"All the
world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players; They
have their exits and their entrances, And one man in his time plays many parts"
(William Shakespeare, "As You Like It")
Erving Goffman's "The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life" takes a dramaturgical
,theatre like, approach to social interactions. The question that interests
Goffman in how we manage the impression of ourselves within social
interactions. He holds that in fact, in social interactions, we always
"perform" ourselves. Our theatrical performance of who we are is
never a solo act since it depends on the setting ("stage"), audience
and the cooperation of other players. For Goffman, this turns any social
interaction into a sort of negotiation on the meaning of the situation and the
roles of people in it. This means that if I want to be something I need other
people to relate to me as that something.
Like
in theatre, it is not about what's real but rather about what is perceived as
real. In "The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life" Goffman
demonstrates how we use different narratological and symbolic mechanism to
shape the manner in which we are perceived and perceive others. For Goffman we
do not only negotiate our "characters" but also cooperate in constructing
them and setting the stage for them.
Erving
Goffman's main point of interest in "The Presentation of Self in
Everyday Life" is the nature of social interaction. When we meet a person
we always attempt to draw information about him such as social, economic and
marital status, an assessment of his nature an traits, his abilities and so
forth. The information we derive allows us to befit our conduct and expectation
to that person.
For
Goffman, the nature of our social interactions is managing these impressions
the same way an actor manages his role on stage. An interesting point Goffman
makes is that our social character is always divided in two: the impressions we
(actively) make and the impression (passively) creates. One of the ways in
which we attempt to present ourselves in everyday life is to have control over
the definition of the situation, positioning other people in such positions
that they will act in accordance with what we want (think of children playing).
From
the other's point of view they perceive both the manner we try to appear
(things we say, for example) and our actual appearance (which could include things
we unintentionally give away). Bases on these modes of information people will
decide if to cooperate with our definition of the situation or not. Goffman
argues that this makes any social interaction a state of negotiation. All
participants in the interaction create a "Modus Vivendi" of
positions and roles which does not always express true agreement but rather the
calculation of needs and abilities within the situation. In any case people can
accept, deny or modify our performance of ourselves.
Goffman
thinks society is organized by the principle that determines that everyone has
certain social characteristics and it is his moral right to expect proper
evaluation and treatment. This principle mandates another one holding that
people have to be what they claim to be. If someone turns out to be something
else, we denounce him.
See also: Erving Goffman - Stigma and Social Identity (part 2, part 3)
