Erving Goffman
Erving Goffman (11 June 1922 – 19 November 1982) was a Canadian-born American sociologist, social psychologist, and writer, considered by some "the most influential American sociologist of the twentieth century".[1]
In 2007,
Goffman was the 73rd president of the
Life
Goffman was born 11 June 1922, in
From 1937 Goffman attended St. John's Technical High School in
In 1952 Goffman married Angelica Schuyler Choate (nicknamed Sky); in 1953, their son Thomas was born. Angelica experienced mental illness and died by suicide in 1964.
In 1981 Goffman married
Career
The research Goffman did on Unst inspired him to write his first major work,
In 1958 Goffman became a faculty member in the sociology department at the
Posthumously, in 1983, Goffman received the Mead Award from the Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction.[22]
Influence and legacy
Goffman was influenced by Herbert Blumer, Émile Durkheim, Sigmund Freud, Everett Hughes, Alfred Radcliffe-Brown, Talcott Parsons, Alfred Schütz, Georg Simmel and W. Lloyd Warner. Hughes was the "most influential of his teachers" according to Tom Burns.[1][3][23] Gary Alan Fine and Philip Manning have said that Goffman never engaged in serious dialogue with other theorists,[1] but his work has influenced and been discussed by numerous contemporary sociologists, including Anthony Giddens, Jürgen Habermas and Pierre Bourdieu.[24]
Though Goffman is often associated with the
Goffman made substantial advances in the study of
Goffman defined "impression management" as a person's attempts to present an acceptable image to those around them, verbally or nonverbally.[34] This definition is based on Goffman's idea that people see themselves as others view them, so they attempt to see themselves as if they are outside looking in.[34] Goffman was also dedicated to discovering the subtle ways humans present acceptable images by concealing information that may conflict with the images for a particular situation, such as concealing tattoos when applying for a job in which tattoos would be inappropriate, or hiding a bizarre obsession such as collecting/interacting with dolls, which society may see as abnormal.
Goffman broke from George Herbert Mead and Herbert Blumer in that while he did not reject the way people perceive themselves, he was more interested in the actual physical proximity or the "interaction order" that molds the self.[34] In other words, Goffman believed that impression management can be achieved only if the audience is in sync with a person's self-perception. If the audience disagrees with the image someone is presenting then their self-presentation is interrupted. People present images of themselves based on how society thinks they should act in a particular situation. This decision how to act is based on the concept of definition of the situation. Definitions are all predetermined and people choose how they will act by choosing the proper behavior for the situation they are in. Goffman also draws from William Thomas for this concept. Thomas believed that people are born into a particular social class and that the definitions of the situations they will encounter have already been defined for them.[34] For instance. when an individual from an upper-class background goes to a black-tie affair, the definition of the situation is that they must mind their manners and act according to their class.
In 2007 by The Times Higher Education Guide listed Goffman as the sixth most-cited author in the humanities and social sciences, behind Michel Foucault, Pierre Bourdieu, and Anthony Giddens, and ahead of Jürgen Habermas.[2] His popularity with the general public has been attributed to his writing style, described as "sardonic, satiric, jokey",[32] and as "ironic and self-consciously literary",[35] and to its being more accessible than that of most academics.[36] His style has also been influential in academia, and is credited with popularizing a less formal style in academic publications.[32] Interestingly, if he is rightly so credited, he may by this means have contributed to a remodelling of the norms of academic behaviour, particularly of communicative action, arguably liberating intellectuals from social restraints unnatural to some of them.
