Ervin Goffman Analysis

It is hardly imagined that William Shakespeare knew the pertinence that his words would have almost 300 years later in the writings and theories of Ervin Goffman. Despite being from different eras, both Shakespeare and Goffman share a mutual consensus that individuals do not always act the same depending on the conditions that are present. Instead, individuals are all subject to portray different roles in order to maintain their desired depiction. The following concepts developed by Goffman have remained relevant to this day and are still applicable in society. As such, the following will exemplify how the portrayal of multiple selves is a symbolic interactionism theory that is still evident in today’s society through the example of one’s social
The idea that people always attempt to present themselves in an acceptable manner serves to maintain “[their] properly enacted performance” which entails them to abide by moral standards (Goffman 478). This understanding of merchants of morality by Goffman does not state that individuals engage in obvious manners of conduct in order to prove their morality, but rather maintain themselves in a well-demeaned manner. An individual’s social media presence can be related to the idea of merchants of morality in the sense that a person’s online profile may not blatantly express their occupation or opinions, but rather other parts of their profile may lead to the same conclusion. For example, a dentist with an online profile may choose to post or ‘retweet’ articles about the benefits of brushing your teeth or an increase in oral hygiene, in order to maintain their image as a professional in that field and not necessarily for the moral reasons behind the articles. A concept that Ervin Goffman also introduces is the idea of “working consensus” which is a “surface agreement regarding the definition of the situation in which, to suppress his immediate heartfelt feelings, conveying a view of the situation which he feels the others will be able to find at least temporarily acceptable” (Goffman 479). This notion refers to the idea that people may strategically act in a certain way in order to present a “viable image of one’s self”(Goffman 479). Whether this is through telling small lies or failing to provide information that may hurt another person, a working consensus is employed to maintain a person’s role in society. When talking about social media, a working consensus is much harder to be identified as there are no in-person interactions that can be analyzed. However,