The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life
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| Author | Erving Goffman |
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| Country | United States |
| Subject | Social Anthropology, Sociology, social psychology |
| Publisher | Anchor Books |
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Publication date
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1959 |
| Media type | |
| Pages | 251 |
| Awards | American Sociological Association’s MacIver award (1961) |
| ISBN | |
| OCLC | 59624504 |
The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life is a 1956 sociology book by Erving Goffman, in which Goffman uses the imagery of the theatre in order to portray the importance of human social interaction. Originally published in Scotland in 1956 and in the United States in 1959, it is Goffman’s first and most famous book, for which he received the American Sociological Association’s MacIver award in 1961.
In 1998, the International Sociological Association listed this work as the tenth most important sociological book of the twentieth century.
The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life was the first book to treat face-to-face interaction as a subject of sociological study. Goffman treated it as a kind of report in which he frames out the theatrical performance that applies to face-to-face interactions. He believed that when an individual comes in contact with other people, that individual will attempt to control or guide the impression that others might make of him by changing or fixing his or her setting, appearance and manner. At the same time, the person the individual is interacting with is trying to form and obtain information about the individual.
Goffman also believed that all participants in social interactions are engaged in practices to avoid being embarrassed or embarrassing others. This led to Goffman's dramaturgical analysis. Goffman saw a connection between the kinds of acts that people put on in their daily life and theatrical performances.
In social interaction, as in theatrical performance, there is a front region where the performers (individuals) are on stage in front of the audiences. This is where the positive aspect of the idea of self and desired impressions are highlighted. There is also a back region, where individuals can prepare for or set aside their role. The "front" or performance that an actor plays out includes "manner," or how the role is carried out, and "appearance" including the dress and look of the performer. Often, performers work together in "teams" and form bonds of collegiality based on their common commitment to the performance they are mutually engaged in.
The core of Goffman's analysis lies in this relationship between performance and life. Unlike other writers who have used this metaphor, Goffman seems to take all elements of acting into consideration: an actor performs on a setting which is constructed of a stage and a backstage; the props in both settings direct his action; he is being watched by an audience, but at the same time he may be an audience for his viewers' play.
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