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Dramaturgical Analogy

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Dramaturgical Analogy
Dramaturgical analogy

The term dramatugical analogy, originates from the ideas of symbolic interactionism. Which is a theory which puts emphasis on micro-scale social interaction, it expresses the main elements of interaction, it could be described a a two sided view of how humans interact. The use of the word dramaturgical analogy was expressed by Ervin Goffman who began to explore social situations, throughout his writings he refers back to an analogy of the theatre, as well as other comparisons to a everyday settings such as hospitals and restaurants 'American medical organisations ' (Goffman,1990:p.38) to support his ideas and introductions of his new terminology.

The main idea in Goffman 's writings is how a person learns to 'perform ', (interact) which he believes doesn 't represent a persons true self, but is designed to give the impression to those on the receiving end of the communications that it is. Whether it be a group of people in a verbal conversation or two people communicating through body language. Goffman expressed this by writing, 'when an individual plays a part he implicitly requests this observers to take seriously the impression that is fostered before them '. (Goffman, 1990:p.28). He goes on to describe how we have a 'mask ' on which we wear, in order to project our 'self ' that we have socially constructed for people to perceive as us. These actions what people experience from us is what they perceive to be your characteristics, but these characteristics cannot be understood, without the social setting in which you perform. This demonstrates that our actions as humans are dependant on time, our surroundings and the type of audience we have. For example the way we engage yourself at a football match, of an evening is complete contrast to the way you act in a museum. Demonstrating that we 'perform ' different roles depending upon where we are, who is present, and what sort of persona we want to give to people present. This can



Bibliography: Goffman Erving. (1959), The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life, reprint Penguin Books, 1990. Goffman, Erving.(1967), Interaction Ritual: Essays on Face-to-Face Behavior, Garden City, New York, Anchor Books. Manning, Phillip. (1992), Erving Goffman and Modern Sociology, UK: Polity Press | |

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