Although most won’t believe it, we are all actors. Erving Goffman’s Dramaturgical Analysis is the sociological view that explores social interaction as an improvisational theater in which impression management is the main performance. According to Goffman the goal of all interaction is communication. Interaction can be broken down into three areas: role, script, and lines. A role is the image we wish to convey, script refers to communication, and finally lines are the pattern of communication that expresses our view on a given situation.
In his analysis, Goffman talks of a front stage and a back stage. The front stage is where we put on a performance; this is where we perform roles and behave in a particular way for a particular audience. Society then can be viewed as a theater in this sense. Take the example of a student and a professor. A professor wishes to express themselves in a professional manner and in order to do so is not going to talk to their students like they would a family member or friend. The same applies for a student; they are not going to talk to their professor about what they did over the weekend rather they will discuss upcoming assignments, presentations, and classes. Our backstage then is where we are our “true selves.” We hide our backstage behavior; it is in our backstage that we are able to step out of character. We can rehearse our performances and relive pervious performances that we have given in the front stage.
I am very aware of my front stage and am not one to embarrass myself or put myself in a situation where I know I would feel uncomfortable but that’s exactly what was asked of me for class today. I stepped out of my comfort zone Thursday morning with the flashmob that was performed at Inner Circle in SCE. My stomach dropped and I started to blush even though I was not the one that started the bird calling for our flashmob. I was very aware of the reactions of other UIC students during our flashmob. While most seemed not to care, there were a few who looked up from what they were doing and looked around Inner Circle to see what was going. A few students laughed at what we were doing and I even heard one male student say “what the f***” which I found to be funny. I probably would have reacted the same way. I do not like to call extra attention to myself so I found our flashmob to be personally awkward, but I can say it is an experience I will never forget and will most likely not do again. I don’t know that our flashmob was completely successful; I do not think people realized that we were doing a flashmob because it really didn’t come off that way. Had I not been a part of it, I would have thought people were being unusually awkward and making bird calls for the fun of it. I think had we gotten up as a class at the end and danced around like birds or something of that nature it would have been more obvious to observers that we were attempting a flashmob.
The flashmob was a good experiment that demonstrated Goffman’s Dramaturgical Analysis. I was able to judge myself as an actor in society and also make judgments about other actors. I found it interesting to relive my experience in my backstage and think about what I would have done different and how I would have reacted differently given the opportunity to do it over again. It was interesting to see the reaction of others and make assumptions based on their front stage behaviors which is the way they reacted to our childlike bird calling.
In his analysis, Goffman talks of a front stage and a back stage. The front stage is where we put on a performance; this is where we perform roles and behave in a particular way for a particular audience. Society then can be viewed as a theater in this sense. Take the example of a student and a professor. A professor wishes to express themselves in a professional manner and in order to do so is not going to talk to their students like they would a family member or friend. The same applies for a student; they are not going to talk to their professor about what they did over the weekend rather they will discuss upcoming assignments, presentations, and classes. Our backstage then is where we are our “true selves.” We hide our backstage behavior; it is in our backstage that we are able to step out of character. We can rehearse our performances and relive pervious performances that we have given in the front stage.
I am very aware of my front stage and am not one to embarrass myself or put myself in a situation where I know I would feel uncomfortable but that’s exactly what was asked of me for class today. I stepped out of my comfort zone Thursday morning with the flashmob that was performed at Inner Circle in SCE. My stomach dropped and I started to blush even though I was not the one that started the bird calling for our flashmob. I was very aware of the reactions of other UIC students during our flashmob. While most seemed not to care, there were a few who looked up from what they were doing and looked around Inner Circle to see what was going. A few students laughed at what we were doing and I even heard one male student say “what the f***” which I found to be funny. I probably would have reacted the same way. I do not like to call extra attention to myself so I found our flashmob to be personally awkward, but I can say it is an experience I will never forget and will most likely not do again. I don’t know that our flashmob was completely successful; I do not think people realized that we were doing a flashmob because it really didn’t come off that way. Had I not been a part of it, I would have thought people were being unusually awkward and making bird calls for the fun of it. I think had we gotten up as a class at the end and danced around like birds or something of that nature it would have been more obvious to observers that we were attempting a flashmob.
The flashmob was a good experiment that demonstrated Goffman’s Dramaturgical Analysis. I was able to judge myself as an actor in society and also make judgments about other actors. I found it interesting to relive my experience in my backstage and think about what I would have done different and how I would have reacted differently given the opportunity to do it over again. It was interesting to see the reaction of others and make assumptions based on their front stage behaviors which is the way they reacted to our childlike bird calling.