The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life

In this valuable study Dr Goffman examines what happens when an individual appears in front of others. Usually the individual mobilizes his activity in order to convey an impression to others which it is in his interest to convey. This process is called impression management and it occurs in practically every social interaction. Each participant is expected to suppress his feelings and to convey a view of the situation which he feels the others will at least temporarily find acceptable. We all perform in front of others and we expect that others believe the performance we deliver. Everyone more or less consciously is always playing a role, is always presenting a personal front which is both behavioural and material - clothing, size, posture, hair, make-up and gesture. Performers tend to offer their observers an impression that is as positive as possible, mostly even idealised. A slight error or off key note can disrupt an entire performance and of course the performer can act so as to dupe or misguide his audience in which case self-deception is not excluded. Social distance usually leads to a process of mystification whereas excessive familiarity may breed contempt. In the absence of the other, with a third party, belittling and criticism - secret derogation - often take place and is even in many cases a source of contentment. The author distinguishes four types of communication out of character: staging talk, team collusion, treatment of the absent and realigning actions. A study which will interest all those who would like to know what phenomena occur during a variety of social interactions.

I remember reading this work many years ago and feeling a whole new world had opened up to me in relation to understanding ' the self'. Instead of looking inward only it was necessary to see the way we reshape ourselves in response to the kind of people we are with. The ' self' becomes a ' construct' which alters with performance, and with each new set of characters or scene we met. And so we ourselves are in effect many different selves, and there seems to be no limit to the new faces we can make in new worlds that we meet. All this was revelatory to me. And yet it seems to me now years later that Goffman was touching upon one kind of ' self- making and self- meeting'. And that the question of our own relation to ourselves, and the question of whether we have a real essential singular self ( or are simply a series of passing states as Hume and Buddha would seem to imply) does not seem to me solved by Goffman. But then his again his work is about ' the presentation of self in everyday life' and not the ' essence of self in eternity'. In any case this is a truly interesting and self- opening study.

Dr. Erving Goffman, after receiving his Ph.D. in 1953 at the University of Chicago, first published The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life as a monograph at the Social Sciences Research Centre at the University of Edinburgh in 1956. Published by Anchor Books in 1959, The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life effectively elaborates on Thorstein Veblen's observations about the character of the Leisure Class. However, Goffman is particularly attentive to the performative and characteristic structure of society. With the idea that "the general notion that we make a presentation of ourselves to others," (252), Goffman's critical analysis of the individual and society illuminates Veblen's theory that the individual, aspiring to a higher social status, eventually becomes an emblem for that status. Goffman delves into the interaction within tightly-knit social fabrics, revealing that the substantive transition of the individual into society is not nearly as important as his/her "performance."Entry into a tight social circle, according to Goffman, requires "wearing a look" to avoid betraying his true stance. Goffman notes social principles are guided by moral characteristics, which eventually support that individual in society. The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life is not merely a refutation of the adage, "you can't judge a book by its cover" - Photographer Arthur Felig's (also known as WeeGee) 1943 photograph of two impeccably bedecked tiara-sporting society dames, glared at meanly by a crotchety woman, is apt to prompt anyone to pick up the text for a browse. Indeed, in Presenation's case, the photograph has a number of meanings in regard to the substance of the text. Those who "present" themselves in certain respects are often ignorant of the disparaging view they may elicit from others, but if these "others" remotely resemble the growling woman in the photograph, the performers most likely will not care. In addition to the splendid photo, Goffman offers a few little-known meanings of words often arising from society.Whether the etymology of the word "tact" comes from society, Goffman effectively makes a case that it is a crucial maneuver in the swirling vortex of social circles. Throughout Presentation Goffman offers the point of view of "impression management" as a tool in studying social establishments, explicating them as actor on the proverbial stage. Impression Management serves to "prevent outsiders from coming into a performance that is not addressed to them."

I had to re-read each chapter two or three times to get a full sense of what Goffman was driving at. His ability to get at the inner workings of human interactions is, if not unique, darned rare. This book will repay the effort it takes to read it many times over. Often he'll take up a subject that other writers try to grapple with but don't quite nail, and he'll land a bull's eye so clean and square your head spins. The examples may be dated by the 1950s world Goffman was describing, but the fine details still ring true, as in "Similarly, at middle class American funerals, a hearse driver, decorously dressed in black and tactfully located at the outskirts of the cemetary during the service, may be allowed to smoke, but he is likely to shock and anger the bereaved if he happens to flick his cigarette stub into a bush, letting it describe an elegant arc, instead of circumspectly dropping it at his feet" It's that fine grained detail that Goffman picks up on, that's what's missing in so many page a minute recipe books of cheapo wisdom. And he writes better, too.

I really loved this book. First, I appreciated that it was written in the mid fifties by someone who valued the nuances of words and before books were dumbed down for popular understanding. It's a vocabulary builder.It was extremely difficult for me to read. I was 41 at the time. Nearly every page revealed to me errors in my thoughts and actions that were profoundly embarrassing. I would have to lay it aside and creep back a few days later to again confront myself.I am a Buddhist. The book seems to reveal fundamental Buddhist truths discovered independently by an European with no previous exposure to the Dharma. The book powerfully enunciates the proposition that there is no "essence" of ourselves and our personality - but that all life is a performance - all too often, poorly written, produced, directed and acted. In today's politically correct world - this book could never be published.