Symbolic Interactionist Theory
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Erving Goffman applies a unique twist to the sociological view of the way individuals in their everyday lives present themselves and their activities to others. He is particularly concerned with what he calls "impression management"--the ways people guide and control others' impressions of them. To discuss his view of the ways in which these interactions work, Goffman employs the dictionary definition of dramaturgy, which is "the art of dramatic composition and theatrical representation" (Wallace & Wolf, 1995, p. 221). He then applies this dramaturgical definition to the sociological concept of role by placing the analysis of human behavior in a theatrical setting. In other words, he takes the dramatic situation of actors and actresses on stage and applies this theatrical representation to the everyday lives of ordinary women and men who are acting out their roles in the real world (Wallace & Wolf, 1995, p. 221). The significant dramaturgical concepts in this analysis are the front and back regions. The front region is the area in which the individuals' performance is regularly on display--the stage. In this region, the individual performs his or her regular functions in a general and fixed fashion to control the viewer's perception of their role and their performance of that role (Wallace & Wolf, 1995, p. 221). Goffman explains that this front region is composed of the setting, articles such as furniture and other stage props that se
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egularity, stability, and repetitiveness of joint action in vast areas of group life and form the basis for the sources of the established and regulated social behavior that are envisioned in the concept of culture (Wallace & Wolf, 1995, p. 207).
Wallace & Wolf note, however, that Blumer contrasts himself with those sociologists who stress the importance of social structure in explaining behavior. They observe that although his discussion of joint action does include references to structured role interaction and his examples of joint action include activity that could be explained by roles, the importance of roles in determining behavior is never central to his mode of analysis. Rather, he sees the joint act as primarily an "organizing" action instead of an "organization" of action (Wallace & Wolf, 1995, p. 208). For example, Blumer's process of self-indication is the means through which human action is formed through an active and creative self without social, cultural, or psychological variables that "determine" the actions of the self (Wallace & Wolf, 1995, p. 189). Blumer would argue the Unabomber was undergoing the process of self-indication by his identified bombings and his letter to the Times.
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Approximate Word count = 2124
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page)
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