This paper elaborates on the various scientific problems and
difficulties regarding the notion of social type in the social sciences,
particularly in sociology. An extensive body of literature on this topic is
reviewed, and numerous ambiguous and
vague points associated with this
concept are identified. Some conceptual clarification and resolution is
proposed to articulate the precise difference between social type and the
concept of role. A typology of four major mechanisms or sources from
which social types may emerge and be identified by sociologists is
presented: occupational, psychological (inborn traits), cultural/,sub
cultural, and mythological. Each source/mechanism forms a different, or
slightly different, type of social type.
