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 communication and its subjective understanding. He also used the word "dramaturgy" to describe people as actors whose actions are shaped by those who surround them. This could be used to explain why people have a "work life" and a "home life" personality, where they swap masks depending on the situation and the surroundings.

Perspective to Society: The concept of changing ones personality to better appeal to others ties more in with "symbolic interactionism," as this type of thinking has made someone to believe that they need to change their "mask" to be better received by others. We can also tie this social theory into "functionalism" as this type of social theory ties into someone's functionality in their everyday life, as changing this mask would make you function better with certain types of people. Then for "Conflict Theory," the main way this really only ties into Goffman's theory, is that the person conflicts with how they actually feel against how they think they should act in certain groups and scenarios.

My Project Proposition: For my project I want to study the affects divorce has on children, and even the parents. I intend to do interviews of a select few who are willing to allow me to do in person interviews and allow me to record them and their experiences to try and figure out if divorce had put them at a disadvantage for the future of their lives. I also intend to look at previous research to see if the pattern might have changed over the years.

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