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Impression Management Essay

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Impression Management
Impression management is a social phenomenon that occurs in our daily life both consciously and unconsciously. “It is the act of presenting a favorable public image of oneself so that others will form positive judgments.” (Newman 184) Our first impressions of a person are always based on physical appearance and we compare them to the norms of our society. We can all admit to the initial meeting of a person and first noticing their age, gender, race, or other ascribed characteristics. Our cultural norms are ideas such that fat is “ugly” which are very different across societies and time. Also, impression management is an idea of how individuals interact in different social situations. “Sociologists refer to …show more content…

All the while, the server keeps a calm and happy face on to keep the family happy. As soon as I say goodbye to the family, the server comes marching up to the host stand to complain about the experience. About how much work they did, how annoying the children were, how picky the parents were, and how terrible of a tip they received in the end. This is a perfect example of the use of front-stage and back-stage of not only basing pre judgments on physical appearances but also the “performances” we do in front of different “audiences” and in different social situations.

“The Compassion Gap in America Poverty Policy” We have all witnessed at some point the devastating effect of poverty on our country. Whether it is seeing homeless people on the streets of our cities or seeing news reports of poverty stricken countries that are in need of serious help, our compassion gap is the true test for our nation’s moral commitments. After watching events such as Hurricane Katrina and seeing the devastating results of thousands of people left with nothing, we get a sense of appreciation for what we have but also feel pity for those less fortunate now. We seem to punish poor people and think of it as their fault, they put themselves in that situations whether it be through drugs, laziness, unintelligence etc. And even when catastrophic events may have been the cause that has left them with nothing, we may dwell on it for a while, but little or no public assistance

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