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Goffman idea of impression management
Goffman’s idea of “impression management”
Goffman idea of impression management
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Erving Goffman created a concept, called dramaturgical analysis, to compare social interaction to performing on stage. He believes that people show different sides of themselves depending on who they’re around and the current setting. Impression management is the “process of suppressing unfavorable traits and stressing favorable ones” (90). Many people focus on making themselves look impressionable and show their best qualities when around others. Another part of social interaction is front stage which discusses what happens in peoples sight and back stage talks about the things that happen behind closed doors. In the article, “Rethinking Goffman’s Front Stage/Back Stage,” the author made me realize that anything that is posted on social media
can be made “front stage” or seen by the public. The author stated, “Some advice I heard and regularly repeat is to never email, tweet, post, or leave a voice mail you wouldn’t want to be read aloud in a courtroom” (Sternheimer, 2012). Social media sites aren’t completely private, if your name is googled then your information from social media will come up for anyone to see. “These “back stage” communications can easily become “front stage” with an errant key stroke (like hitting “reply all”) or, worse yet, a subpoena” (Sternheimer, 2012). Accidents can easily happen on social media, such as sending private information to the wrong person which can result in information going from back stage to front stage in a matter of seconds. I do believe that Goffman’s concepts of front stage and back stage are still relevant today. An example of front stage/back stage still happening today is teachers, especially high school teachers, act like they care about the students in their classes, but when they’re in the teachers’ lounge then they gossip about the students and judge them.
For most everybody in the world, people tend to have two identities: one in reality and one online. Andrew Lam wrote an essay, called “I Tweet, Therefore I am: Life in the Hall of Mirrors”, in which he described how people are posting videos or statuses which is making social media take a turn. Instead of social media being a place to share very little information, people are now tending to post weird updates. Lam was describing an example where a boy that was going to surgery asked to have his picture taken because his arm got taken off by an alligator. Another example is when Bill Nye was speaking and collapsed from exhaustion.
On Friday November 15, 2013, I attended a concert that I found very interesting. It took place at 7:30 pm at the First Presbyterian Church of the Covenant. The group performing was the Erie Chamber Orchestra but as a special the Slippery Rock University Concert Choir was also there.
“Nothing is perfect.” Though social media brings us uncountable convenience, there is a trade-off with the convenience. Due to the advanced technology we have, social media has become part of our life, which it means that social media could determine our sociability. In Peggy Orenstein’s “I Tweet, Therefore I Am,” though she praises Tweeter for its convenience, at the same time, she also worries that “(Tweeter) makes the greasepaint permanent, blurring the lines not only between public and private but also between the authentic and contrived self.” Since we don’t care about who we talk to, we might act abnormally due to our feelings, and
Most people that work in theatre have a pretty good idea of what a stage manager does during rehearsals - at least, the things that can be seen. We take blocking notes, cue lines, keep track of the time, coordinate presets and scene changes, answer the questions, and solve the problems. Yet, there are so many things a stage manager does, so many balls constantly being juggled, that many elements of the stage manager’s job go unnoticed. So, in honor of the unseen, here is a sampling of some tasks a stage manager completes before rehearsal. Early in our morning, we check our phone.
In the article The Flip Side of Internet Fame by Jessica Bennett, Internet harassment is thoroughly made aware to inform active social network users of its solemnity. Real life scenarios of people who suffered from public humiliation or social desecration are presented. Bennett makes her argument conclusive by addressing her audiences' pathos and ethos appeal, sourcing credible individuals throughout the article and stressing the agony and ignominy that the listed individuals perceived. Furthermore, the author demonstrates how critical it is to be conscious about the possibility of not recovering from a fatal encounter on a social network and also raises the question: “What's to stop a person from posting whatever he wants about you, if he can do so anonymously and suffer no repercussions?”(115). Bennett tries to enlighten the reader of “the dark side of Internet fame”(113), showing how publicity may not always be marvelous.
It disclosed people’s despair, fears, cowardice, as well as other negative feelings in front of difficulties and challenges, and exposed their stupidity by illustrating their ugliness and laughter as they watched wrestlers sabotaging one another and good friends turning against each other. Chris Hedges depicted a pseudo-world where people tend to seek comfort from other people’s misfortunes and care about nothing but fame and money. Under the “enormous positivity” created by the spectacle, the reality is actually a dead end. As it is said, “The modern spectacle depicts what society can deliver, but within the depiction what is permitted is rigidly distinguished from what is possible.” In the celebrity culture, fame and money are the images, pursued by the public, forming numerous social networks among people engaged. People will get lost alongside the road, yet he/she may not notice, because as it is said, “the spectacle is both the outcome and the goal of the dominant mode of production.” Images are unlimited goals, coming with countless outcomes. The spectacle keeps developing itself, as more and more people need no realities but more detailed
I don’t think we are truly, fully aware of the collective damage that social media is doing to our nerves and relationships with one another. We only show the good stuff, because we want to feel valuable. We want to feel important. We want to be respected. We want to fit in and stand out, at the same time. But you’re behind the scenes are more honest and beautiful than anything on social media. We feel as though just because we make our profile private only our friends can see what we post or share. We tend to let our guard down when it comes to social media, but little do we know that all
Adopted into sociology by Erving Goffman, he developed most terms and the idea behind dramaturgical analysis in his 1959 book The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. This book lays out the process of human social interaction, sometimes called "impression management". Goffman makes the distinction between "front stage" and "back stage" behavior. “Front stage" actions are visible to the audience and are part of the performance. We change our hair color, eye color, complextion. Wearing make-up, the way our hair is styled, the clothes we wear. The demeanor we present to the world to the. All of these things lead to an outward appearance of what we want others to think we are. People engage in "back stage" behaviors when no audience is present. We whine and moan about the customers we deal with. Hair goes un-styled, make is wiped off. Clothing is comfortable and unrestricting. When a person conducts themselves in certain way not consistent with social expectations, it is often done secretly if this ...
