Erving Goffman 19221982

1
Erving Goffman (1922-1982)
The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life (1959)

• All the world's a stage, And all the men and
  women merely players. William Shakespeare
• Dramaturgical approach to understanding human
  behavior and interactions.
• Impression management in everyday settings.
• How does the self form, act, and change in
  response to interactions with others?

2
Erving Goffman (1922-1982)
The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life (1959)

• The self attempts to define the situation, to
  exert itself within its conception of itself.
• Others try to do the same.
• Familiarity breeds cohesion and solidarity
  because the interacting selves blend well with
  one another.
• Agreement is stressed and opposition is
  underplayed.
• Discrepant roles have a difficult time fitting
  into the play.

3
Erving Goffman (1922-1982)
The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life (1959)

• Discrepant roles have a difficult time fitting
  into the play.
• The other members try to save the play by
  bringing the discrepant player into the play
  (see peer pressure, normative expectations.)
• The team members will select players who are
  loyal to the selves in the play.

4
Erving Goffman (1922-1982)
The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life (1959)

• How do members of one play interact with members
  of another play?
• Technical goal achievement.
• Political power.
• Structural horizontal and vertical hierarchies
  of statuses.
• Culturally moral values of the larger group.

5
Erving Goffman (1922-1982)
The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life (1959)

• What kinds of interactions occur between teams
  with very different understandings of self?
• Embarrassed and confused halt.
• Less productive and efficient social structure.
• Individuals become disenchanted, angry, hurt,
  confused, etc.
• Thus, performance disruptions have negative
  consequences for interaction, society, and
  personality.

6
Erving Goffman (1922-1982)
The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life (1959)

• Expression Communication of the self.
• Impression Conclusions made from expressions.
• Fundamental dialectic of social interaction
• Thesis Desire for full information.
• Antithesis Impossible to obtain.
• Synthesis Guesses about the full information
  based upon expressions.

7
Erving Goffman (1922-1982)
The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life (1959)

• Staging and the Self
• The performer Impression management.
• The character Noble inner self.
• The show involves impression management of ones
  good character.
• The staged performance, however, is neither given
  nor fixed. The performance reflects the setting
  the impression management of others and the
  structure of society.
• The staging of the self is for real and has real
  consequences for the actor and others.