Description
Book SynopsisThe Presentation of Self in Contemporary Social Life covers the populartheories of Erving Goffman, and showsmodern applications of dramaturgical analysis in a wide range of social contexts. David Shulman's innovative new text demonstrates how Goffman's ideas, first introduced in 1959, continue to inspire research into how we manage the impressions that others form about us. He synthesizes the work of contemporary scholars who use dramaturgical approaches from several disciplines, who recognize that many values, social norms, and laws have changed since Goffman's time, and that contemporary society offers significant new forms of impression management that we can engage in and experience. After a general introduction to dramaturgical sociology, readers will see many examples of how Goffman's ideas can provide powerful insights into familiar aspects of contemporary life, including business and the workplace, popular culture, the entertainment industry, and the digital wo
Table of ContentsIntroduction Author′s Note Chapter 1 Self-Presentation and The Dramaturgical Perspective Introduction: “Being Yourself” Is a Performance Too So Why Study Dramaturgy? Getting Down to Business The Scholarly Provenance of Dramaturgical Ideas Analyzing Dramaturgy Erving Goffman and Dramaturgy Goffman’s Six Principles of Impression Management The Self Symbolic Interactionism Chapter 2 Persona Watching: Catching Impression Management in Action Introduction: Reverse Engineering Dramaturgy Regions, Actors, Performances: Some Service Examples Thinking of Performances as Cumulative: Social Order, Norms and Roles Ratcheting Up Sociological Analysis with Dramaturgy Chapter 3 Sociological Influences on People’s Performances Introduction: Learning How to Act in Everyday Life Social Structural Forces that Impact Dramaturgical Actions Think of Social Forces as Interweaving Clusters Realizing the Analytic Potential of the Dramaturgical Perspective Nine Contributions A Dramaturgical Approach Can Make to Enhance Sociological Thinking Chapter 4 Modern Life as Show Business Introduction: The Thicket of Unreality Examples of Unreal Images: Illusions, Photos and Word Can You Detect Unreality? Causes of Unreality: Extravagant Expectations and Pseudo-Events Image Life as Performance The Economics of Unreal Performances and Consumerism Las Vegas Casinos as “Cathedrals of Consumption” Consuming Experiences, Theming and Enchanted Products Dramaturgy: The New Means of Consumption Marketing and the Dramaturgical Legibility of Themes Dramaturgical Inequalities: Gender, Goffman and Advertising Conclusion Chapter 5 Dramaturgical Involvements in Popular Culture Introduction: Dramaturgical Involvement in Popular Culture LARPS: Live-Action Role Playing Engrossment in Popular Culture Experiences Dramaturgical Residency Face-to-Face Interaction Surpassing Performance Limits in Fantasy or “Killing S**t” in Made-Up Worlds Role Distance and the Actualization Gap Frames: A Social Phoropter Am Extended Case of Frames and Dramaturgy: The World of Professional Wrestling The Horror Genre, Stigma and Frame Traps Conclusion: Conflating Reality and Fantasy Chapter 6 The Internet: Society’s Newest Stage Introduction: The Internet, Disembodiment and Networked Audiences The Collapsing of Front and Back Stage Contexts Exploring Online Deviance User Generated Content: Everyone’s a Star, Everyone’s a Critic and I’m Into Documenting My Life Onstage Internet Ranting and Impression Management Stigma and Cyberbullying New Capacities to Stigmatize Moral Entrepreneurs Stigma Specialists Online: Mocking and Trolls Performance Online Versus Offline Altering Performance Content Deceiving Others Online and Strategic Interaction Deception in Online Dating and Romance Virtual Role Engulfment Filter Bubbles Chapter 7 Workplaces as Stages Introduction: Dramaturgy in Organizations and Workplaces Performance Teams: Dramaturgical Circumspection, Discipline and Loyalty Organizations and Order The Dramaturgy of Meetings Contemporary Takes on Dramaturgy in Organizations The Interaction Order and the Negotiated Order Asylums and Secondary Adjustments The Dramaturgical Infrastructure Total Institutions Emotional Labor Conclusion Glossary References
