The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life

I assume that when an individual appears before others he will have many motives for trying to control the impression they receive of the situation. This report is concerned with some of the common techniques that persons employ to sustain such impressions. . . . I shall be concerned only with the participant's dramaturgical problems of presenting the activity before others (Goffman, 1959, 15).

Goffman's notion that human beings "perform" as if in a drama on stage is fascinating, if somewhat chilling at the same time. He posits that the human being is so socialized into concern for what others think of him, what he can get out of any given situation, what others want out of him in that situation, that he is hardly an independent being at all. The picture Goffman paints is of a society which is indeed comparable to a stage in a theater, with the humans merely actors in a play, stuck in the part they have had mapped out for them. True, they participate and cooperate in this mapping out, but far less so than the "independent" human being might like to think.

Focusing on the human being in situations at work, Goffman refers to the words of Sartre, who argues that once a man has become defined by those around him, he is made to feel a

. . .
Some common words found in the essay are:
Everyday Life, goffman 1959, Reference Goffman, NY Doubleday, presentation self everyday, self everyday life, Self Everyday, Presentation Self, presentation self, self everyday, stifle individuality, everyday life,
Approximate Word count = 806
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page)

More Essays on The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life