LIFE IS A DRAMATICALLY ENACTED THING

Devised by Erving Goffman, impression management is a theory that relates to how we create, maintain, and enhance our social identities. A fundamental aspect of social interaction, Goffman says, is that we try – either consciously or subconsciously(潜意识地) – to manipulate and control the way that others perceive us. Whenever we interact with other people, we present a public image of ourselves. In some instances, we may be trying to influence a particular person (such as a job interviewer); in other situations, we may simply be trying to maintain a favourable image of ourselves. In his 1959 book, The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life, Goffman draws a parallel between impression management and theatre, showing how the ways we present ourselves in the real world are similar to the performances of dramatic actors on stage. Each social interaction is driven as much towards having a particular effect on the audience as it is towards honest self-expression. In fact, according to Goffman’s theory, personality is the sum of the various roles that a person plays in his or her life. This implies that the true self is not a private or internal phenomenon, but rather the dramatic effect of the ways in which a person presents himself publicly. “Life is a dramatically enacted thing”, Goffman says: creating a successful impression requires the right setting, props, wardrobe, skills, and a shared understanding of what constitutes being on stage (in the public sphere) versus backstage (in the personal, private sphere).

Performance skills

Goffman believes that in real life, everyone has the ability to choose their own stage, props, and costumes to display to the audience. The main goal of both the social actor and the on-stage actor is to maintain a sense of coherence through interactions with other actors. This can only be achieved when everyone agrees upon the “definition of the situation”, and on the characteristics, expectations, and limitations of a particular performance or interaction, signalling to each other the appropriate ways of reacting and fitting into the social setting. To be in proper accord, people must agree on their personal identities, the social context, and the collective expectations of behaviour within that context. For example, celebrities attending an elite party have all implicitly agreed to understand that they are “celebrities at an elite party”; each will accept their defined role in that situation and encourage other actors and observers (or audience members) alike to accept this definition. However, if the particular definition of the situation becomes discredited – for instance, if the food at the party turns out to be nothing more special than pizza, or there are non-celebrities also in attendance – there is a tendency for people to pretend that nothing has changed, thereby encouraging an artificial sense of believability(可信度) in order to keep the peace or to avoid embarrassment.

Goffman himself was said to enjoy testing the limits of the rules that shaped encounters in restaurants, lecture theatres, and cinema queues.

Hotel staff are “front stage” when they are interacting with the public. Their behaviour may change, becoming less formal, when they are not on duty “backstage”.

MORE TO KNOW…

IN CONTEXT

APPROACH

Impression management

BEFORE

1890 William James first makes the distinction between the private self-as-subject (“I”) and the public self-as-object (“me”).

1902 American sociologist Charles Cooley posits(假设) the looking-glass self theory, which states that the self is reflected in the reactions of other people.

AFTER

1990 US psychologists Mark Leary and Robin Kowalski define three ways in which impression management can increase wellbeing: belonging, self-enhancement, and self-understanding.

1995 Psychologist Sarah Hampson argues that our behaviour changes according to who we are with, and different people bring out various aspects of our personality.

ERVING GOFFMAN

Erving Goffman, a Canadian sociologist and writer, was born in Mannville, Alberta. His ancestors were Ukrainian Jews who had emigrated to Canada. Goffman gained a bachelor’s degree in sociology and anthropology at the University of Toronto, then obtained a master’s and PhD in sociology at the University of Chicago. In 1962, he was made a full professor at the University of California, and by 1969 had published seven significant books. Tragedy struck in 1964 when his first wife committed suicide; Goffman wrote about this experience in his 1969 paper, The Insanity of Place. In 1981, he married again, and in 1982 – despite being seen as something of a maverick(持不同意见的人) – became president of the American Sociological Association. He died of stomach cancer just a few months later.

Key works

1959 The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life

1961 Asylums

1971 Relations in Public

1974 Frame Analysis