Description
Book SynopsisNot then, men and their moments. Rather, moment and their men, writes Erving Goffman in the introduction to his groundbreaking 1967 Interaction Ritual, a study of face-to-face interaction in natural settings, that class of events which occurs during co-presence and by virtue of co-presence. The ultimate behavioral materials are the glances, gestures, positionings, and verbal statements that people continuously feed into situations, whether intended or not.
A sociology of occasions is here advocated. Social organization is the central theme, but what is organized is the co-mingling of persons and the temporary interactional enterprises that can arise therefrom. A normatively stabilized structure is at issue, a social gathering, but this is a shifting entity, necessarily evanescent, created by arrivals and killed by departures. The major section of the book is the essay Where the Action Is, drawing on Goffman's last major ethnographic project observation of Nevada casin
Table of Contents
Introduction, On Face-Work, The Nature of Deference and Demeanor, Embarrassment and Social Organization, Alienation from Interaction, Mental Symptoms and Public Order, Where the Action Is
