Everyday Life

2 Pages 586 Words

Erving Goffman suggested, “Day-to-Day interaction has much in common with being on stage or in a dramatic production.”. He generalized a way people behave in certain situation, and compared everyday life to theatrical presentation. So he developed 5 concepts, which are Impression Management, Face-Saving Behavior, and Studied nonobservance, Front Stage, Back Stage. We can observe these 5 concepts in everyday life.
First of all, Impression Management, called “presentation of self”, which “refers to people’s efforts to present themselves to others in ways that are most favorable to their own interests or image” according to the text, is observed in a blind date of my friend. My friend is used to wear tanning pant, and whatever comfortable for him, but he dressed really well like casual suit even used perfume, which he has never used before, to attract his partner. In this observation, his efforts are dressing well, using perfume, and his interest is to get her attention to become her boyfriend.
Secondly, Face-Saving Behavior, which “refers to the strategies we use to rescue our performance when we experience a potential or actual loss of face” according to the text, is observed when my friend told us about something he thinks funny, nobody seems to agree with him then he suddenly change a topic to avoid this embarrassing situation. And he starts to talk something different. In this observation, a performance that is rescued is talking something not acceptable for his friends, and strategy he used is changing a topic, starting to talk something different.
Thirdly, Studied nonobservance, which “refers to the situations one role player ignores the flaws in another’s performance to avoid embarrassment for everyone involved” according to the text, is observed in my friend’s part time job. My friend has part time job in Mongolian restaurant as a chopper. When he chopped vegetables he cuts his finger, so serving ve...