Dramaturgical Theory Essay

Many people who study sociology use a perspective called Dramaturgy to account for interactions between people in everyday life. The use of dramaturgy then leads us to the use of the dramaturgical perspective. The dramaturgical perspective is a sociological theory that is an outlier within the sociological community. This is because it is a theory that does not study the behavior of humans but instead gives the behavior of humans a context. In an example of the dramaturgical theory social interaction is analyzed in terms of how people live their lives like actors performing on a stage. Goffman viewed theatre as a metaphor and the actors with in it to the way we as people interact with each other in social situations. Within the dramaturgical

Front stage refers to how we are expected to present ourselves a certain way, however, when a person goes against the norm society tends to notice. Goffman noticed this and related it to the front stage of a play performance and how the actors play a part the way they are supposed to, but if that actor doesn’t play the character correctly the audience (society) will notice and try to shun or revert the actor back to the social norm. In Goffman’s book “The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life” he states that the back stage is a place where "the performer can relax; he can drop his front, forgo speaking in his lines, and step out of character" (488). Meaning when a person is away from society they are able to drop there “role” and truly be themselves without judgment or consequences. Outside or off-stage is where individual actors meet the audience and then play a different role altogether. This is to say that a nurse is to plays a front stage role when she is on a team of doctors and nurses when performing a surgery. They are meant to be focused and be ready to help the surgeon in a moment’s notice. Though when the surgery is over the nurse goes to meet the patient personally and plays a whole different role. They usually nice and cheerful, to make the situation and conversation as enjoyable and easy as possible. Finally borders or boundaries prevent or restrict

The onstage performance of the plumber is that they are a professional who knows what they are talking about and is able to fix their client’s issue without worry. The backstage performance is again where the plumber can be truly be themselves whether they are still on the job but out of eyesight of their client or when the job is over and his job as the plumber is done for the day. The off-stage performance is when the plumber is trying to be friendly with the client. Like any good customer service business it is important to build up a good client base and that means being polite and nice to the clients. Finally the border/region shows there is a time and a place to be friendly and polite. While at other times it is better to be professional and straight forward. Within the two examples that have been provided there are a couple a similarities between the two. First, there is a similarity between the nurse’s and the plumber’s on stage performance. Though both have different jobs and play different roles, both characters have the same characteristic of professionality. Both of their border/region performances are similar as well this is because their front stage performances are to be professional. While when both meet the “audience” a client or patient individually they change their character to be polite and nice to the individual. That is how these two examples are