Week 6- Dramaturgy

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All the world is a stage..

                              

Goffman came up with some interesting concepts, particularly the idea about social life as a drama. He believed that our social interactions with people can be compared to an actor performing on stage for an audience. This is explained further in Life as Theatre: A Dramaturgical Sourcebook, where the authors' point out that the self is perceived as social and dramatic because a person's sense of individuality is situationally specific. Different situations occasion the creation of different selves. And our different 'selves,' are akin to characters in a play. 

Thus, social life as a drama means that there is a front stage and back stage. The front stage is where performances are conducted- where you are trying to please people. And the backstage is where people prepare for the performance- where they are themselves. In other words, we put on a mask and get into character and perform in a certain way in front stage and backstage settings.

It is all about impression management and space-where spaces are provided to conduct the performances and spaces to maintain ourselves to handle the performances.

For example, I work at a function centre/ restaurant.  Goffman's front stage can be applied to when I am on the floor taking my table's order and serving them. My 'self' changes, as I have adapted to my workplace setting and (according to Goffman) working in a dramatised way. I am over friendly and polite. The back stage can be applied to when I am in the kitchen- where the customers can not see me. I might change my self and say something negative about them 'backstage', for instance, when I am at a wedding function and the guests are intoxicated and smashing glasses everywhere. 

People can constitute stages, front and back, by the the way they behave in them in certain ways. They will always try to cultivate a good impression and leave the performance with a good face. (I agree- this is what I want when I'm working) However, what Goffman found problematic with front stage and back stage is that there is no end. If a person tries to make something appear backstage, there will always be another stage after it.

In conclusion, a person achieves their 'self' on the basis of their performance of the situation.

References-

Goffman, E. 1971, 'Performances,' The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life, Harmondsworth: Penguin, pp:28-82.

Brisett, D and Edgley, C. 2009, Life as Theatre: A Dramaturgical Sourcebook, Transaction Publishers, New Brunswick, New Jersey.

Image- http://dramaturgie-la.blogspot.com/2011/06/moscow-art-theatre.html

Week 5- Presentation of Self

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What is the self? How can it be socially managed and produced?

Erving Goffman attempted to answer these questions in his paper, 'the nature of Deference and Demeanor'. According to Goffman, 'deference' and 'demeanor' play an active role in how individuals act and respond to social interactions. They can sometimes work together to support an individuals image of self, or can work in conflict to injure that image. They provide an interesting insight into the way in which the self is a social construction.

• Deference is the use of rituals and codes by a subordinate to show respect to their superordinate. Deference can take the form of compliments, apologies, and even criticisms.

•  Demeanor refers to the appearance of the self, which is displayed through actions, language use, etc. A person can convey a different demeanor depending on their context and what role they take on in these contexts. 

There are a few extra things that help to shape an individual's demeanor, such as 'rules of conduct'. In the reading, Goffman explains that society has placed 'rules of conduct' on how an individual should act in the form of obligations and expectations. An individual's status in society determines the 'rules of conduct' that they must present through their demeanor. For example, a doctor has an obligation to provide treatment to a patient, depending on the result of the demeanor. The patient then gives the doctor deference- praise or criticisms for their help. The doctor can decide to accept the praise. If it is negative deference they may change to fix it.

What I found most interesting about Goffman's work is facework- which is all of the little things we do in life to develop and maintain our 'selfs'. It conveyed to me how cautious we are about keeping our dignity intact when interacting with people (eg. to keep 'good face' or 'saving face'). There are negative sanctions for those who 'lose face' in interactions, such as 'social death' (not being accepted by society) and feeling ashamed.

I found an article titled, 'Managing impressions online', which relates to Goffman's ideas on presentation of self. It explores online dating participants and how they manage their online presentation of self in order to accomplish the goal of finding a romantic partner. I agree with the statement that self presentation strategies are important during relationship initiation, since others will draw on that information to decide whether to pursue a relationship. The same can be said for social networking sites, such as Facebook and Myspace, where users draw on the information and photos that are provided to form impressions of their 'friends'.

References:

Goffman, E. 1967, 'The Nature of Deference and Demeanor,' in Interaction Ritual: Essays on Face-to-Face Behaviour, New York: Pantheon Books, pp.47-96.

Ellison. N, Heino. R and Gibbs, J. 2006, 'Making Impressions Online: Self Presentation Processes in the Online Dating Environment,' in Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, vol.11, no.2, pp.415-441.

Week 4- Group Presentation Powerpoint Slides

Symbolic Interactionism Finished

Week 3- Summary Of Symbolic Interactionism Reading

-Roberts, B. 2006, 'Symbolic Interactionism 2- Developments,' in Micro Social Theory, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, pp.46-61.

Okay, this is my first blog and a rough summary of Symbolic Interactionism, which I am still struggling to get my head around !

So, Symbolic Interactionism was a concept created by Herbert Blumer in 1937. He applied it to the micro sociological study of social interaction and social encounters, such as face-to-face interaction.

Some Brief points.

• Symbolic Interactionism refers to the particular features of interaction that take place between people.
• To consider the concept involves the idea that individuals' action is constructed. Individuals have selves and can refer to themselves. Group action is an outcome of the bringing together of individuals' interpretations of each other.

Blumer cared more about the intricate discussion of the nature of social interaction.

"Human interaction is mediated by the use of symbols by interpretation or  by ascertaining the meaning of one another's actions" (Blumer, 1969:79).

Three important Aspects of Symbolic Interaction !! (according to Blumer)

1. It is a formative process.
2. The reliance on symbolic interaction makes human group like a developing process.
3. By analysing Symbolic Interaction it is possible to study the whole range of human relationships.

In summary, humans act towards things based on the the meanings they construct for the things. The meanings of such things develop from social interaction.

The 'Iowa School' attempted to show that the central ideas of symbolic interactionism can be applied and verified through empirical research.

Some criticisms.

• Symbolic Interactionism lacks consistency/ clarity and relies on certain insufficiently examined assumptions of social life.
• It led to an over-concern with deviant aspects of social life.
• 'Outside' criticisms- It is non-economic, ahistorical, culturally limited, and ideologically biased, has a limited view of social power.

New Developments of Symbolic Interactionism.

• Since the mid-1980s, people have struggled to show the vitality of symbolic interactionism- as a lively, developing body of work.
• Progress was made in the area of interpretive procedures, which point out that symbolic interactionism was influenced by feminism (or the 'feminist turn') in the cultural construction and reproduction of gender.
• The examination of overlooked aspects of the "founders" of symbolic interactionism. 
• Postmodernist writings have affected interpretive work of symbolic interaction.

In conclusion..

Symbolic interactionism has majorly contributed to micro social theory. It continues to develop new areas for investigation and conceptualisation.