The Presentation Of Self In Everyday Life By Erving Goffman Analysis

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When meeting someone for the first time you are trying to do two things and so is the person you are meeting. The first thing each of you are doing is trying to size up and understand what type of person the other is. The second thing is that you both are trying to get the other person to see you in a certain way by the words said and unsaid and the actions done and not done. You both are acting in one way or another or putting on a performance so that the person you are meeting gets to see you as you are (gets to see you act as you do everyday) or as you want them to see you (act the in a way that makes them believe that this is the way you act in your day-to-day life). Erving Goffman, the author of “The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life.” said “the individual will act so that he intentionally or unintentionally expresses himself and the others will in turn have to be impressed in some way by him.” (Ichheiser 1949, 6-7). The key word in this quote that will help us understand what Goffman means by “performance” is the word act. When you go to the theater or the movies you watch …show more content…

David Grazian’s study builds on Quinn’s research on men and women's interactions and Grazian finds similar results as Quinn did in her study. In the study of Grazian the performance of both men and women was driven by both genders trying to prove that they are as the audience (society) says they should be. Society has men believing that all women want only one type of man, a masculine man and society has woman believing that men want women who are quite, pretty and live to make their man happy. Both parties in both studies have been fooled by society and they don’t realize or understand

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