His students included Carol Brooks Gardner, Charles Goodwin, Marjorie Harness Goodwin, John Lofland, Gary T. Marx, Harvey Sacks, Emanuel Schegloff, David Sudnow and Eviatar Zerubavel.[1]
Despite his influence, according to Fine and Manning there are "remarkably few scholars who are continuing his work", nor has there been a "Goffman school"; thus his impact on social theory has been simultaneously "great and modest".[31] Fine and Manning attribute the lack of subsequent Goffman-style research and writing to the nature of his style, which they consider very difficult to duplicate (even "mimic-proof"), and also to his subjects' not being widely valued in the social sciences.[3][31] Of his style, Fine and Manning remark that he tends to be seen either as a scholar whose style is difficult to reproduce, and therefore daunting to those who might wish to emulate it, or as a scholar whose work was transitional, bridging the work of the Chicago school and that of contemporary sociologists, and thus of less interest to sociologists than the classics of either of those groups.[25][31] Of his subjects, Fine and Manning observe that the topic of behavior in public places is often stigmatized as trivial and unworthy of serious scholarly attention.[31]
Nonetheless, Fine and Manning note that Goffman is "the most influential American sociologist of the twentieth century".[37] Elliott and Turner see him as "a revered figure—an outlaw theorist who came to exemplify the best of the sociological imagination", and "perhaps the first postmodern sociological theorist".[15]
Works
Early works
Goffman's early works consist of his graduate writings of 1949–53.
Presentation of Self
Goffman's The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life was published in 1956, with a revised edition in 1959.[15] He had developed the book's core ideas from his doctoral dissertation.[35] It was Goffman's first and most famous book,[15] for which he received the American Sociological Association's 1961 MacIver Award.[39]
Goffman describes the
Asylums
Goffman is sometimes credited with having coined the term "total institution", though Fine and Manning note that he had heard it in lectures by Everett Hughes in reference to any institution in which people are treated alike and in which behavior is regulated.
The book comprises four essays: "Characteristics of Total Institutions" (1957); "The Moral Career of the Mental Patient" (1959); "The Underlife of a Public Institution: A Study of Ways of Making Out in a Mental Hospital"; and "The Medical Model and Mental Hospitalization: Some Notes on the Vicissitudes of the Tinkering Trades".
Asylums has been credited with helping catalyze the reform of mental health systems in a number of countries, leading to reductions in the numbers of large mental hospitals and of the people locked up in them.[32] It was also influential in the anti-psychiatry movement.[39][54]
Behavior in Public Places
In Behavior in Public Places (1963), Goffman again focuses on everyday public interactions. He draws distinctions between several types of public gatherings ("gatherings", "situations", "social occasions") and types of audiences (acquainted versus unacquainted).[28]
Stigma
Goffman's book Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity (1963) examines how, to protect their identities when they depart from approved standards of behavior or appearance, people manage impressions of themselves, mainly through concealment. Stigma pertains to the shame a person may feel when he or she fails to meet other people's standards, and to the fear of being discredited—which causes the person not to reveal his or her shortcomings. Thus a person with a criminal record may simply withhold that information for fear of judgment by whoever that person happens to encounter.[55]
Interaction Ritual
Goffman's Interaction Ritual: Essays on Face-to-Face Behavior is a collection of six essays. The first four were originally published in the 1950s, the fifth in 1964, and the last was written for the collection. They include "On Face-work" (1955); "The Nature of Deference and Demeanor" (1956); "Embarrassment and Social Organization" (1956); "Alienation from Interaction" (1957); "Mental Symptoms and Public Order" (1964); and "Where the Action Is".[56]
The first essay, "On Face-work", discusses the concept of face, which is the positive self-image a person holds when interacting with others. Goffman believes that face "as a sociological construct of interaction is neither inherent in nor a permanent aspect of the person".[56] Once someone offers a positive self-image of him- or herself to others, they feel a need to maintain and live up to that image. Inconsistency in how a person projects him- or herself in society risks embarrassment and discredit. So people remain guarded to ensure that they do not show themselves to others in an unfavorable light.[56]
Strategic Interaction
Goffman's book Strategic Interaction (1969) is his contribution to game theory. It discusses the compatibility of game theory with the legacy of the Chicago School of sociology and with the perspective of symbolic interactionism. It is one of his few works that clearly engage with that perspective. Goffman's view on game theory was shaped by the works of Thomas Schelling. Goffman presents reality as a form of game, and discusses its rules and the various moves that players can make (the "unwitting", the "naive", the "covering", the "uncovering", and the "counter-uncovering") while trying to get or hide an information.[57]
