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