Describe sociologist Erving Goffman's dramaturgical analysis and explain what he meant by presentation of self

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Sociologist Erving Goffman suggested that day-to-day interactions have much in common with being on stage or in a dramatic production. Dramaturgical analysis is the study of social interaction that compares everyday life to a theatrical presentation. Consequently, most of us attempt to play our role as well as possible and to control the impressions we give to others.

Impression management (presentation of self) refers to people's efforts to present themselves to others in ways that are most favorable to their own interests or image. In Goffman's terminology, face-saving behavior refers to the strategies we use to rescue our performance when we experience a potential or actual loss of face. Goffman noted that people consciously participate in studied nonobservance—a face-saving technique in which one role player ignores the flaws in another's performance to avoid embarrassment for everyone involved. Social interaction, like a theater, has a front stage and a back stage. The front stage is the area where a player performs a specific role before an audience. The back stage is the area where a player is not required to perform a specific role because it is out of view of a given audience. The need for impression management is most intense when role players have widely divergent or devalued statuses.