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Explore Goffman's insights on managing identity through roles, rituals, and remedial interchanges in social interactions. Discover how tribalism and games influence symbolic distance and projection in identity construction.
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HCC classlecture 26 comments John Canny4/27/05
Goffman Probably the best known researcher in “identity” and how we manage it. Formerly president of the American Sociological Institute, but also considered an outsider to sociology for many years.
Roles In order to manage our identity and sustain a self-image that others wont challenge to often, we cultivate a ritualized life. We: • Play out the role we are comfortable with. • Strive a little to improve, but: • We attend to the feedback from others around us. • Seek out familiar persons and situations that will re-validate our position and status.
Ritual “Ritual is a perfunctory, conventionalized act through which an individual portrays his respect and regard for some object of ultimate value to that object of ultimate value or its stand-in.” Once upon a time, we did this mostly to deities. Now we do it to each other. Ritual is a critical form of social exchange. It leverages the recipient’s own positive self-image to trigger reciprocation.
Ratification Ritual associated with change in status or role, e.g. marriage or promotion. They promulgate knowledge of the recipient’s new status throughout their social group. The rewards are often proportionate to the degree of doubtfulness of the new status, e.g. a new beard, or a person’s physical appearance after surgery or a serious disease.
Remedial Interchanges When an individual offends, they can give an “account”: • Offer various arguments that the action did not occur. • Argue that circumstances made the act necessary. Includes shifting “blame” to the accuser. • Argue for “passive” or “unintentional” participation in the act. • Reduced competency, e.g. too much to drink, had a bad day, pressure, depressed, deadline,… • Didn’t know what was going to happen,…
Remedial Interchanges Apologies: The individual separates themselves into two parts: the part that did the act, and the part that distances itself from it. The individual can therefore take the side of prosecutor against themself, allowing others to defend them.
Games Idealized “social” encounters, a kind of natural laboratory for perfect society. The uncertainty of the outcome makes it genuinely interesting to be involved (as player or spectator). Its also interesting to the extent that the players display their “powers”. Games delicately balance “too serious” with “not serious enough.”
Tribalism Games may be deliberately staged to cultivate tribal bonds, e.g. in schools or universities. The teams are aligned with institutional boundaries, so that one institution is “self” and the other is “the other”. These differences are even more effective when they amplify other differences, like class or regional differences. But they must not “break the barrel”. “Symbolic distance” from the actual sources of conflict are important.
Projection A device whereby people can project their own experiences which are too difficult to deal with, into a “game” or virtual reality mediated by dolls. Or a patient who was non-communicative who gradually started expressing her grief through hand gestures.
Character contests Games may also morph into contests of display rather than participation. That is, the game is not about the actions within the game, but about the displays the players make while playing it.
Discussion Topics T1: List some of the roles that you play in your work and home life. What situations change how you play them? What rituals do you use? T2: In what situations are you aware of multiple roles? i.e. of the distance between yourself and the character you are playing?
