Enter Goffman: On Entrance, Embarrassment, and Role in Erving Goffman’s Dramaturgical Sociology

Abstract

This paper argues that the work of Erving Goffman can be profitably re-read with the aid of Juliane Vogel’s work on the cultural logic of “the entrance” [der Auftritt]. Although Goffman’s “dramaturgical sociology” makes use of several theatrical concepts for the analysis of face-to-face interaction in everyday life, “entrance” itself is not among them. The essay begins by demonstrating the significance of entrance for Goffman’s thought. For Goffman, as for Vogel, answering the question, “Who’s there?” is a necessary and pivotal moment in any face-to-face encounter. Then, it turns to the link between entrance and embarrassment, which has long been recognized as a critical concern for Goffman. Embarrassment proves to be the consequence of a “failed entrance” in Goffman’s writing; its status as looming threat to any encounter, and the need for precautions to prevent it, suggest something about the fragility of social intercourse and a certain structural interminability of entrance. The final sections attempt to historicize Goffman’s understanding of the human being as a performer compelled to enter into and out of conflicting and even contradictory roles, then explores theatrical antecedents of Goffman’s social actor in two works from Shakespeare and Kleist.