Dramaturgical Observation

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All of the sudden, I found myself thinking sociologically when working at a doctor’s office. While there I was able to observe the actions of my fellow coworkers, behavior of the office’s providers and my boss, as well as the behavior of the patients and how they interact with others. On an average day, patients will be coming in and out of the office for appointments, my coworker and I will interact checking them in and out and scheduling follow up appointments.
One interesting observation I made was of my coworker, a woman in her late fifty’s, using the computer. This coworker and I both are front desk staff, a position where the majority of our time is spent using technology. Recently there have been updates made to the system of medical billing, where all new codes are used to identify a diagnosis. It has cause a lot of stress towards my coworker, and because of this I was showing her how to save a website on the bookmark bar that could help make converting the old codes to new easier. …show more content…

The Dramaturgical approach is a “view of social interaction in which people are seen as actors on a stage” with the goal of making their performance believable (Witt, 2015, pp. 78-79). In this situation, the doctor wears “costume” of a white coat and dress clothes to make his role believable. The office is his stage, the exam tables and stethoscope are two of his props. However, another one of Goffman’s theories applies when observing how our doctor also uses his clothes to changes people’s impression. Impression management is how an individual presentments themselves in order to change people’s perception of them (Witt, 2015, p. 79). In this situation, our doctor wears bright colors in order to change his appearance and seem more approachable and friendly to his patients, while still maintaining a professional side with the white coat so he still fits into the role of a

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