Understanding The Relationship Between Performance And Everyday Life Essay

Performance theory suggests that in our society, everyone puts on a performance. Butler and

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.

MacNamara, Holmes and Collins (2006) state that there are numerous similarities between performances in music and sport. Expert musicians and sports performers are more able to adapt to setbacks than lesser skilled performers, as well as experts having higher levels of dedication and motivation and can communicate more emotion through the pieces being played. Similarly to Chaffin et al. (2003) this communication of emotion may be related to the artistic image with both requiring focus and decision-making.

Ethnographic research is the scientific description of specific human cultures, foreign to the ethnographer. Each ethnographer has his or her own way of conducting research and all of these different ideas can be transmitted and understood in a number of different ways. Because there is no one set idea of how an ethnographer should go about his or her research, conflicts arise. In Reflections on Fieldwork in Morocco, Paul Rabinow uses a story like process to discuss his experiences during his research in Morocco. This makes it easier for the reader to understand his ideas then just having a technical book about the many different aspects of Moroccan life that he may have discovered. In Writing Culture: the Poetics and Politics of

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

In The Presentation of Everyday Life, Goffman lays out the seven elements that create a performance: belief in the role that is being played, the front or ‘mask’, dramatic realization, idealization, maintenance of expressive control, misrepresentation, and deception/mystification. Using the simple description of someone interviewing for a job, we can see that “As he seeks to assume the role of an ideal employee (idealization), he tries (in his performance) to convey a certain image about himself through his dress, his speech, and his expressions (his front), emphasizing those things that he wants the interviewers to know (dramatic realization). He has to maintain control over these expressions throughout the interview (maintenance of expressive control). Any lapse in his performance in that role (misrepresentation) may lead to him revealing those things that he has been trying to conceal (mystification).” (Corbin, 2012)

As we begin to go on an excursion through literature, it is important to understand the concept of what an ethnography is. Ethnography is known to be a descriptive type of work that analyzes culture and customs of individual people. James Clifford has implemented this work into his studies and has influenced many others to do the same. I saw through the books I have read, ethnography makes these books become vivacious for a reader.

According to Mary Louise Pratt’s Arts of the Contact Zone, an autoethnographic text can be defined as a text where the author describes himself or his people using mechanisms provided by others. Such texts are almost always the product of a “contact zone” or a place where cultures meet and clash. In other words, autoethnographic texts are those in

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.

According to Hughes, Pennington, & Makris (2012), a criterion for conducting fair and robust evaluations of autoethnographic writing is its adherence to a logic of inquiry that allows the reader to trace the path charted, beginning with the initial statement of the problem issue to its conclusions and applications of data. Conducting impartial research requires ensuring that a comprehensible illustration of procedures employed is presented for evaluation. It also requires a blueprint for research design and development, analytic and construal of data collected, deductions, and inferences that substantiate or refute theories.

Sarah Wall, at the time was a doctoral student in the Department of Sociology at the University of Alberta, and CIHR Strategic Training Fellow, discusses the purpose and execution of autoethnography. An autoethnography is a personalized narrative that expounds on the real-life experiences of the author. Wall introduces ethnography a tool used commonly in sociology to gain understanding via observation and description. The ethnography is a method of qualitative research though some do not consider it a measurable unit it is a more individualized detailed chronicle of events or surrounds used as a research tool. Wall references Richardson, who states “… writing is a method of inquiry, a way of finding out about yourself and your topic.” This

The aim of Performance Indicator is to increase golf ball manufacturers’ value by increasing revenue from new ball sales as a result of eliminating older, used balls through its color change coating technology.  Although there appears to be a possible financial benefit based on the future perceived demand for new golf balls, PI’s new technology does not appear to have any transparent benefit or value creation for the end consumer (golfer). Consequently, no manufacturer has yet to adopt this technology.

This view gives us a deeper understanding of behaviours as performances. A personal example of looking at a performativity culture and analyzing it, is the roles people play in everyday life. The role of a

Goffman, E. 1959. ‘Performances’ chapter 1, from the presentation of self in everyday life. London: penguin.

Hello, everyone.... First of all, let me introduce myself. My name is Kristina Wulandari. You can call me Kristina, Tina, Kris or anything. Now, I am going to describe my daily activity.