Dramaturgy - Week 6 post

Dramaturgy 

My understanding of dramaturgy (after the reading) is that individuals act differently in certain times, places, or to audiences. The sense of self is derived from the scene that is being presented in that certain time or place. 

The lecture on Dramaturgy is the first time I have come across the term, and the concept of social life as 'drama'. It is an interesting concept to consider the social life as a 'performance' of interactions between people. The very first sentence of the reading is important in understanding how interactions happen in society according to the concept of dramaturgy - 'When an individual plays a part he implicitly requests his observers to take seriously the impression that is fostered before them' Goffman (1990). 
My understanding of this concept is that as an interaction is delivered by an individual, he or she requests their audience to react in a certain way. It is interesting to think about what is happening in society when people are acting out their lives in certain ways, to impress certain people or to conform to 'norms' that are socially created. The way in which the 'performer' acts when interacting with other individuals changes through different social settings and thus the individual is just a part of a larger scale 'game'. 

It is interesting to think about what happens when these 'performers' are not involved in any interaction, what is going on behind of this 'stage' in which we all perform? Goffman (1990) explains this as the 'frontstage' or 'backstage'; the backstage involving the interactions in an informal state or even just what we are preparing or thinking about when we are not actually 'interacting' with other individuals (informal dress, sloppiness, joking around). The frontstage is the opposite to this, as individuals play out their 'acts' in reference to the others around them. Goffman (1990) states that the 'front' is 'that part of an individuals performance which functions to define the situation to observers. 

An interesting observation of Dramaturgy would be that of going to the pub or going out for a night out with friends. It is interesting to see individuals who you may know well put on 'performances' so they appear to observers in a certain way. As settings or 'stages' usually stay the same, as individuals walk into these settings they play out different acts to define meaning to their observers. 

References 

Picture - http://losangeles.bitter-lemons.com/2012/02/14/the-dramaturg-the-devolution-of-the-modern-day-theatre-critic/

Goffman, Erving. 1971. “Performances.” Pp. 28-82 in The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life.
Harmondsworth: Penguin 

SOC250 - Week 5 'The self'

This weeks reading 'The nature of Deference and Demeanour' by Goffman combined with the lecture gave an interesting insight into the way in which the 'self' is a social construction. In this blog post I am  just aiming to outline a few points I found interesting as there is quite a bit of detail in the reading. 
Goffman's view of the 'self' as a 'peg on which roles were momentarily hung' stuck in my head after viewing the lecture, I found this interesting as I come home from uni, change clothes and thus change roles as I go to work. The roles I carry out at work are only for the set amount of hours I am there and then these roles are taken away again. The reading explained this concept in more depth as it outlined the obligations I take on as I take up a certain role, I am there to serve customers and my obligation becomes another persons expectation. All this however is momentary and these obligations and expectations change as I change roles when I go home or go to university.

An interesting part of this discussion of how the 'self' should act and what roles are taken in certain environments is when these roles overlap each other. For instance, work functions are notorious for individuals not knowing how to act when their roles are blurred, this can lead to a 'loss of face'. 

As it seems as though all these rules and guidelines for how we act are restricting what we do and say. Goffman outlines these obligations and expectations of individuals as brief moments that involve little to no substance, they serve to define moral and social order and create a flow in society. "The gestures which we call empty are perhaps in fact the fullest things of all" (Goffman 1967). 

In further reading of presentation of the self I read an article 'Karen McCullagh (2008): Blogging: self presentation and privacy' which I thought was quite appropriate in reference to the task of blogging online. It outlines the way in which individuals can change their self presentation through the medium of blogging as the expectations that they might have in everyday life, change once logged on to the internet. 

References 

Karen McCullagh (2008): Blogging: self presentation and privacy, Information & Communications Technology Law, 17:1, 3-23 

Goffman, Erving. 1967. “The Nature of Deference and Demeanor.” Pp. 47-96 in Interaction Ritual: Essays on Face-to-Face Behaviour. New York: Pantheon Books.