In his work, Goffman explains that ‘the self’ is the result of the dramatic interaction between the actor and the audience he or she performs to. There are many aspects of how an individual performs his or her ‘self’. One of the aspects of performing the self that Goffman labels as the ‘front.’ The front involves managing the individual’s impression.
Impression management is a social phenomenon that occurs in our daily life both consciously and unconsciously. “It is the act of presenting a favorable public image of oneself so that others will form positive judgments.” (Newman 184) Our first impressions of a person are always based on physical appearance and we compare them to the norms of our society. We can all admit to the initial meeting of a person and first noticing their age, gender, race, or other ascribed characteristics. Our cultural norms are ideas such that fat is “ugly” which are very different across societies and time. Also, impression management is an idea of how individuals interact in different social situations. “Sociologists refer to dramaturgy as the study of social interactions as theater, in which people (“actors”) project images (“play roles”) in front of others (“the audience”).” (Newman 169) This is our human need for acceptance and way of managing the impressions we give others and perform what we think people want to see. Our social life is governed by this concept but it only works with effective front-stage and back-stage separation. Our front-stage is the visible part of ourselves that we allow others to see unlike our hidden back-stage self.
Erving Goffman defiens total institutions as a place where individuals are cut off from the wider society and where together they lead an enclosed, formally, administered life. There are five characteristics that Erving identified that must be reviewed and met before a place can be considered a total institution. The characteristics are:
Erving Goffman uses a dramaturgical perspective in his discussion of impression management. Goffman’s analysis of the social world primarily centres around studies of the self and relationship to one’s identity created within a society. Through dramaturgy, Goffman uses the metaphor of performance theatre to convey the nature of human social interaction, drawing from the renowned quote “All the world’s a stage and all the men and women merely players” from Shakespeare’s ‘As You Like It.’ Much of our exploration of Goffman’s theories lies within the premise that individuals engage in impression management, and achieve a successful or unsuccessful performance. Impression management refers to the ways in which individuals attempt to control the impression that others have of them stemming from a basic human desire to be viewed by others in a favourable light. Goffman argues that our impressions are managed through a dramaturgical process whereby social life is played out like actors performing on a stage and our actions are dictated by the roles that we are playing in particular situations. In a social situation, the stage is where the encounter takes place, the actors are the people involved in the interaction, and the script is the set of social norms in which the actors must abide by. Just as plays have a front stage and back stage, this also applies in day-to-day interactions. Goffman’s theory of the front and back stage builds on Mead’s argument of the phases of the self. The front stage consists of all the public and social encounters with other people. It is similar to the ‘me’ which Mead talks about, as it involves public encounters as well as how others perceive you. Meanwhile the back stage, like the ‘I’, is the time spent with oneself reflecting on the interactions. Therefore, according to Goffman’s dramaturgical
Music: the art of organized noise. The blend of pitch and rhythm combined in different mediums and enjoyed by our ears. A very interpretive art, music isn’t very clearly constricted or defined by one definition. With so many varieties of music, it’s difficult to say what aspect is really the most important. Some people think music’s history and the appreciation of music are the most important aspects to take into consideration. Some think complex in rhythms and melodies make the best music. Some people devote their whole lives to studying one genre of music in order to fully understand how that genre works. While all of these aspects of music are important, none of them can truly be compared with each other on a fair playing field. Music of different genres, eras, and geographic backgrounds were written for different purposes, different people, and different settings. Still, there is still one overarching theme that applies to all forms of music new or old: the way the composer presents his or her creation. The performance and presentation of a work of music is like the icing on the top of a cake. The cake may be the best you’ve ever tasted, but if the icing on the outside doesn’t look appealing or doesn’t taste good, chances are you’ll take a different piece of cake with better looking frosting next time. The performance of music is what appeals most to people. With live performance, an artist must “sell” his or her creation. They must put smile on their face and convey to the audience that this is their music and through the music explain why it’s awesome. They must persevere through whatever the stage, the audience, and their surroundings give them and put on a good show. In today’s popular music though, this aspect of showma...
Social media users see other people differently because much of the content posted on social media, which led to exalting users and revealing unnecessary information. When one first logs into a social media site such as Facebook, the first things that ...
During the 21st century, social interactions play a huge part in early development due to the fact that most teens want acceptance. Take the story of Khloe from the Doctor Phil show as an example. On this particular show, Khloe explains how her social media addiction has gotten out of control. “The amount of attention I get on Facebook feels like a rush to me, on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, I get 500 to 1,000 likes on each picture it makes me feel really good about myself!” (Social Media Obsessed Teen). With social media becoming more of a part of the teen’s lifestyle, many teens sometimes go crazy when given a little recognition on social media; so much that they would go out of their way to find out what people of the social media are saying about them and how well accepted a person is. Continuing with Khloe’s story, she stated, “I do get panic attacks when I leave my house and there’s no WiFi, It’s very hard to have conversations in real life. It’s so much easier to just text message or Facebook” (1). Following the effects of this trend, many teens began to take on an alter ego that makes them talk in slang, and act a certain way to fit in with the popular crowds. In doing so they become a carbon copy of their peers to in order to maintain their level of recognition. Overall approval encourages teens, and from there it starts to