THE PRESENTATION OF SELF IN EVERYDAY LIFE

THE PRESENTATION OF SELF IN EVERYDAY LIFE is the first book of Goffman to treat face-to-face interaction as a subject to study in the sociological aspect. This book received the American Sociological Association’s McIver award in 1961. Goffman treated this book as a kind of report in which he frames out the theatrical performance that applies to face-to-face interactions. He believed that when an individual comes in contact with other people, that individual will attempt to control or guide the impression that others might make of him by changing or fixing his or her setting, appearance and manner. At the same time, the person that the individual is interacting with is trying to form and obtain information about the individual.

1. “It is probably no mere historical accident that the word ‘person,’ in its first meaning, is a mask. It is rather recognition of the fact that everyone is always and everywhere, more or less consciously, playing a role…It is in these roles that we know each other; it is in these roles that we know ourselves.”

2. Etymologically, ‘person’ comes from the Greek word prosophon which refers to the mask used by stage actors. The Latin personare alludes to the mask which is so constructed that the voice of the actor is projected forcefully. In this sense, we may speak of person as human nature, hidden by the mask of individuality, but projected or manifested through it, as one performs his role.

3. Performance refers to all the activity of a given participant on a given occasion which serves to influence in any way any of the other participants.

3.1 Belief in the Part One is Playing. When an individual plays a part, he implicitly requests his observers to take seriously the impression that is fostered before them. They are asked to believe that the character they see actually possesses the attributes he appears to possess, that the task he performs will have the consequences that are implicitly claimed for it, and that, in general, matters are what they appear to be.

3.2 Front. In a performance, the individual maintains a certain front. Front is that part of individual‘s performance which regularly functions in a general and fixed fashion to define the situation for those who observe the performance. Front, then, is the expressive equipment of a standard kind intentionally or unwittingly employed by the individual during his performance.

3.2.1 There are multiple parts of a front. As to the setting, it is important to consider the scenery, props, and location. The front incorporates the things we bring with us, or those things around us, such as the decor in our house, our offices, etc.

3.2.2 Each of these items help shape what others see in our performance. Thus, a king needs the stateliness of court, a beggar would not do well driving a jaguar. Doctors need white coats and lab space.

