In my ethnographic study, I apply theoretical concepts developed by Erving Goffman in The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life to the behavior of employees in the retail department store, Macy’s. Goffman (1959) argues that social interactions in everyday life can be understood as presentations between performers and audiences. Within social establishments, he suggests four analytical frameworks may govern how performers stage their “characters” including the technical, political, structural and cultural; he also argues that the aforementioned perspectives are situation-specific and thus can also be analyzed within a broader dramaturgical framework (Goffman 1959). The task of this…
To listen to the music of the wilderness, is to listen to the howl of the wolf. Man may never fully understand the composer, nor his passion behind each note, but the aura of mystery that surrounds him will forever fill our dreams with wonder and adventure. For centuries, wolves have carried their melodies on a small island in northern Lake Superior, known as Isle Royale. Completely cut off from the mainland, Isle Royale is extremely isolated, with only a handful of human structures and trails. The wolves who reside on the island are not alone, however, accompanied by a native of the cervidae family, the moose (Peterson). Together, these two species, combined with the remote nature of Isle Royale, produce one of the most incredible ecological relationships in the world. Their lives deeply intertwined, the moose and wolves share a unique predator-prey relationship. The moose consume the raw flora of the island, and the wolves feed on the moose without competition from other predators. The distribution of both species is limited to the islands shores, which creates a highly controlled setting. Such an incredible scenario has drawn the attention of biologists and ecologists from around the world. Beginning in 1958 and continuing to present day, the Isle Royale Research Project has intensively researched, documented, and monitored the interaction between the wolf and moose free of human presence (Peterson). The island is the perfect location for a study. In essence the island itself acts as a controlled laboratory, and the researchers can observe the interaction between the species away from human impact.…
Erving Goffman, a prominent Canadian-American sociologist, is considered one of the most influential sociologists of the twentieth century. He has coined and created numerous terms and concepts that have had a great influence on the discipline of sociology and what it has become today. He focus was on the actual social environment and physical interaction of individuals that shapes their views of self. Many of his concepts were created out of his own research and observations that he would make well working in the sociology field.…
Examine the view that Erving Goffman’s work focuses on forms of social interaction but ignores social structure.…
For example, racial or ethnic labelling against a minority group could lead to negative treatment of that group that becomes inbuilt into societies institutions. The social theory symbolic interactionism could be used to explain why this social problem occurs. Symbolic interactionism is a micro level theory, which means it looks at the individual’s role in constructing society. It received its named because it is a theory about…
Symbolic interactionism was developed in the 1960’s and was exemplified mainly by George Mead’s student Herbert Blumer (Conley, 2011). Symbolic interactionism focuses mainly on smaller, more face-to-face interactions or microsociology unlike many other theories such as functionalism (Conley, 2011). The main idea of symbolic interactionism is that people act in response to the meanings that are assigned to them. For example a yellow stoplight means to slow down and prepare to stop (Conley, 2011). Erving Goffman’s dramaturgical theory was one of the base theories behind symbolic interactionism. This theory uses theatrical terms to explain how we act and then change how we act based on the responses we receive in our encounters in society (Conley, 2011). The idea of this theory involves a front stage and a backstage. Front stage is the performance or real life interaction with others while the backstage is where you practice for the front stage in order to save yourself from embarrassment. Another major theory of symbolic interactionism is the labeling theory. The labeling theory involves the forming of an individual’s self-identity…
Personally, I do not believe that my life is a performance and everyone around me as the audience. However, it is what Goffman wants me to think since he refers to his attitude as dramaturgical perspective (Goffman, 1999). Furthermore, the book was published in 1959 before the social revolution in the 1960s exploded the anticipation of formality it documents, the assumptions concerning proper behaviour, making a good impression, and social distinction. The difference remains, of course, but individuals tend to act in ways, which consciously disavow differences in status and class instead of highlighting them. Moreover, Goffman’s underlying framework is valid, and it casts useful light on dilemmas of going online.…
Mason T., Carlisle C., Watkins C., Whitehead E., (eds.) (2001) Stigma and Social Exclusion. Routledge.…
The term ‘stigma’ was initially generalized in sociology by Golffman (1963), who used it to refer to a…
Symbolic interactionism is a social psychological theory developed from the work George Herbert Mead in the early part of the twentieth century. According to this theory, people inhabit a world that is in large part socially constructed. In particular, the meaning of objects, events, and behaviors comes from the interpretation people give them, and interpretations vary from one group to another.…
Symbolic interactionism originated with two key theorists, George Herbert Mead and Charles Horton Cooley. George Herbert Mead was a proponent of this theory and believed that the true test of any theory was that "It was useful in solving complex social problems" (Griffin 59). Mead’s influence on symbolic interactionism was said to be so powerful that other sociologists regard him as the one “true founder” of symbolic interactionism tradition. Although Mead taught in a philosophy department, he is best known by sociologists as the teacher who trained a generation of the best minds in their field. Strangely, he never set forth his wide-ranging ideas in a book of systematic treatise. After his death in 1931, his students pulled together class notes and conversations with their mentor and published Mind, Self and Society in his name. (Griffin 59). 'It is a common misconception that John Dewey was the leader of this sociological theory; however, according to The Handbook of Symbolic Interactionism, Mead was undoubtedly the individual who “transformed the inner structure of the theory, moving it to a higher level of theoretical complexity.” (Herman-Kinney Reynolds 67).[1] Herbert Blumer, a student and interpreter of Mead, coined the term and put forward an influential summary of the perspective: people act toward things based on the meaning those things have for them; and these meanings are derived from social interaction and modified through interpretation. Blumer was a social constructionist,and was influenced by Dewey as such this theory is very phenomenologically based. He believed that the "Most human and humanizing activity that people engage in is talking to each other" (Griffin 60).[2] Two other theorists who have influenced Symbolic interaction theory are Yrjö Engeström and David Middleton. Engeström and Middleton explained the usefulness of symbolic interactionism in the communication field in a "variety of work setting including, courts of…
However Goffman clarified this statement rather than focusing on stigmatised feature, what we need to know is the social relations that change a simple characteristic into a developed stigma, in some words what we need is language relations. Another idea from Goffman is that the stigmatic individuals must know what others think and should internalize any social concerns which they fail to meet (Corrigan & Watson, 2002). In this way, stigmas retain PSY.…
Link P and Phelan J (2001). Conceptualizing stigma. Annual Review of Sociology 27(1): 363 – 385 DOI: 10.1146/annurev.soc.27.1.363 [Accessed 04 December 2013]…
Research clearly identifies that stigma has been and continues to be attached to many social identities within society. The social concept of stigma involves at least to main mechanisms: 1) “the recognition of difference based on some distinguishing characteristic or mark: and 2) a consequent devaluation of the person” (Heatherton, 2002, p.3). In other words, stigma involves a range of discriminatory practices against people who are deviant from a social norm (Goffman, 1963).…
Goffman suggests that stigma is, “an undesirable attribute that is incongruous with our stereotype of what a given individual should be” Goffman (1963, p.3.)…