A presentation of self in everyday life

By Erving Goffman

Short summary

Erving Goffman

Erving Goffman-The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life

As one of the greatest sociologists of the 20th century, Erving Goffman has made an
invaluable contribution to sociological study especially in analysing human interaction from a
dramatic perspective which represents the theme of his best known work, The Presentation
of Self in Everyday Life, published in 1959. In his study Goffman presents a conceptual
framework in which any occasion of face-to-face interaction can be interpreted as a theatrical
performance.1
In The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life, Goffman introduces a conceptual framework
inspired by the study of another great sociologist, Kenneth Burke, whose dramatistic
approach influenced Goffmans work. Starting from the idea of life as a stage introduced by
Burke, Goffman pioneered his own investigation into the dramaturgical aspects of life,
especially as to what concerns human interactions and the way in which one portrays himself
to the society at large. His thesis is that ultimately no person is truthful in the way he presents
himself to society but rather that we are all portrayed as performers enacting rehearsed lines
and roles which are carefully constructed in order to maximize the potential for deception and
create the desired social status. Goffman developed this thesis and grouped his studies into
six main themes which are central to his book: the performance, the team, the region,
discrepant roles, communication out of character and impression management.
Goffman ultimately believed that all people through the course of their lives continuously
train themselves to become experts in the art of impression management and that is why we
knowingly give off signals to the people we come in contact with in order to create the
impression we desire them to have of us but also monitor all aspects of their behaviour to
understand their position towards us. Thus we constantly deceive and are deceived even
where there is a closer relational bond which Goffman compares to fellow actors in the
backstage area. He believes that a closer connection does not make us act in a more authentic
1 Simon K. Beams and Elizabeth C.J. Pike: Goffman goes rock climbing: Using creative
ction to explore the presentation of self in outdoor education., Australian Journal of
Outdoor Education, 12(2), 3-11, 2008, available at:
http://www.education.ed.ac.uk/outdoored/research/beames_pike_2008.pdf

way but it rather makes us to knowingly contradict our stage behaviour. This is way, in this
theatrical world we live in, one needs to act with caution and suspicion as to every social
relationship he creates in order to try and avoid grave misdirection and ultimately
disappointment. Because of his studies Goffman developed an interest in espionage as he
perceived it as an extension of our common behaviour taken to the extreme. His way of
thinking might have also been influenced by the general social movements of the time in
America as the safe assumptions and slight doubts of the 1950s generation where transformed
into some of the radical movements and conspiracy theories of the 1960s.
What Goffman does in The Presentation of Self is to offer a sort of handbook or a report in
which he advances a conceptual framework of theatrical performance that can be applied to
the study of face-to-face interaction or the reciprocal influences of individuals upon one
anothers actions when in one anothers immediate physical presence 2. He begins his study
from the premise that when an individual interacts with another he will try to control the
situation by using the exterior to his advantage such as his appearance and manners but also
the setting in order to favourably manipulate the impression the other forms of him. On the
other hand, the other participant in the social situation will try to obtain as much information
about his interlocutor as possible so that he can infer the appropriate expectations as to their
relationship. A result of this premise is that all of the participants in the social encounter will
ordinarily engage in certain practices in order to avoid embarrassment to themselves and
others which are commonly known as good manners. However, it is often the case that the
impression created by one is important to the other participants involved in the situation and
thus they will all have the tendency to work together in the same way in which the performers
of a theatre show interact on stage in order to create and leave the audience with the desired
state of mind. In Goffmans words: since we all participate on teams, we must all carry
within ourselves something of the sweet guilty of conspirators3.
At this point I believe a succinct analysis of the main themes introduced by Goffman in The
Presentation of Self is necessary in order to understand the complexity of his theory. Thus
the first theme introduced is that of performances in which Goffman talks about the belief
one needs to put into his daily performance in order for it to seem authentic. He believes that
there are different degrees of effort an individual puts into his social performances as well as
2 Erving Goffman The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life 1959: 15
3 Erving Goffman The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life 1959: 105

