Foundations of Sociology

Erving Goffman   Background: Goffman is a Canadian-American sociologist who had been born on June 11th, 1922, in Mannville, Canada. He later moved to America to pursue his education at the University of Chicago in 1953. He became the 73rd president of the American Sociology Association (ASA) . Assumptions of Sociology: His main assumption was that people actively manage the impressions they present to others in their social interactions, in a sense being an actor to preserve their wanted visage to be kept. So the main thought process of this assumption is that people wear masks in a sense, making themselves seem more desirable or liked depending on the setting or people. This also then ties into the concept that our personalities aren't fixed but are instead influenced by others around them.  Erving Goffman was also considered one of the leading proponents to " symbolic interactionism ," which is the the view of social behavior that emphasizes linguistic or gestural com...