Frame Analysis
Goffman credited
The most basic frames are called primary frameworks. A primary framework takes an individual's experience or an aspect of a scene that would originally be meaningless and makes it meaningful. One type of primary framework is a natural framework, which identifies situations in the natural world and is completely
Goffman saw this book as his magnum opus, but it was not as popular as his earlier works.[11][58]
The Frame Analyses of Talk
In Frame Analysis, Erving Goffman provides a platform for understanding and interpreting the interaction between individuals engaging speech communication. In the chapter "The Frame Analyses of Talk," the focus is put on how words are exchanged and what is being said, specifically in informal talk or conversation. The concept of framing is introduced through an exploration of why misunderstandings occur in these basic, everyday conversations. He argues that they are more errors in verbal framing than anything else. The types of frames Goffman is considering are discussed in previous sections of the book, "fabrications, keyings, frame breaks, misframing, and, of course, frame disputes."[62] That a frame can assume so many forms is the basis of his analyses, "these framings are subject to a multitude of different transformations − the warrant for a frame analysis in the first place."[62]
Goffman's key idea is that most conversation is simply a replaying of a strip – what he describes as a personal experience or event. When we talk with others, the speaker's goal is often always the same, to provide "evidence for the fairness or unfairness of his current situation and other grounds for sympathy, approval, exoneration, understanding, or amusement. And what his listeners are primarily obliged to do is to show some kind of audience appreciation."[63] Essentially, through interaction, we are only looking to be heard, not inspire any kind of action but simply to know that someone listened and understood. This is why often a simple head nod or grunt is accepted as an appropriate response in conversation.
Goffman explains that the way a conversation is keyed is critical to understanding the intent behind many utterances in everyday speech. Key is probably best understood as the tone of the dialogue which can change numerous times during an interaction. Signaling a change in key is one way that framing often takes place, "special brackets will have to be introduced should he want to say something in a relatively serious way: "Kidding aside," "Now, I'm really serious about this,"[64] and other such tags become necessary as a means of momentarily down keying the flow of words."[64]
Folklorist Richard Bauman builds heavily on Goffman's work, specifically on the idea of key, in his work pertaining to an analysis of the performance frame. Bauman details that a performance is dependent on it being properly keyed, without this, the display will not be successful. His work on performance analyses is deeply indebted to what Goffman establishes here in "Frame Analyses."
Context is one other element to framing that is essential. "The participants will be bound by norms of good manners: through frequency and length of turns at talk, through topics avoided, through circumspection in regard to references about self, through attention offered eagerly or begrudgingly-through all these means, rank and social relationship will be given their due."[65] Certain things can and will be said in one scenario that would never be uttered in another. An awareness of these social framings is critical, just as is an awareness of the audience. Depending on who you're speaking with (a teacher, a child, a loved one, a friend, a pet, etc.) you will curve your speech to fit the frame of what your intended audience is expecting.
Goffman uses the metaphor of conversation being a stage play.[66] A play's tone will shift throughout the performance due to the actions taken by the actors; this is similar to how a discussion is keyed – based on what either person says or does over the course of an interaction, the key will change accordingly. The parallels go further, though. Goffman also claims that a speaker details a drama more often than they provide information. They invite the listener to empathize and, as was explained above, they are often not meant to be stirred to take action, but rather to show appreciation; during a play this generally takes the form of applause.[67]
Other similarities include engaging in the suspense the speaker is attempting to create. In both scenarios, you must put aside the knowledge that the performers know the outcome of the event being relayed and, in a sense, play along. This is integral to his stance as he explains "the argument that much of talk consists of replayings and that these make no sense unless some form of storyteller's suspense can be maintained shows the close relevance of frame-indeed, the close relevance of dramaturgy-for the organization of talk."[68] Lastly, because the replaying of strips is not extemporaneous, but rather preformulated, it is yet another parallel between a stage production and conversation. All of these things work in concert to provide a foundation of how talk is framed.
