Goffman and the online worldApproaching Goffman's Presentation of Self Duncan Chapple Who? Erving Goffman ‘22-’83 Important, long-lasting impact Field work mid-century in Shetlands Became interested in micro-sociology What’s happening in the kitchen Goffman describes the offline world Social interaction: “that which uniquely transpires in social situations—in environments in which two or more individuals are physically in one another’s response presence.” Situation: “any physical area anywhere within which two or more persons find themselves in visual and aural range of one another.” Framework The stage Helps understand what’s happening Belief in the role one is playing Impression management Character is the process added to individuals to turn them into persons Masks Status Setting: the spaces are controlled Appearance: non-verbal communications Manner: also shows status and comfort Framework Dramatic realisations In the present of others, there are signals and signs Dependent on setting Members stress their habits and routines Idealisation Individuals incorporate and exemplify officially accredited values Our own intentions are idealised: we think we are meeting society’s expectations The debate: Is Goffman’s framework still applicable to the online world? The stage Status Dramatic realisations Idealisation Comparison of different views on the contemporaneity of Goffman’s ideas Rethinking central assumptions of Goffman Global situations (e.g. foreign exchange market) change forms of the Goffmanian interaction order New concepts needed to explain global situations Synthetic situation: People received by machine (phone etc); no co-location Time transaction: Asyncronous Globally-oriented interactionism abandons assumptions of Goffman Physical presence Focus on human interaction and human mutual monitoring Local focus of a situation What constitutes global andsynthetic situations? Global situations are synthetic situations... “that include electronically transmitted on-screen projections that add informational depth and new response requirements to the “ecological huddle” (Goffman 1964:135) of the natural situation” Synthetic situations are defined as…“an environment augmented (and temporalized) by fully or partially scoped components—in which we find ourselves in one another’s and the scopic components’ response presence, without needing to be in one another’s physical presence.” In-depth look at synthetic situations Different types of synthetic situations involve different systematics of reciprocity, accountability, rule-governedness etc. Features of synthetic situations Informational (perhaps less contextual, more on the matter at hand) Temporal nature Symbolic interaction partners (participants interact through symbolic ‘faces’ of both individuals and also the ‘collective’ as a mar

1. GOFFMAN AND THE ONLINE
WORLD
APPROACHING GOFFMAN'S PRESENTATION
OF SELF
Duncan Chapple24.03.2015

2. Who?
Erving Goffman ‘22-’83
 Important, long-lasting impact
 Field work mid-century in Shetlands
 Became interested in micro-sociology
 What’s happening in the kitchen

3. Goffman describes the offline
world
 Social interaction:
“that which uniquely transpires in social situations—in
environments in which two or more individuals are
physically in one another’s response presence.”
 Situation:
“any physical area anywhere within which two or more
persons find themselves in visual and aural range of one
another.”

4. Framework
 The stage
 Helps understand what’s happening
 Belief in the role one is playing
 Impression management
 Character is the process added to individuals to turn
them into persons
 Masks
 Status
 Setting: the spaces are controlled
 Appearance: non-verbal communications
 Manner: also shows status and comfort

5. Framework
 Dramatic realisations
 In the present of others, there are signals and
signs
 Dependent on setting
 Members stress their habits and routines
 Idealisation
 Individuals incorporate and exemplify officially
accredited values
 Our own intentions are idealised: we think we are
meeting society’s expectations

6. The debate: Is Goffman’s framework
still applicable to the online world?
 The stage
 Status
 Dramatic realisations
 Idealisation

7. Comparison of different views on
the contemporaneity of Goffman’s
ideas
Knorr Cetina (2009)
• Globally-oriented
interactionism challenges
Goffman‘s approach
• Mostly based on
researching global foreign
exchange market
Bullingham & Vasconcelos
(2013)
• Goffman‘s orginial
framework is still
applicable to the online
world
• Based on research in the
context of blogging and
second life

8. Knorr Cetina (2009)
• Globally-oriented
interactionism challenges
Goffman‘s approach
• Mostly based on
researching global foreign
exchange market

9. Rethinking central assumptions of
Goffman
 Global situations (e.g. foreign exchange market)
change forms of the Goffmanian interaction order
 New concepts needed to explain global situations
 Synthetic situation: People received by machine (phone
etc); no co-location
 Time transaction: Asyncronous
 Globally-oriented interactionism abandons
assumptions of Goffman
 Physical presence
 Focus on human interaction and human mutual monitoring
 Local focus of a situation

10. What constitutes global and
synthetic situations?
 Global situations are synthetic situations...
“that include electronically transmitted on-screen
projections that add informational depth and new
response requirements to the “ecological huddle”
(Goffman 1964:135) of the natural situation”
 Synthetic situations are defined as…
“an environment augmented (and temporalized)
by fully or partially scoped components—in which
we find ourselves in one another’s and the scopic
components’ response presence, without needing
to be in one another’s physical presence.”

