The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life is a seminal sociology book by
Erving Goffman. It uses the imagery of the theatre in order to portray the
importance of human social interaction. Originally published in Scotland in 1956
and in the United States in 1959, it was Goffman’s first and most famous book,
for which he received the American Sociological Association’s MacIver award
in 1961. In 1998, the International Sociological
Association listed this work as the tenth most important sociological book
of the twentieth century. Background and summary
The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life was the first book to treat
face-to-face interaction as a subject of sociological study. Goffman treated it
as a kind of report in which he frames out the theatrical performance that
applies to face-to-face interactions. He believed that when an individual comes
in contact with other people, that individual will attempt to control or
guide the impression that others might make of him by changing or fixing his or
her setting, appearance and manner. At the same time, the person the individual
is interacting with is trying to form and obtain information about the
individual. Goffman also believed that all
participants in social interactions are engaged in certain practices to avoid
being embarrassed or embarrassing others. This led to Goffman's
dramaturgical analysis. Goffman saw a connection between the kinds of acts
that people put on in their daily life and theatrical performances.
In social interaction, as in theatrical performance, there is a front region
where the “actors” are on stage in front of the audiences. This is where the
positive aspect of the idea of self and desired impressions are highlighted.
There is also a back region or stage that can also be considered as a hidden
or private place where individuals can be themselves and set aside their role
or identity in society. The core of Goffman's analysis lies in
this relationship between performance and life. Unlike other writers who have
used this metaphor, Goffman seems to take all elements of acting into
consideration: an actor performs on a setting which is constructed of a stage
and a backstage; the props in both settings direct his action; he is being
watched by an audience, but at the same time he is an audience for his viewers'
play. According to Goffman, the social actor
has the ability to choose his stage and props as well as the costume he would
wear in front of a specific audience. The actor's main goal is to keep
coherent and adjust to the different settings offered him. This is done
mainly through interaction with other actors. To a certain extent this imagery
bridges structure and agency enabling each while saying that structure and
agency can limit each other. A major theme that Goffman treats
throughout the work is the fundamental importance of having an agreed upon
definition of the situation in a given interaction, which serves to give the
interaction coherency. In interactions or performances the involved parties may
be audience members and performers simultaneously; the actors usually
foster impressions that reflect well upon themselves and encourage the
others, by various means, to accept their preferred definition. Goffman
acknowledges that when the accepted definition of the situation has been
discredited some or all of the actors may pretend that nothing has changed,
provided that they find this strategy profitable to themselves or wish to keep
the peace. For example, when a person attending a formal dinner – and who is
certainly striving to present himself or herself positively – trips nearby
party-goers may pretend not to have seen the fumble; they assist the person in
maintaining face. Goffman avers that this type of artificial, willed,
credulity happens on every level of social organization, from top to bottom.
Since the metaphor of a theatre is the leading theme of the book, the German
and consequently also the Czech translation used a fitting summary as
the name of the book - We All Play-Act, apart from the names in other languages
that usually translate the title literally. Another translation, which
also builds on the leading theatrical theme, rather than the original title,
is the Swedish title of the book Jaget och Maskerna which literary translates
The self and the masks - A study of everyday-life drama.
See also Impression management
References External links
The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life on Open Library at the Internet
Archive Works by Erving Goffman at Open Library