Erving Goffman's Dramaturgical Theory

Erving Goffman is a sociologist who came up with the dramaturgical theory. He believed that we are in a never ending play called life, that we are nothing more than actors in the play. Goffman held that once we are born, we are thrown onto a stage called everyday life, and that our socialization comprises of learning how to perform our given roles from other individuals. We preform our parts in the presents of others, who are in turn preforming their part in interacting with us, whatever we do; we are playing out some role on the stage of life. Apart of this theory, Goffman devised the phrase impression management to denote our aspiration to influence others’ impressions of us on the front stage. According to Goffman, we use various mechanisms
to present ourselves to others, these several apparatuses are referred to as sign vehicles. The most commonly employed sign vehicles are social setting, appearance and manner of interaction. Here I will analyze a role that I play, a patient in a hospital, using Goffman’s dramaturgical theory, basically the mechanisms use to try and make the performance successful.
The first aspect of Goffman’s dramaturgical theory that will be discussed is the sign vehicle social setting.
Social Setting is the actual physical place we perform at. This could be our place of employment, a party, our home or a class room. When thinking of our life as a play, social setting would be the set that play is being performed on. This aspect also refers to the way we decorate are space and or props that are used. The role that I am using as an example, a patient in a hospital, the social setting is the hospital, the hospital room and the hospital bed, the equipment that is used or is in the room to
decorate. The next aspect of Goffman’s dramaturgical theory is the sign vehicle appearance.
This aspect refers to the clothes that we are wearing, our physical stature, race, and stereotypes made about ones appearance. Basically what Goffman is saying here is that our appearances says a lot about us and people usually judge us first on our appearance before anything else. For example, if you dress sloppy and don’t brush your teeth you will be looked at as not caring. My role as patient in the hospital my appearance was pajama pants and a baggie shirt, the multicolor of my hair, me being fat, my height, my race of being white and the stereotype of me being alternative. All of these appearance factors I am judged on and treated according to what people believe of me based on my appearance. The doctor’s appearance is his scrubs, and lab coat. If he didn’t wear the uniform of a doctor we would think he is not a doctor. This aspect of dramaturgical theory is basically how we are perceived by others. The final aspect of Goffman’s dramaturgical theory is the sign vehicle manner of interacting. Goffman believed that this sign vehicle was super important. Our manner of interacting consists of the attitudes we express in an effort to get others to form certain impressions about us. One of the most common ways to convey attitudes is through nonverbal communication, the ways we have of communicating that do not use spoken words. These consist of gestures, facial expressions, and body
language. To conclude, Erving Goffman is a sociologist who came up with the dramaturgical theory. He believed that we are in a never ending play called life, that we are nothing more than actors in the play. According to Goffman, we use various mechanisms to present ourselves to others, these several apparatuses are referred to as sign vehicles. The most commonly employed sign vehicles are social setting, appearance and manner of interaction. I have discussed each of the aspects of dramaturgical theory and applied it to my role of a hospital patient. We have learned that the social settings are the setting and aspects of the hospital, that we are judged from our appearance, and