“All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players.” William Shakespeare may have written these words in As You Like It in 1600, but Erving Goffman truly defined the phrase with his dramaturgical theory. Dramaturgical analysis is the study of social interaction in terms of theatrical performance. Unlike actors though, who use a script telling them how to behave in every scene, real life human interactions change depending upon the social situation they are in. We may have an idea of how we want to be perceived, and may have the foundation to make that happen. But we cannot be sure of every interaction we will have throughout the day, having to ebb and flow with the conversations and situations as they happen.
Adopted into sociology by Erving Goffman, he developed most terms and the idea behind dramaturgical analysis in his 1959 book The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. This book lays out the process of human social interaction, sometimes called "impression management". Goffman makes the distinction between "front stage" and "back stage" behavior. “Front stage" actions are visible to the audience and are part of the performance. We change our hair color, eye color, complextion. Wearing make-up, the way our hair is styled, the clothes we wear. The demeanor we present to the world to the. All of these things lead to an outward appearance of what we want others to think we are. People engage in "back stage" behaviors when no audience is present. We whine and moan about the customers we deal with. Hair goes un-styled, make is wiped off. Clothing is comfortable and unrestricting. When a person conducts themselves in certain way not consistent with social expectations, it is often done secretly if this ...
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(2012, 12). Outline and Discuss Erving Goffman's Theory of Dramaturgy.. StudyMode.com. Retrieved 12, 2012, from http://www.studymode.com/essays/Outline-And-Discuss-Erving-Goffman%27s-Theory-1280254.html
Psathas, George, Theoretical Perspectives on Goffman: Critique and Commentary, Sociological Perspectives, Fall 1996 pp. 383
Goffman, Erving, The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life, Doubleday and Anchor Books, New York, 1959, pp. 34- 44
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Theatre Metaphor. ” American Communication Journal, 2003, p. 4
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Dramaturgy refers to how art brings out the dramatic actions and representation by creating a series of engaging elements on the stage. Dramaturgy is more of how actionable the piece of work is to the presenters and audience. It is somehow distinct from playwriting and directing since one piece of art can contain variant concepts of dramaturgy. It gives the narrative about the relationship with cultural signs, gender roles, historical sources and origin if not specific references. The Shakespeare's work titled Winter’s Tale exposes credible illustrations of dramaturgy bringing particular insight into the history to the surface. Technically, the in-depth investigation revealed that the union between King Henry VII and Anne Boleyn creates challenging reflections on the ruling of the Mighty Kingdom. In fact, it brands the novel with the scenic introduction and ending as well.
Bolman, L. G., & Deal, T. E. (2013). Reframing Organizations (5th ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
L.G. Bolman and T.F. Deal’s (2013) bestseller provided a four-frame model of an organization, which incorporates the structural, human resources, political and the symbolic forms.
Erving Goffman, a sociologist with a symbolic interactionist view on society, had a unique view on how people try to change how the world views them. Goffman believed that people try and manipulate how people view them. People want to be portrayed a certain way, so they altar aspects of themselves to fit how
Erving Goffman (1922-1982) held the position of Benjamin Franklin Professor of Anthropology and Sociology at the University of Pennsylvania. He served as President of the American Sociological Association in the year leading up to his death in 1982. Goffman is considered as the pioneer of the study of face-to-face interaction and has made a substantial contribution to micro-sociology. He is recognised as a major figure in the symbolic interaction perspective. In 2007 he was listed as the sixth most cited author in the humanities and social sciences (The Times Higher Education Guide, 2007).
This paper focuses on dramaturgy and how it plays a part in our everyday life. On this particular day I participated in both back stage and front stage behaviors and played different roles. I kept a log of my activities for the day and social interactions I encountered throughout my day. It was interesting to note that some casual interactions we don’t even think about, we just instinctively use old familiar scripts. The example used in Goffman’s Dramaturgical Sociology, was a casual acquaintance asking how are you and the person replying fine and yourself? “This is a fragment of conversation we are so used to employing that it feels automatic” (Kivisto, Pittman, 2007).
For this paper, I will be focusing on Erving Goffman’s concept of dramaturgy. Erving Goffman was a sociologist who studied social interaction, and is well known for his work on ‘the self.’ His book, Presentation of Self, continues to be an important and relevant book in sociology since it explains why social interaction within humans is important. In his theory, Goffman explains that people are like actors performing on a stage because of how they live their lives. Drama is used as a metaphor for how an individual presents themselves to society.
Goffman argues that our sense of identity (who we believe ourselves to be) is also constructed socially through how we present ourselves to others.
Select a social position other than a teacher or doctor and provide a detailed paragraph applying Goffman's dramaturgy. Identify the following terms for this position: costume, props, script, front stage, backstage, audience.
“All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players: They have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts…”Student of sociology, believe Erving Goffman could easily claimed to have made that statement just as Shakespeare is given due. The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life details dramaturgy or as Goffman himself relates, “The Perspective employed in this report is that of the theatrical performance…” (Preface, p. xi). Using theater metaphors Goffman wanted to analyze frame by frame the organization of the social experience. He created a framework, a common sociological language, to conceptualize social interactions and thus authored influential work producing deeper intellectual inquiry, academic discussion, and social science development. Through critical review, Goffman’s book reveal its core concept plus consider how his influential paradigm, the dramaturgical perspective maybe placed in the terms of sociological discussions within the discipline.
.Gibson, J., Ivancevich, J., Donnelly, Jr., J., Konopaske, R. (2012). Organizations: Behavior, structure, processes (14th ed.). McGraw-Hill. ISBN: 978-0078112669.
Goffman, E. 1959. The presentation of self in everyday life. Garden City, NY: Double Day
Social interaction is an integral part of the human experience. “It can be defined as the process by which people act and react in relation to others”. (Macionis) The home is where social interaction begins. “Whatever patterns are introduced will be continuously modified through the exceedingly variegated and subtle interchange of subjective meanings that goes on.” (Berger and Luckmann). Erving Goffman proposed the theory of Dramaturgical analysis which presents the view of social interaction as a theatrical performance.
Clark 1997; Simon 1962) by including the notion that the relational structure of an organization can
Erving Goffman uses a dramaturgical perspective in his discussion of impression management. Goffman’s analysis of the social world primarily centres around studies of the self and relationship to one’s identity created within a society. Through dramaturgy, Goffman uses the metaphor of performance theatre to convey the nature of human social interaction, drawing from the renowned quote “All the world’s a stage and all the men and women merely players” from Shakespeare’s ‘As You Like It.’ Much of our exploration of Goffman’s theories lies within the premise that individuals engage in impression management, and achieve a successful or unsuccessful performance. Impression management refers to the ways in which individuals attempt to control the impression that others have of them stemming from a basic human desire to be viewed by others in a favourable light. Goffman argues that our impressions are managed through a dramaturgical process whereby social life is played out like actors performing on a stage and our actions are dictated by the roles that we are playing in particular situations. In a social situation, the stage is where the encounter takes place, the actors are the people involved in the interaction, and the script is the set of social norms in which the actors must abide by. Just as plays have a front stage and back stage, this also applies in day-to-day interactions. Goffman’s theory of the front and back stage builds on Mead’s argument of the phases of the self. The front stage consists of all the public and social encounters with other people. It is similar to the ‘me’ which Mead talks about, as it involves public encounters as well as how others perceive you. Meanwhile the back stage, like the ‘I’, is the time spent with oneself reflecting on the interactions. Therefore, according to Goffman’s dramaturgical