11. In-depth look at synthetic
situations
 Different types of synthetic situations involve different
systematics of reciprocity, accountability, rule-governedness
etc.
 Features of synthetic situations
 Informational (perhaps less contextual, more on the matter at
hand)
 Temporal nature
 Symbolic interaction partners (participants interact through
symbolic ‘faces’ of both individuals and also the ‘collective’ as a
market)
 The synthetic situation’s response system
 Response presence: we are responsible for prompt responses
 Intensity: strong mental and physical connectedness (swearing)
 Preparedness: the capacity to respond reflexively, automatically

12. Territoriality of copresence vs.
temporal aspects of interaction
 “When interactions migrate online, for example,
the interacting parties meet in time rather than
in a place; for that reason, response presence
becomes important, and temporal rules of
coordination begin to matter”
 Goffman’s idea of time supposes that
consequences are not immediate.
 The casino gambler’s later regret
 Today: scopic systems let us see data, which capture
outcomes. Ultrasounds assess the fateful categories.

13. Why global situations are not
agglomerations of encounters
 “Institutional interactions require, specify, and
develop temporal coordinates connected to
the substance of what these institutions do—a
point not lost on Goffman and other
interactionists and microsociologists who have
analyzed institutional spheres”
 E.g. A global currency market cannot be
explained with Goffman’s original framework

14. Bullingham & Vasconcelos
(2013)
• Goffman‘s original
framework is still
applicable to the online
world
• Based on research in the
context of blogging and
second life

15. Goffman’s framework is of value
for understanding online identities
 Online environments
 provide their users with the potential to perform and present
different identities
 can be seen as stage whereas the offline world is the backstage
 Avatars are used to emphasize or minimize certain aspects of
the self
 Multiple use of avatars reflects Goffman’s idea of adopting
multiple identities in everyday life
 Bloggers might mask their identities
 Methodology
 Semi-structured interviews with participants who were either
bloggers or SL users
 Grounded Theory used for data analysis

16. Recreatingtheofflineself
online
Themes emerged &
research findings
Expressions given
 Females express their feminity using various methods
 Appearing to be fun vs. appearing professional
 People display different graduations in expression
Embellishment as minor form of persona adoption
 Storytelling
 going back in time
Dividing the self
 Only some aspects of the offline self are presented online
 Some parts are emphasized, some are minimized (‘partial masking‘)
Conforming and ‘fitting in’
 Bloggers do not feel the same pressure to conform as SL users do
Masking, anonymity and pseudonimity
 Fear

17. Presentation of self in the online
world is in line with Goffman‘s
ideas
 People are keener to recreate their offline
selves online than to adopt a different persona
 Disparity between offline and online selves is
minimized

18. Implications for research
 Is the ‘managed’ online persona authentic
 Is the ‘managed’ online persona any more or
less authentic than the offline one?

19. Find out more
Christian Hampel, Johannes Gutenberg University of
Mainz
Duncan Chapple, University of Edinburgh
Erving Goffman’s work on the Presentation of Self in Everyday Life
inspires a sociological and psychological approach towards the
construction and materiality of actors’ behaviours. Through a series
of interviews with industry analysts in the information technology
and telecommunications industry, we develop a conceptualisation
model that relates impression management in two contexts: “pitch”
meetings (the formal oral presentations to analysts which are a
primary input to the research process), and the diffusion of analysts’
insights (where successful research impact is subject to both oral
and online self-presentation). ​
4pm March 31, UEBS

20. Resources
 Knorr Cetina, K. (2009). The Synthetic
Situation: Interactionism for a Global World.
Symbolic Interaction 32, (1): 61-87
 Bullingham, L., Vasconcelos, A.C. (2013). ‘The
presentation of self in the online world’:
Goffman and the study of online identities.
Journal of Information Science, 39 (1): 101–
112

21. Background: Goffman
expanded.
backup

22. Analogy: the stage
Helps understand what’s happening
● Belief in the role one is playing
o Asking observers to take you seriously
o Ask them to accept players’ attributes
● Character is the process added to
individuals to turn them into persons
● Masks

23. Status
Growing concerns about what status means.
● Ascribed by others, achieved by self, master
Key concepts
● Front
o Setting: the spaces are controlled
o Appearance: non-verbal communications
o Manner: also shows status and comfort
Interesting to consider, for example, selfies, or gendered
settings like doctors and nurses

24. Dramatic realisations
In the present of others, there are signals and
signs
● Dependent on setting
● Members stress their habits and routines
On a mass setting, these provide infrastructre for
“the fantasies of a nation”
● What habits does facebook give stress to?

25. Idealisation
Individuals incorporate and exemplify officially
accredited values.
Our own intentions are idealised: we think we are
meeting society’s expectations.
Some roles are seen as selfless