Gender Advertisements
In Gender Advertisements, Goffman analyzes how gender is represented in the advertising to which all individuals are commonly exposed.[69]
In her 2001 work Measuring Up: How Advertising Affects Self-Image, Vickie Rutledge Shields stated that the work was "unique at the time for employing a method now being labeled 'semiotic content analysis'" and that it "[provided] the base for textual analyses ... such as poststructuralist and psychoanalytic approaches".[70] She also noted that feminist scholars like Jean Kilbourne "[built] their highly persuasive and widely circulated findings on the nature of gender in advertising on Goffman's original categories".[70]
Forms of Talk
Goffman's book, Forms of Talk (1981), includes five essays: "Replies and Responses" (1976); "Response Cries" (1978); "Footing" (1979); "The Lecture" (1976); and "Radio Talk" (1981).
The first essay, "Replies and Responses", concerns "
Positions
In his career, Goffman worked at the:
- University of Edinburgh, Department of Social Anthropology and Social Sciences Research Centre: researcher, 1949-52;
- University of Chicago, Division of Social Sciences, Chicago: assistant, 1952–53; resident associate, 1953–54;
- National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, Maryland: visiting scientist, 1954–57;
- University of California, Berkeley: assistant professor, 1957–59; professor, 1959–62; professor of sociology, 1962–68;
- University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia: Benjamin Franklin Professor of Anthropology and Sociology, 1969–82.
Selected works
- 1959: ISBN 978-0-14-013571-8. Anchor Books edition
- 1961: ISBN 978-0-14-013739-2
- 1961: Encounters: Two Studies in the Sociology of Interaction – Fun in Games & Role Distance. Indianapolis, Bobbs-Merrill.
- 1963: ISBN 978-0-02-911940-2
- 1963: ISBN 978-0-671-62244-2
- 1967: ISBN 978-0-394-70631-3
- 1969: ISBN 978-0-345-02804-4
- 1969: ISBN 978-0-7139-0079-8
- 1971: Tie Signs")
- 1974: ISBN 978-0-06-090372-5
- 1979: ISBN 978-0-06-132076-7
- 1981: ISBN 978-0-8122-7790-6
See also
- Franco Basaglia
- Civil inattention
- Deinstitutionalization
- The Radical Therapist
References
Notes
- ^ a b c d e Fine and Manning (2003), p. 34.
- ^ a b "The most cited authors of books in the humanities". Times Higher Education. 26 March 2009. Retrieved 16 November 2009.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Fine and Manning (2003), p. 35.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-203-01900-9. Retrieved 29 May 2013.
- ]
- ^ a b Burns (2002), p.9.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Fine and Manning (2003), p. 36.
- ProQuest 302075487.
- ^ Shalin, Dmitri N. (14 August 2010). "Goffman's Self-Ethnographies [Goffman Archives]". Bios Sociologicus: The Erving Goffman Archives: 1–54. Retrieved 26 January 2022.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-520-94465-7. Retrieved 29 May 2013.
- ^ a b c d e f Fine and Manning (2003), p. 37.
- ISBN 978-0-312-03877-9. Retrieved 29 May 2013.
- ^ Trevino (2003), p. 6.
- ^ Marc Parry (18 November 2013). "The American Police State: A sociologist interrogates the criminal-justice system, and tries to stay out of the spotlight". The Chronicle of Higher Education.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-7619-6589-3. Retrieved 29 May 2013.
- ^ Winkin, Y., & Leeds-Hurwitz, W. (2013). Erving Goffman: A critical introduction to media and communication theory. New York: Peter Lang.
