Dramaturgy;

Almost every shift at my work there is a tension upon entering the workplace. An indecisiveness as to how one should greet people and react all stemming from the emotional state of one man, the boss. Goffman’s concept of front and back stage personas is all too relevant here. It is almost as if there are three stages in my workplace; one that deals with co-workers, one with customers and one with the boss. It is interesting that despite vast discrepancies between my co-workers personalities, their personas as such adjust similarly in all three of these situations.  My boss has a tendency to lose his temper quickly and often what seem like congenial sarcastic remarks rapidly turn into hostile attacks. As a result of this whenever the boss requests anything, all employees are all hands on deck in an endeavour to avoid an angry outburst. Goffman would see this as performance specifically for the boss. There is a similar performance for customers who despite often unusual requests or blatant rudeness (befitting of work at a pharmacy) receive a pleasant and courteous fronting from the service team. However, back stage when the customers leave, there is regularly ‘bitching’ or at least comical commentary on the often unusual characters that present themselves for their medications. Transitions between these three personas is seamless and if the appropriate persona is not applied there is a loss of face and often immediate recognition of the breaking of social norms by those around them.  

Johansson (2007) discusses many of Goffman’s dramaturgy concepts in relation to the development of the field of public relations. It provides an interesting real world application for Goffman’s concepts of framing (contextualising) social interaction as well as footing, face and power dynamics and there impacts upon work in the public relations sector. This article ‘framed’ numerous concepts including dramaturgy quite well for me.

Reference:

Johansson, C. (2007) Goffman's sociology: An inspiring resource for developing public relations theory. Public Relations Review, 33(3), 275-280.

xoxo Gossip Mitch

Whoopsy - Link to Data Discussion Presentation

Didn't realise this had to be posted to the blog prior to presentation, 50 minutes early still counts!

Ablisa's Anti-social Audition

It's interesting viewing that's for sure.

Presentation of the Self

Goffman - No method, no theory, no canon. Clearly a loose cannon:

On the topic of the presentation of the self, Goffman presents some interesting fodder to muse. The most intriguing for me was one that I already knew, that I didn’t know I knew, the concept of face. ‘Saving face’ or ‘losing face’ are commonplace expressions that refer to ‘face’ more or less a person’s dignity. Andrew also highlighted Goffman’s concept of social death which though somewhat dramatically labelled is similarly an identifiable idea that arose from the reading.   

As for the self, we all have roles that we need to fulfil in social situations. Right now my role is as a student blogging for this coursework, and later still as a student, getting to bed too late. Goffman’s use of the phrase ‘role’ differs from the contemporary connotations that could imply great effort is required in fulfilling such social obligations or expectations. Goffman uses ‘roles’ to denote our compliance with social norms. We can of course however choose to distance ourselves from all or one of the roles we are expected to undertake, such as an unenthusiastic retail assistant begrudgingly, if at all going about their work. It is the sum of all the various roles we play as individuals - at work, at uni or at home - that make up the presentation of the self.

Goffman also suggests that the way we act in social situations is driven by our desire to preserve the self. The expression ‘do unto others as you would have done to you’ may be a manifestation of this concept in that we act towards others in the way we expect it returned. In essence, we fill our social roles and expect that others fulfil their own.  

Good old Goffman.

Xoxo Gossip Mitch.