The Presentation Of Self, By Erving Goffman

Erving Goffman is hailed by many as ‘one of the twentieth century’s most remarkable practitioners of social science’ (Smith, 2006:1). Smith goes on to further remark that Goffman‘s work is ‘enough to signify not only a subject matter but also a highly distinctive attitude and analytic stance toward the social world’ (Smith, 2006:1). This claim is perhaps justified when noting the alternative direction Goffman headed in his development of sociological theory in comparison to the founding fathers, Marx, Durkheim and Weber. This essay will consider and discuss Goffman’s concept of self and how this materialises as differing forms of a person social actor depending on the social context with reference to Goffman’s The Presentation of Self in
By providing physical signefers of the social status of the occupation of the individual to the audience the actor establishes a relationship with the preexisting social norms of the desired professional self and thus may believe their front stage as being a genuine element of their identity. However, in many instances the individual remains aware of their private, backstage, self and is able to conscientiously switch between the two stages, albeit perhaps by altering from the front to the back stage appearance.Importantly, to maintain a convincing performance the actor must establish a consistency over the settings and appearances that are portrayed to the audience (Goffman, 1990:36). As the internet and particularly social media is now a substantial aspect of identity and identity construction for a large number of people it is absolutely important to maintain that consistency in appearance particularly in order to protect the status of the front stage in the professional context of the life of the individual. The individual must creating an impression upon others that which they desire them to see, reserving the back stage self for few trusted friends away from any area of professionalism. Goffman argues the difficulty of this is dependent upon the role the actor undertakes and the extent to
If the theory were to be taken literally then it is possible to observe the key components of the front and back stage as per the examples given in this essay. Scheff believes that ‘Goffman was an incredibly perceptive observer of the microworld’ (Scheff, 2006: 15) and credits Goffman as being the first theorist to undertake this. Taking emotions and the variation of interaction into account Goffman's interpretation of the role individuals adopt in his front and back stage regions presents a theory that for the first time was based on elements other than quantifiable rational, ideas (Scheff, 2006: 45). Moreover, Scheff goes on to argue that Goffman's change in direction of theoretical development acts to challenge ‘the Western conception of the self as an isolated, self-contained individual. He offered an alternative conception: the self as an aspect of social