- ISBN 978-0-203-01900-9. Retrieved 29 May 2013.
- ISBN 978-0-87855-131-6.
- PMID 5565860.
- ^ Section on Social Psychology Award Recipients, American Sociological Association. Accessed: 14 August 2013.
- ^ "American Sociological Association: Erving Manual Goffman". Asanet.org. 5 June 2009. Retrieved 3 June 2013.
- ISBN 978-0-470-69841-9. Retrieved 29 May 2013.
- ^ Burns (2002), p.11.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Fine and Manning (2003), p. 43.
- ^ a b Fine and Manning (2003), p. 42.
- ISBN 978-0-415-23024-7. Retrieved 4 June 2013.
- ^ Fine and Manning (2003), p. 51.
- ^ a b Fine and Manning (2003), p. 52.
- ^ Leeds-Hurwitz, Wendy (28 October 2018). "Who remembers Goffman?". OUP Blog. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 29 October 2018.
- ^ Fine and Manning (2003), p. 55.
- ^ a b c d e Fine and Manning (2003), p. 56.
- ^ a b c d Fine and Manning (2003), p. 57.
- ^ Leeds-Hurwitz, W. (2008). Goffman, Erving. In W. Donsbach (Ed.), The international encyclopedia of communication (vol. 5, pp. 2001−2003). Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-7619-2793-8.
- ^ a b c d Fine and Manning (2003), p. 45.
- ISBN 978-0-313-32387-4. Retrieved 29 May 2013.
- ^ Fine and Manning (2003), p. 58.
- ^ a b c Fine and Manning (2003), p. 44.
- ^ a b Smith (2006), p. 9.
- ^ Smith (2006), pp. 33–34.
- ^ Trevino (2003), p. 35.
- ^ George Ritzer (2008). Sociological Theory. McGraw-Hill Education. p. 372.
- ^ Fine and Manning (2003), p. 46.
- ^ Trevino (2003), p. 152.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-203-97786-6. Retrieved 29 May 2013.
- ISBN 978-0-8156-0915-5. Retrieved 29 May 2013.
- ISBN 978-0-19-539508-2. Retrieved 29 May 2013.
- ^ "Extracts from Erving Goffman". A Middlesex University resource. Retrieved 8 November 2010.
- ^ a b Fine and Manning (2003), p. 49.
- ^ Weinstein R. (1982). "Goffman's Asylums and the Social Situation of Mental Patients" (PDF). Orthomolecular Psychiatry. 11 (4): 267–274.
- ^ Burns (2002), p. viii.
- ISBN 978-88-464-5358-7.
- PMID 16648523.
- ^ Trevino (2003), p. 9.
- ISBN 978-0-203-12890-9. Retrieved 29 May 2013.
- ^ a b c Trevino (2003), p. 37.
- ^ Fine and Manning (2003), p. 47.
- ^ a b Fine and Manning (2003), p. 53.
- ^ Trevino (2003), p. 39.
- ^ a b Fine and Manning (2003), p. 54.
- ^ Trevino (2003), p. 40.
- ^ a b Goffman, Erving (1974). Frame Analyses: An Essay on the Organization of Experience. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. p. 499.
- ^ Goffman, Erving (1974). Frame Analyses: An Essay on the Organization of Experience. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. p. 503.
- ^ a b Goffman, Erving (1974). Frame Analyses: An Essay on the Organization of Experience. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. p. 502.
- ^ Goffman, Erving (1974). Frame Analyses: An Essay on the Organization of Experience. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. p. 500.
- ^ Goffman, Erving (1974). Frame Analyses: An Essay on the Organization of Experience. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. p. 508.
- ^ Balducci, Giovanni (2021). La vita quotidiana come gioco di ruolo. Dal concetto di "face" in Goffman alla labeling theory della Scuola di Chicago. Milano-Udine: Mimesis Edizioni. p. 41.