belief that these represent the true reality which range from him honestly feeling that
whatever action he is doing truthfully represents his interior state of mind to him being aware
that his actions are a fake portrayal of himself. A good example of this would be a person
who has been born into a certain religion and follows its tradition though he does not believe
at all in its principles. Between the two extremes, there are numerous degrees of belief one
puts into his day-to-day behaviour.
An aspect that Goffman analyses in detail is the way in which performers conceal aspects of
their lives they do not want the other observers to notice and thus systematically try to hide
them. On the other side there are also performers who exaggerate the communication or
relation they have with others, making those seem more special and worthy of attention. It is
to be understood from this point that many of our social interactions rely on the feelings of
the participants as to whether they are of special significance.
Goffman further emphasises that all of these instruments used to deceive and manipulate the
opinions of the observers need to be perfectly aligned in order to sustain the credibility of the
play. That is why he considers that this art of impression management is rather fragile in
nature as one volatile and impulsive mistake can ruin the entire play. Thus he distinguished
between the two completely different natures of human personality: the "all-too-human
selves" which are supposed to be volatile and impulsive, and our "socialized" selves. It is my
belief that this argument is somewhat superficial and is inspired by Freudian psychology as
there are surely more facets of the human personality than those analysed by Goffman.
Since on the social scene people do not act deliberately only for the pleasure of acting but are
concerned with their impression management, misrepresentations are always likely to occur.
However principles such as those of truth or lie, "honest" or dishonest", are defined by
society and thus cannot properly be described in absolute sociological terms. The last section
presented by Goffman is that on reality and contrivance in which he argues against the
influence of the Western society which characterizes two types of actions and their
relationship to reality in a dichotomous concept. The first of them is our honest performance
which occurs naturally as it is the unintentional and unmodified response to the conditions
surrounding us. The other is the fake, always calculated and coordinated performance which
is not a response to any specific conditions around us but simply our impression
management. Goffman argues that this dichotomous categorization obscures the scientific
reality, and argues that there is no intrinsic or necessary relationship between appearance and

reality. One can equally well manage their own impressions and thus, their own version of
reality, by acting completely dishonestly or lying about everything regarding oneself. So
tacitly, Goffman takes us back to the starting point he shares with Berger and Luckmann, as
well as symbolic interactionism tradition in general - that all reality is socially constructed.4
Goffman ends his book by reiterating that one is not born with the skills to produce a perfect
performance but learns these in time and every deception, disillusion and misfortune that
affects ones life will influence his ability to perform and the show he will put on.
Goffmans view of the self as a product of performance in everyday social life is pivotal to
Philip Blumsteins study The Production of Selves in Personal Relationships, Blumstein
distinguishes between self and identity, defining the self as a personal intrapsychic structure
known only by the person to whom it belongs, and identity as the face that is publicly
displayed. Blumsteins distinction reflects similar ones made by Goffman, in particular his
distinction between self-as-performer and self-as-character in The Presentation of Self. Other
than Blumstein, the notion that there is no objectively valid universal reality independent of
people's social actions has been developed as we have seen in the works of other sociologists
such as Berger and Luckmannalbeit perhaps at a more sophisticated level as Goffman's
analysis is largely limited to the individual level and does not pay much attention to the
construction of social structure and institutions.5
Tonnies believes that the main factors which influence human interactions are directly related
with the type of society the individuals live in, and the value attributed to these interactions
depends on the norms of that particular type of society. In other words, Tonnies distincts
between two types of Gemeinschaft (communal society) and the Gesellschaft (associational
society), underlining the fact that people born at the countryside are acting and interacting
according to traditional beliefs and rules; at the same time, people born in big cities are losing
some important rules about interaction: they lose the traditional bonds of family, children
forget how to play with each other and everything is industrialised. Goffman, on the other
hand, believes that human interactions must be analysed on their own, without taking into
particular consideration the context in which they happen, as he compares life to a theatre
4Erving Goffman- The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life
http://ssr1.uchicago.edu/NEWPRE/CULT98/Goffman1.html
5 A. Javier Travino- Goffmans Legacy

stage in which each character makes their mark and leaves an impression on the viewer
according to the interactions he has with all the other characters in the play. The two seem to
have rather opposite beliefs on the matter, however I think that, because an individual is
shaped from birth by the society he lives in, the interactions he has must also be analysed by
looking at the entire context of that society and at the expectations and requirements that
particular society places on an individual which is closer related to Tonnies view.
It is my point of view that Goffmans account of the individual as an actor in a play that
assumes a role and portrays him to the world according to that role is a very realistic
interpretation of how one deals with his own portrayal in society. It is my belief that one can
never truly know oneself but just learn in time what role fits best and is easier to play.
In conclusion, it is my belief that Goffmans analogy of everyday life and human interactions
to a drama is an accurate portrayal of our world and this innovative but realistic theory is
what makes him one of the greatest sociologists of the twentieth century.

Bibliography
1. Goffmans Legacy- A. Javier Trevino:
http://books.google.ro/books?
id=GgAVw2EJpg0C&pg=PA36&lpg=PA36&dq#v=onepage&q&f=false

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The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life Erving Goffman

The Production of Selves in Personal Relationships- Philip Blumstein
http://ssr1.uchicago.edu/NEWPRE/CULT98/Goffman1.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Presentation_of_Self_in_Everyday_Life
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erving_Goffman