3.3 Dramatic Realization. People have to put their performances into action, which can be tricky. Especially if there is a less-than-perfect fit between a stock performance and a given situation. In many cases, however, it is difficult to make the importance/position of the role known. He uses the example of a medical nurse as opposed to a surgical nurse. A surgical nurse‘s activities are clear, whereas a medical nurse‘s are not.
3.4 Idealization. Performers tend to offer their audience impressions that are idealized in several different ways:
3.4.1 When an individual presents himself to others, his performance will tend to incorporate and exemplify the officially accredited values of the society, more so in fact, than does his behavior as a whole. The degree of this can be couched as a ceremony - an expressive rejuvenation and reaffirmation of the moral values of the community
3.4.2 Commonly we find that upward mobility involves the presentation of proper performances and that efforts to move upward and efforts to keep from moving downward are expressed in terms of sacrifices made for the maintenance of front.
3.4.3 Note that this can work both for upward mobility (claiming more than you have: positive idealization) and necessary modesty (Negative idealization: the examples of “college girls“ playing down their intelligence for their boyfriends sake, or not improving a house so that the landlord does not expect more rent).
3.4.4 It can be seen also in the performances of street beggars, who highlight a particular element of their plight for gain.
3.5 Maintenance of Expressive Control. Performers and audiences rely on cues for understanding meaning and intention in performance. The flip side of this is that unintended cues can take on expressive meaning that is similarly unintended. “By virtue of [the ability to read cues], the audience may misunderstand the meaning that a cue was designed to convey, or may read an embarrassing meaning into gestures or events that were accidental... In response to these communication contingencies, performers commonly attempt to exert a kind of synecdochic responsibility, making sure that as many as possible of the minor events in the performance, however instrumentally inconsequential theses events may be, will occur in such a way as to convey either no impression or an impression that is compatible and consistent with the overall definition of the situation that is being fostered.
3.5.1 Goffman provides 3 rough groupings of these events:
1. A performer may accidentally convey incapacity, impropriety, or disrespect by momentarily loosing muscular control of himself, i.e., yawn, etc.
2. A performer may act in a way that suggests he is too much or too little engaged in the interaction. E.G. says things like stutter, forget a line, appear nervous or self-conscious. You might also add less accidental things, such as answering email while you have someone in your office, for example, or not dealing with a child‘s pain because you need to finish a story with a friend.
3. A performer may suffer from ‘inadequate dramaturgical directly’ - the setting not put into order, may be ready for the wrong performance, uncomfortable lulls, etc.
3.6 Misrepresentation. As members of the audience, it is natural for us to feel that the impression the performer seeks to give may be true or false, genuine or spurious, valid or “phony.” So common is this doubt that we often give special attention to features of the performance that cannot be readily manipulated, thus enabling ourselves to judge the reliability of the more misrepresentable cues in the performance. For sociology, however, the key is not, then, truth or falsity, but the extent to which a performance can be discredited: “Whether an honest performer wishes to convey the truth or whether a dishonest performer wishes to convey a falsehood, both must take care to enliven their performances with appropriate expressions, exclude from their performances expressions that might discredit he impression being fostered, and take care lest the audience impute unintended meanings.”
3.7 Mystification. It is often the case that to successfully pull off a performance, you need to create a mystery between performer and audience - a distance that keeps them at bay and in awe. This creates a level of elbowroom for people to move. The example he gives is that ‘familiarity breeds contempt.“ We need to stay distance to be respected, as the minor flaws that can lead to discredit are more evident close-up.
3.8 Reality and Contrivance. There are always falsities in a performance, meaning, some (if not all) performances may be contrivances. However, the task of performance - audience relation is to move our belief to sincerity over falsehood. The implication here is that an honest, sincere, serious performance is less firmly connected with the solid world than one might first assume: it is still a performance, and the distance between “contrivance“ and “reality“ may be far less than we want to admit.
4. Teams. A team refers to a set of individuals whose intimate co-operation is required if a given projected definition of the situation is to be maintained. A team is a group, but it is a grouping not in relation to a social structure or social organization but rather in relation to an interaction or series of interactions in which the relevant definition of the situation is maintained.
4.1 Goffman focuses on how groups of people (that is, “team”) manage impressions through co-operation. This is based on the consensus of the group, which often involves a discrepancy between what we show others and the groups’ internal differences.
4.2 A team is something of a secret society, in that members are ‘in the know‘ and are conspirators in putting on the show for the audience.
4.3 Note that many times, the front people put on are as much (if not more) for the organization/product they are working for than for themselves personally: i.e. a receptionist.
4.4 Team members play different roles, and often a director has to:
4.4.1 be able to bring back into line any member of the team whose performance becomes unsuitable, usually by soothing and sanctioning
4.4.2 may have to allocate the parts in the play to come
5. Regions and Region Behavior. The “region“ or setting for the team performance and audience can differentiate individual behavior and actions. In a stage drama, regions can be:
5.1 front stage - the team‘s formal, official position is visible here. It adheres to conventions that have meaning to the audience.
5.2 back stage - here the front stage’s impression may be contradicted elaborating the “truth of the performance“. Secondary presentations arise. Conflict and difference can be more evident as team members may feel less bound by the exigencies of public role (off-the-record).
5.3 outside (off-stage) - Individual actors may meet the audience (or sub-sets) independently of the team performance.
6. Discrepant Roles. A basic problem for many performances is to ensure that the audience does not get information that would discredit the performance the team is trying to make. The team must be able to keep its secrets and have its secrets kept.
6.1 There are different types of secrets:
6.1.1 “Dark“ secrets: facts about a team which it knows and conceals and which are incompatible with the image of self that the team tries to present to the audience.
6.1.2 “Strategic” secrets: intentions and capacities of the team which it conceals from its audience to prevent them from adapting effectively to the state-of-affairs the team is trying to create
6.1.3 “Inside” secrets: possession marks a member as a member of the group. They give an objective content to the subjective felt distance with others. Note that strategic and dark secrets serve well as inside secrets. This is part of the reason that to gain control of someone, you bind them with a secret.
6.1.4 The knowledge one has of other‘s secrets provides two sub-types:
A. “Entrusted secrets“: the kind which the possessor is obliged to keep because of his relation to the team to which the secret refers.
B. “Free secrets“: somebody else‘s secret known to oneself that one could disclose without discrediting the image one was presenting of oneself.
6.2 Note that there are only three (3) basic roles in Goffman’s scheme, that is: performers, audience, and outsiders. However, these roles are never clear cut. Among them are the following:
6.2.1 The informer: someone who pretends to the performers to be a member of their team, is allowed backstage, but then sells out to the audience. Note these can be spy or traitors, depending on how they start.
6.2.2 The “Shill“: Someone who acts as though he were an ordinary member of the audience but is in fact in league with the performers.
6.2.3 “Protector“: someone who is an impostor in the audience, but for the benefit of the audience, not the performers. He plays the role of checking up on the performers. These are sometimes self-appointed (“wise-guys“) who may not have any knowledge of the backstage.
6.2.4 The go-between or mediator: He learns the secrets of each side and the impression that he will keep them, that he is on their side. Where he really stands depends on the type.
6.2.5 Finally, a “non-person“: those who play this role are present during the interaction but in some respects do not take the role either of performer or of audience, nor do they pretend to be what they are not.
7. Communication Out of Character. Sometimes performers slip: they say things they shouldn‘t, what we often mark by “My God!“ and such statements, admitting that we have stepped “out of character.“ These are the tendencies of the performers whether in the presence of or in the absence of the audience:
7.1 Treatment of the Absent - derogatory treatment of the audience, when not performing. Speaking bad about the audience when you go back-stage, nicknames, etc.
7.2 Staging Talk - discussing how to stage the performance. Also discussions of what the other team members are doing (gossip).
7.3 Team Collusion - whispers with other team members give away the game: i.e. that it is a game. Also secret team signals, and “staging cues.“ The most often seen type if between a performer and himself: school kids crossing their fingers when they tell a lie.
7.4 Realigning Actions - movements around, or over, or away from the line between teams. Such as unofficial grumbling, guarded disclosure, and double-talk.
8. The Arts of Impression and Management. In order for the individuals to perform well, there is a need to overcome broaches of sincerity. E. G. suggested defensive attributes and practices:
8.1 Dramaturgical Loyalty: We need to be members of the same team.
8.2 Dramaturgical Discipline: A performer must “offer a show of intellectual and emotional involvement in the activity he is presenting, but must keep himself from actually being carried away.“
8.3 Dramaturgical Circumspection: members need a little foresight, preparing in advance for things that can go wrong.

9. Conclusion. E.G. emphasized in his conclusion that though he may uses a theatrical play in explaining the presentation of self in everyday life, he then commented that in the real life, “language and mask of the stage will be dropped. Scaffolds, after all, are to build other things with, and should be erected with and eye to taking them down.”


Summarized and Reported by:
Primitivo C. Ragandang III
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