Goffman and identity

1. Identities: gender & ethnicity
Lecture 03
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2. Recap: symbolic interactionism
Concepts
are used to create
• Ideas, images, symbols
Theories • Individuals use symbols and images in a
are used to create process of visualising themselves
• Identity emerges from the individual’s ability
to think of him/herself in terms of the
Explanations community into which s/he has been
socialised. This is a conscious, creative, and
reflective ability
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3. Invent Lives for Yourselves
Duration: a few months
Props: none
Effect: disturbing
From: Roger-Pol Droit (2002) Astonish Yourself: 101
Experiments in the philosophy of everyday life London,
Penguin
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4. The ‘Me’ Decade
• "In 1961 a copywriter in the employ of Foote, Cone & Belding
named Shirley Polykoff came up with the line: 'If I've only one life,
let me live it as a blonde!' The basic attitude of having 'only one
life,' said Wolfe, contradicted a general belief among families and
nations that had existed for centuries, which you could sum up as a
belief in 'serial immortality.'
• "Boiled down, serial immortality means that we're all part of a
familial stream -- our lives being a completion or fulfillment of our
parents' lives and our children's lives completing and fulfilling our
own, and everyone understanding that we're part of the same
genetic river of existence and spirit.
• "Polykoff's copy line, which was written for Clairol hair colouring,
basically said 'the hell with that -- it's just me, it's just my life and
my goals, and I'm going to satisfy myself!' By the time the early '70s
rolled around the culture had begun to believe in the 'me first'
philosophy en masse.
• Tom Wolfe 'The Me Decade and the Third Great Awakening.'
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5. Performance
• Irving Goffman: The
Presentation of Self in
Everyday Life
• ‘Life is a dramatically
enacted thing’
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6. Performance
• All the world really is a stage - life is a dramatic
performance
• We ‘perform’ for others.
• We present a kind of ‘act’ to them.
• We perform differently in different situations
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7. Persona
• the different personality ‘masks’ we wear in
different situations, for different people.
For instance, the way we behave with our
family on a picnic is different to how we would
behave with prisoners if we worked as a
probation officer.
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8. Performance
• This refers to how we wear our persona or
personality mask. For instance:
– We might be ‘sincere’ in how we behave. We are
honest in what we say and do.
or
– We might be ‘cynical’ – and not really believe in
our performance.
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9. Stage
What do we need for our ‘performance’?
• A certain location.
• Props/objects.
• Costume/dress.
These form the context for our performance.
• For instance, if you were out on the ‘pull’ you might
wear attractive, new clothes and go to a club/pub.
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10. Role
This refers to the individual ‘jobs’ or responsibilities we
have.
• We wake up as a son or daughter, within a family.
• We go downstairs and clear up last night’s mess (role
as cleaner?) to help other family members.
• We act as a comforter to an upset friend on the bus.
We chat to other friends.
• We arrive at university and attend lectures, use the
library …
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11. Personal Style
• This is the unique, individual aspects of
yourself you bring to teams, roles, persona
and how you stage things!
• This is what makes you different to others.
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12. Frames
• Models we rely on to make sense of
experience
• Frames are learned through interaction with
the generalised other (society)
• We share common frames
• Frames reflect cultural knowledge
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13. Use the model
• Describe a first date using Goffman’s
dramaturgical model
– What impression do you want to create?
– What definition of the situation do you want your
date to accept?
– How do you manage your dress, gestures, words
to project the image of yourself?
– How do you control the stage?
– What can you not do to create the desired
impression?
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14. Impression Management
• The process of managing setting, verbal/non-
verbal communication, dress etc. to create a
particular impression
• Constructive or deceitful?
• Give one example of the ways you manage the
impressions you create?
• Why do you use this?
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15. Front stage/Back stage
• What are the characteristics of:
– Front stage
– Back stage
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16. Front stage/Back stage
• Identify a role you perform, the audience for
that role and the frame in which the role is
enacted
• List the front stage and back stage behaviours you
engage in
• Predict what would happen if your backstage behaviour
could be observed by your audience
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17. Concepts and Theories: Goffman
Concepts
are used to create
• Now complete the
notes for Goffman using
Theories the model.
are used to create
Explanations
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18. Concepts and Theories: Goffman
Concepts • Roles, actors, performance, giving off
are used to create information.
• Identities are acted out in everyday
interactions with other people. We act
out identities rather like we act our roles
Theories in a play where scripts are already written
but we have some scope for
are used to create interpretation and improvisation.
• Identities are social, the product of the
society in which we live. People can gain
information about themselves and others
Explanations through the way they behave with each
other. This is not always conscious. We
find out about how this happens through
observation.
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