The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life
“To use a different imagery, the very obligation and profitability of appearing always in a steady moral light, of being a socialized character, forces us to be the sort of person who is practiced in the ways of the stage.”
The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life
A book that gives a theory and a perspective to look at the social world. Given and acknowledging the “problem of other minds,” Goffman sets out to functionalize the ways the social self performs itself to others. Along the way, sociology receives the tool of “dramaturgical analysis” as a means to analyze social actors1.
The question I had for the book is simply: Why is there a need for performance?1 Language is a social technology used for communication, and I can see how that may lend itself to being normative, but is there really any function in being reductive about the identities a person can take on?
Performance
The idea of “performance” drawn out in this book is fairly simple. Playing the role that is socially expected of you, whether that be the role of a professional, gender, or student. These categories have well-defined expectations in “mindsets” and “behaviors” with their medium being us humans.
Front and Backstage
As part of a theatre, there is the “front stage” where the performance occurs, and everything behind the curtains lends itself to the “backstage.” The distinction of these two in “dramaturgical analysis” is the most cynical to me. It states that from my perspective, I could never get to know the “true other.” Any perceptions of the other will always be the front stage of what goes on.
However, I don’t think Goffman is exactly as fatalistic because he states that you can have glimpses into the backstage, but not fully, as you don’t have access to another person’s mind. Such situations backstage are finding out the “true” nature of someone, hearing gossip that was always behind your back, and so forth.
A common critique of Goffman’s work on the front and backstage is that the distinction between the two is not entirely clear. But that is by design. Similar to how actors have to deal with the question of internalizing their role, the actor becomes the role.
People situated in social contexts can be seen taking onto the attitudes of the role and even self-regulating themselves to play into them. Psychology already has a term for this: “a self-fulfilling prophecy.”