Abstract
This study is focused on the topic of social roles and concepts associated with it. It concerns the thematic and paradigmatic contexts in which the concept of social roles appeared and what perspectives it has opened in sociology.
Special attention is paid to Dahrendorf's book Homo Sociologicus, to the questions raised by this work, and how answers to them have been sought. The study goes on to explain how during the 70's and 80's the interest of sociologists moved from the topic of roles to the issue of social actors.
In conclusion it considers why today it could be helpful to go back to the concept of social roles and how lines of reasoning on this issue could be promising and beneficial for the further development of sociological theory.