Erving Goffman is recognized as one of the most influential figures of the twentieth century. Specializing in the study of social interactions, Goffman closely studied face-to-face interactions. Goffman’s work has been debated as appearing unclear and confusing due its complexity, in addition to criticism for being limited to microsociology. Which raises the question, is Erving Goffman a credible source for explaining impression management? Before claiming Goffman a credible source in illustrating the concept of impression management, we must consider present critiques of his work, than compare his work to someone who has helped develop his theory and finally analyze how his work holds up in consideration of all that. Theorist, Arlie Hochschild
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Through the analysis of Goffman’s work as critiqued by others and in relation to someone who expanded on his theories it can be concluded whether Goffman is in fact a credible source for understanding impression management.
Examining first the impact Goffman’s work has had on sociology and the issues applied against his theory. Author Philip Manning (1992) examines Goffman 's work in his novel, Erving Goffman and Modern Sociology. Manning explains Goffman 's theory in association to modern society. Furthermore, Manning recognizes the complexity of Goffman’s work and claims that while other social scientist may apply some of Goffman’s theories to evolve their own work, they are not equipped to amplify his study of social interaction. Goffman 's work centralizes the concept of embarrassment to show the extent by which we are forced to follow social rules in order to act appropriate in given situations. In addition, Goffman’s work has been criticized for highlighting societies complexities without finding plausible solutions (Manning, 1992, p. 6). While, Goffman 's theory may be considered …show more content…
In his work Goffman ' uses the example of elevators shared by strangers, and the importance of acting in appropriate accordance to that setting in order to avoid embarrassment that may result in from making eye contact for too long. Here the actors are socialized to behave in a manner that is suitable to that particular setting, acting outside this realm would result in breaking the social rules and may
Through the analysis of Goffman’s work as critiqued by others and in relation to someone who expanded on his theories it can be concluded whether Goffman is in fact a credible source for understanding impression management.
Examining first the impact Goffman’s work has had on sociology and the issues applied against his theory. Author Philip Manning (1992) examines Goffman 's work in his novel, Erving Goffman and Modern Sociology. Manning explains Goffman 's theory in association to modern society. Furthermore, Manning recognizes the complexity of Goffman’s work and claims that while other social scientist may apply some of Goffman’s theories to evolve their own work, they are not equipped to amplify his study of social interaction. Goffman 's work centralizes the concept of embarrassment to show the extent by which we are forced to follow social rules in order to act appropriate in given situations. In addition, Goffman’s work has been criticized for highlighting societies complexities without finding plausible solutions (Manning, 1992, p. 6). While, Goffman 's theory may be considered …show more content…
In his work Goffman ' uses the example of elevators shared by strangers, and the importance of acting in appropriate accordance to that setting in order to avoid embarrassment that may result in from making eye contact for too long. Here the actors are socialized to behave in a manner that is suitable to that particular setting, acting outside this realm would result in breaking the social rules and may