Goffman And Arlie Hochschild : Sociological Study Of Interaction

Although originally written in 1983, The Managed Heart is still an up to date look at an interesting concept: combining emotional feelings with the work one does. At first glance, the notion that emotions may have an impact on one’s work environment seems almost a non-issue. However, Hochschild is not saying that; rather, Hochschild looks at the effect of emotions in the workplace, but also the interaction of those emotions with the work itself. The author’s interest in this topic began at an early age, 12, when she recounts an event in her life: her parents, part of the U.S. Foreign Service, entertained diplomats. Hochschild describes the question that came to her mind as she looked up into the smiling face of a

In his book, The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life, Goffman (1959) focuses on the self as a staged production in which people actively present themselves to different audiences one encounters. To bolster his conceptualization, Goffman used an interesting metaphor of “all the world’s a stage” (1959, 254). This, he terms as a “dramaturgical approach” (Goffman 1959, 240) in which an actor puts on a show for others; drawing analogies between human behaviors and the theater. Goffman (1959) likens the individual to an actor on stage performing for and with other individuals involved in the situation. Three types of space exist for the actor to perform on, to enact the self, and to interact with others: the front stage, the backstage, the outer region. Goffman (1959) utilizes specific dramaturgical terms such as performance, teams, front and back regions, sign-vehicles, and highlights the process of dramatic realization. These terms will be discussed in the following sections.

Both Simmel and Goffman have greatly contributed to the development of the sociological investigation of human interaction and experiences, they have taken a science that was not easily understood and brought it to the center of attention. While using different methods to ultimately obtain an understanding of how society functions, whether it be on the individual level or the as a group interplay.

In “Presentations of Self in Everyday Life,” Goffman is constantly explaining how everyday life is a dramaturgy. A dramaturgy is the art of dramatic composition and essentially the production of a theatrical play. A social situation is much like a play. Every play has a stage, actors, a script, a set, rehearsals, and practices. In a social situation, the stage is where the encounter takes place, the actors are the people involved in the encounter, the script is the social norms of the social encounter, and the set is the environment where the encounter takes place. It takes practices and

“All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players.” William Shakespeare may have written these words in As You Like It in 1600, but Erving Goffman truly defined the phrase with his dramaturgical theory. Dramaturgical analysis is the study of social interaction in terms of theatrical performance. Unlike actors though, who use a script telling them how to behave in every scene, real life human interactions change depending upon the social situation they are in. We may have an idea of how we want to be perceived, and may have the foundation to make that happen. But we cannot be sure of every interaction we will have throughout the day, having to ebb and flow with the conversations and situations as they happen.

Functionalist Erving Goffman studies the sociological approach of Dramaturgy in his book ‘The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life’ (Goffman, 1959), he built his theory based on earlier work completed by Kenneth Burke. However there are distinct differences in features of the theory between Burke and Goffman as Burke believed that life was in fact a literal

Examine the view that Erving Goffman’s work focuses on forms of social interaction but ignores social structure.

In The Managed Heart Hochschild focuses on emotional labour: managing one 's emotions in the work place because it is one 's job to do so. While she touches on some benefits of emotion management, her book focuses on the dangers of losing one 's true self when one 's employer can control how one feels. Her main subjects are bill collectors and flight attendants, both are expected to have extreme (and opposite) emotions on the job.

In consideration of Goffman’s Dramaturgical Model of Interaction explore its contribution to our understanding of social interaction. In order to help you explain this you should illustrate your work with practical examples from everyday life.

Erving Goffman was a sociologist known for developing the symbolic interaction and dramaturgical theory perspective. The dramaturgical theory is a social psychological perspective that studies human behavior and social interaction in terms of the analogy of the theater. This perspective is also related to symbolic interactionism. Symbolic interactionism is a theory based on interaction and communication, facilitated by many different words, gestures, and other symbols that have acquired various meanings. Dramaturgical theorist focus on how people manipulate various aspects of themselves and their settings to influence how others define and respond to them. In this perspective, “the self” is constructed of the various roles that one acquires, in order to present their various selves in ways that sustain particular impressions to their audiences. “The self” is a private possession established in and reflective of an individual’s personality, which includes ones values, beliefs, motives, traits, and dispositions. In addition, a person’s “self” is acquired through social relationships and is a structurally fundamental process that may change due to various situations. As humans interact with one another they are placed in social categories based on their attributes and actions. These assessments are primarily based on ones knowledge of roles.

Besides, her achievements and successes, Russel’s work have had a profound influence on sociological thought and theory. Her work surrounding the sociology of emotion helps to understand how emotions, “offer a special vision of how we experience and appraise social settings, and (…) how [they] partly constitute what we think of as social settings” (Kemper 117). In essence, Russel uses her notions surrounding the development and action of emotions towards everyday contexts and issues. More specifically, drawing inspiration from other commonly used sociological models (The Organismic Model and The Interactional Model) Russel develops a third perspective which she coins as the “Emotional-Management Model.” To elucidate, this model highlights how emotions are used as “attempts to reconcile our expectations with the actuality of situations in which we find ourselves” (Appelrouth &Edles). As a side note, Russel also explains how emotions are innate at birth, as our senses. Similarly, to the development of “self,” though, they also have the ability adjust or change depending on the social setting or context as a form or type of signal functioning. They also can be influenced culturally and socially. In a similar fashion, emotions also can adjust their intensity in what Russel terms as “emotion work.” In this notion, she explains how the “self” can exaggerate or lessen the type of

The purpose of this assignment is to record your life for one day and critically discuss how you are an actor in society; how you affect your social surroundings; and, how your daily life is shaped and constrained by society. This will allow you engage with many of the sociological concepts reviewed to-date including newer concepts such as impression management, stage theory and emotional labor.

Erving Goffman was a Canadian-born sociologist and writer. He was made a president of the American Sociological Association. His best-known involvement and contribution to the social sciences is his theory of symbolic interaction and dramaturgy, which began with his 1959 book The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. This report explains that individuals have the ability to choose their stage, the character they play, and the costume they wear in specific social situations (Goffman, 1959). He also worked with the total institution model, and used it to construct his studies, mostly in Asylums. A total institution is a residence and workplace for similar people, who are cut off from the wider society for an amount of time, and who altogether, lead an enclosed form of life (Frank, 2002). This ties in with his next book about mental institutions, where he theorized that if people are treated, as they are a societal burden and placed in an institution with others, they

Social interaction occurs between all individuals in society and can be studied through the use of the sociological imagination. A sociological imagination allows one to link their everyday activities and situations to society as a whole. I can study my own personal social interactions and the situations I encounter by applying concepts, theories, and perspectives that sociologists have developed for analyzing society and social situations. Although I encounter situations on a day-to-day basis, one notable example would be when I volunteered at the soup kitchen, where I had to control my emotions and play a specific role as part of my volunteer position.

Ever since I took drama classes in high school I felt that we always put on an act. A show almost, that we put out for the people we interact with daily. Erving Goffman, “Canadian-American Sociologist” (Encyclopedia In., 2017) also believed this, he compared social interactions to the theater, where individuals take a particular role. According to Goffman this “theatrical metaphor consists of a stage, actors, and an audience” (Crossman, 2014). It also consists of the onstage, backstage and offstage. These three stages show different behavior on a person.