personal network|networking]], [[mentorship|mentoring]], and [[gatekeeper]]—serving to identify and address the problems barring non-dominant groups from professional success. Mainstream business literature subsequently adopted the terms and concepts, promoting them as pathways to success for all career climbers. In 1970 these terms were not in the general American vocabulary; by the mid-1990s they had become part of everyday speech.<ref name="Laird, Pamela Walker">{{cite book|last=Laird|first=Pamela Walker|title=Pull: Networking and Success since Benjamin Franklin|year=2006|publisher=Harvard University Press|location=Cambridge|isbn=9780674025530}}</ref> Although the term ''role model'' has been criticized more recently as "outdated",<ref name="Whannel, Garry">{{cite book|last=Whannel|first=Garry|title=Media Sport Stars: Masculinities and Moralities|year=2013|publisher=Routledge|location=London|isbn=9781134698714}}</ref> the term and its associated responsibility remains prominent in the public consciousness as a commonly used phrase, and a "powerful presence" in the [[Show business|entertainment industry]] and media.<ref name="Tomlinson, Alan">{{cite book|last=Tomlinson|first=Alan|title=A Dictionary of Sports Studies|year=2010|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=9780199213818}}</ref>

Role models can also be national. for example, Chilean politicians and intellectuals had France as the prime role model during much of the 19th century until [[German influence in Chile|they shifted to Germany]] in the last decades of the century.<ref name=Carlos2011>{{cite book |last1=Sanhueza |first1=Carlos |language=es |date=2011 |chapter=El debate sobre "el embrujamiento alemán" y el papel de la ciencia alemana hacia fines del siglo XIX en Chile |chapter-url=http://publications.iai.spk-berlin.de/servlets/MCRFileNodeServlet/Document_derivate_00000510/BIA%20146%20Sanhueza.pdf |title=Ideas viajeras y sus objetos. El intercambio científico entre Alemania y América austral. Madrid–Frankfurt am Main: Iberoamericana–Vervuert |pages=29–40 }}</ref> In short, a role model is a person looked to by others as an example to be imitated.