- ^ Goffman, Erving (1974). Frame Analyses: An Essay on the Organization of Experience. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. p. 511.
- ^ [Goffman, Erving. Gender Advertisements. New York: Harper & Row, 1979 Print.]
- ^ ISBN 978-0-8122-3631-6. Retrieved 12 December 2014.
- ^ Trevino (2003), p. 41.
- ^ S2CID 145556978.
- ISBN 978-0-8122-1112-2. Retrieved 29 May 2013.
- ISBN 978-0-8122-1112-2. Retrieved 29 May 2013.
Bibliography
- Burns, Tom (1992). Erving Goffman. London;New York: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-06492-7.
- Burns, Tom (2002). Erving Goffman. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-203-20550-1.
- Elliot, Anthony; Ray, Larry J. (2003). Key Contemporary Social Theorists. Blackwell Publishers Ltd. ISBN 978-0-631-21972-9.
- ISBN 978-1-4051-0595-8.
- Also available as: ISBN 978-0-470-99991-2.
- Also available as:
- Fine, Gary Alan; Smith, Gregory W. H. (2000). Erving Goffman. vol. 1–4. ISBN 978-0-7619-6863-4.
- Smith, Greg (2006). Erving Goffman ([Online-Ausg.] ed.). Hoboken: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-203-00234-6.
- ISBN 978-0-7425-1977-0.
- ISBN 2020099845.
- ISBN 979-10-92305-89-0.
- ISBN 978-1-4331-0993-5.
Further reading
- Dirda, Michael (2010). "Waiting for Goffman", Lapham's Quarterly (Vol 3 No 4). ISSN 1935-7494
- Ditton, Jason (1980). The View of Goffman, New York:St. Martin's Press ISBN 978-0-312-84598-8
- Drew, Paul; Anthony J. Wootton (1988). Erving Goffman: Exploring the Interaction Order. Polity Press. ISBN 978-0-7456-0393-3.
- Goffman, Erving; Lemert, Charles; Branaman, Ann (1997). The Goffman reader. Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 978-1-55786-894-7.
- Manning, Philip (1992). Erving Goffman and Modern Sociology. Stanford University Press. ISBN 978-0-8047-2026-7.
- Raab, Jürgen (2019). Erving Goffman. From the Perspective of the New Sociology of Knowledge. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-138-36451-6.
- Scheff, Thomas J. (2006). Goffman unbound!: a new paradigm for social science. Paradigm Publishers. ISBN 978-1-59451-195-0.
- Verhoeven, J (1993). "An interview with Erving Goffman" (PDF). Research on Language and Social Interaction. 26 (3): 317–348. doi:10.1207/s15327973rlsi2603_5. Archived from the original(PDF) on 22 September 2017. Retrieved 20 April 2018.
- Verhoeven, J (1993). "Backstage with Erving Goffman: The context of the interview". Research on Language and Social Interaction. 26 (3): 307–331. .
External links
- Algazi, Gadi. "Erving Goffman: A Bibliography," Department of History, Tel Aviv University
- Brackwood, B. Diane. (1997). "Erving Goffman," Magill's Guide to 20th Century Authors. Pasadena, CA: Salem Press.
- Cavan, Sherri. "When Erving Goffman Was a Boy: The Formative Years of a Sociological Giant" Symbolic Interaction v37 n1 pp. 41–70 (Feb. 2014)
- Dear Habermas (weekly journal), "Articles on Goffman," Archived 11 January 2007 at the Wayback Machine California State University, Dominguez Hills. A listing of further reading and online resources.
- Delaney, Michael. "Erving Goffman: Professional and Personal Timeline," University of Nevada Las Vegas
- Teuber, Andreas. "Erving Goffman Biography," Brandeis University
- "Erving Goffman Archives" University of Nevada Las Vegas
- On Cooling the Mark Out: Some Aspects of Adaptation to Failure (1952), Erving Goffman
- Communication conduct in an island community (1953), Erving Goffman