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Transcript of Presentation of self in
Presentation of self in
Erving Goffmans Presentation of self in Everyday Life Part I:
Performances & Teams Presented by Tina Quicoli Performances
Belief in the part one is playing:
When an individual is playing a part it is requested that the
audience take their impression seriously. The audience is asked to
believe that the character actually possesses the attitudes they
appear to have. At one extreme the individual may believe the show
that they are putting on.The audience may believe their show too.
At the other extreme the individual does not believe in their own
routine. When the actor does not believe in their own act or have
concern for his audience they are called cynical. An individual may
be called sincere when they believe the impression that they are
putting on. At each end of the continuum the individual is provided
with a position that offers them their own securities and defenses.
People are always playing roles and we know each other through
these roles. A mask represents the conception that we have found
ourselves.This is the role that we are trying to live up to and our
truer self, the self we would like to be. We come into the world as
individuals, achieve character, and become persons. Front: A
performance refers to all the activity of an individual that occurs
during a period marked by their continuous presence before a
particular audience. A front is the part of the individuals
performance that functions in a general and fixed way that defines
a situation for the audience. The front is expressive equipment of
a standard kind that is intentionally or unwittingly employed by
the individual during the performance. Parts of the Front: The
setting involves the physical layout and other background items
that provide the scenery and the stage props for the show. A
personal front refers to the other items of expressive equipment
that are associated with the performer themselves and that we
naturally expect will follow them where every they go. Appearance
refers to the stimuli that act to tell the audience about the
performers social status and their temporary ritual state. Manner
refers to those stimuli that function to warn us of the
interactional role that the actor is expected to play. The front
becomes a collective representation and a fact in its own right.
Dramatic realization:
While in the presence of others the individual infuses their
activity with signs that dramatically highlight and portray
confirmatory facts that might be unapparent or obscure. In order
for an individuals activity to become significant they must
mobilize their activity so that it will convey what they want
during the interaction. Idealization: When an individual presents
in front of others their performance incorporates the values of the
society. This may be viewed as a ceremony or as an expressive
rejuvenation and reaffirmation of the moral values of the
community. It is a biased performance that is accepted as reality
and has the characteristics of a celebration. The most important
form of sign equipment is associated with social class and consists
of status symbols through which material wealth is expressed. When
an individual performs in front of other they conceal more than
inappropriate pleasures or economies. First, they may engage in a
profitable activity that are concealed from their audience and that
are incompatible with the view of their activity that they are
trying to obtain. Second, there are errors and mistakes that are
corrected before the performance takes place. Third, the performers
only show the audience the end product of the performance -- they
are judged by the finished package. Lastly, the performer fosters
the impression that they have ideal motives for acquiring their
role. A performer fosters the belief that they are related to the
audience in a more ideal way.
First, the individual fosters the impression that the routine that
they are performing is their own routine or at least their most
essential one. The audience assumes the character projected before
them is all that there is to the performer. Secondly, the performer
tends to foster the impression that their performance and their
relationship to their audience are special and unique. Maintenance
of expressive control:
The performer relies on the audience to accept cues that act to
signal something important about their performance. Unmeant
gestures may occur during a performance and convey impressions that
are incompatible with the one that the performer is intending to
foster. A performer may accidentally convey incapacity,
impropriety, or disrespect by momentarily losing their muscular
control. The performer may also act in a way that gives the
impression that they are too concerned with the interaction.
Lastly, the performer may allow their presentation to suffer from
inadequate dramaturgical direction. Misrepresentation: The
sign-accepting tendency puts the audience in a position to be duped
and misled. We ask whether a fostered impression is true or false
we really mean whether or not the performer is authorized to give
the performance. The performer has a lot of responsibility and
power towards shaping and controlling the impression being
fostered. The performer may use their authority and power to
confuse and confess the truth to the audience. Mystification: It is
possible for a man to work upon others through a false idea of
their self. The audience may sense a secret, mystery, and power
behind the performance. The performer may sense that his main
secret is a petty one or a folk tale. Reality and
Contrivance:
We tend to see a performance as something that is not purposely put
together, an unintentional product of the individual unconscious
response to the fact in his situation. We see a contrived
performance as something that is pasted together there is no
reality for which there is a direct response to Performers may be
sincerely convinced of their own sincerity, but this is not
necessary. An honest sincere performance may have less connect to
the real world than we actually think. Teams A performer guides
their private activities in accordance to existing moral
standards.These standards may be associated with a reference
group.This creates a non-present audience for their activities. The
individual privately maintains standards of behavior that they may
not believe in due the belief that an unseen audience is present
who will punish deviation from the standard. In other words, an
individual may be their own audience by imagining an audience to be
present. Then, it can be said that a team may stage performances
for an audience that is not physically present to watch the show.
The definition of the situation that is projected by a participant
is an integral part of a projection that is fostered and sustained
by the intimate cooperation of more than one participant. The
performance team refers to any set of individuals who cooperate in
staging a single routine. The concept of a team allows us to think
of performances that are given by one or more performers. It is
also important to point out that teammates work together to form a
team impression. Members of a team are in an important relationship
to each other.
Teammates are related to one another by bounds of reciprocal
dependence and reciprocal familiarity: First, team members are
bound by a reciprocal dependency, which links them together.That is
each team member is forced to rely on the good conduct and behavior
of their fellows, and they are forced to rely on them. Secondly, in
order to maintain a given definition of the situation before an
audience, members are forced to define one another as persons in
the know.In other words, team members are bound by rights of
familiarity. One of the teams main objectives is to maintain their
impression and a consistent definition of the situation. In order
to protect their impression team members are required to postpone
taking a public stand.Once a teams stand has been taken all members
are obligated to follow.Therefore, teammates avoid disagreements in
front of an audience. In addition, the official word must be made
available to all teammates so that they can play their
part.Withholding information from a teammate inhibits their ability
to assert a self to an audience. When a team member makes a mistake
the other members often wait for the audience to leave before
punishing them. Lastly, only individual who can be trusted are
selected to participate in the team.For this reason, children are
often not included in teams. A team is a group in relation to an
interaction or series of interaction that are relevant to a
particular definition of the situation. A team has the character of
a secret society. The audience is aware of the fact that all
members of the team are held together by a bond that no member of
the audience shares. Since we all participate in teams we all carry
within ourselves the guilt of conspirators. Discussion
Questions:
1)Do you believe Goffmans theory is a superficial theory of human
action or not? 2) Is there really a backstage? 3) Why is it so easy
for misrepresentation to take place?