Goffman's Metaphor Research Articles

“I'm the Next American Idol”: Cooling Out, Accounts, and Perseverance at Reality Talent Show Auditions

Drawing on fieldwork at American Idol auditions, I describe how contestants come to accept their fate after being cut from the competition. I revisit Goffman's metaphor of “cooling the mark out,” especially the cooling out strategy of offering people another chance to qualify for roles at which they failed. Contestants' desires to audition and audition again after failure are driven by meritocratic ideals. They develop accounts in line with these ideals to explain how despite being rejected they are talented and can still excel in the future. This study contributes to literature on “cooling out” by highlighting how people draw on larger systems of meaning—ideologies supporting meritocratic values in the case of Idol contestants—when making sense of their failures.

Goffman on Emotions: The Pride‐Shame System

This essay proposes that Goffman's basic method was the intuitive recognition of generic examples of social interaction. This focus on examples, when considered from the point of view of two of Cooley's general propositions, helps explain the meaning of Goffman's metaphor of theatrical performance, and his insistence on the risk of shame in all interaction. These ideas make sense following Pascal's emphasis on the intuitive element in finding new knowledge, and Spinoza's part/whole idea. This latter approach leads to what will be called the Goffman/Cooley conjecture: we run the risk of shame in all human interaction. Although they didn't explain why, it seems that the pace of modern alienated societies punishes the mammalian urge that humans have for connectedness (pride) with others. These ideas seem to be supported by studies by Helen Lewis and Norbert Elias, and by my own recent study of Ngrams. As Elias's study proposed, virtually all shame is hidden in modern societies. The idea of hidden shame requires a new definition of shame that is quite different than vernacular usage.

Understanding ‘Back Stage’ and ‘Front Stage’ Work in Restorative Justice Conferences: The Benefits of Using Ethnographic Techniques

Facilitators play a vital role in restorative justice conferences, yet their work is often taken for granted. In a British evaluation of conferencing, Dignan et al (2007) have used Goffman's metaphor of conferencing as a ‘theatrical performance’ showing the value in undertaking a dramaturgical analysis of restorative justice. This article applies a similar approach using ethnographic techniques to analyse facilitation practice in an Australian conferencing scheme. In doing so, it analyses the ‘back stage’ and ‘front stage’ work in restorative justice to show how restorative justice rituals are assembled.

Symposium 3: Stage on the page

My research challenge is to find a way to understand relationships mediated through a text based Virtual Learning Environment for a distance learning Masters programme in Creative Writing, and to understand in what way these relationships support - or don't support - the development of those students towards their learning goals. In my research I combine concepts and approaches that are rooted in Sociology, Psychology and Literary Theory/Creative Writing.The focus of this paper is based in work in progress on ways of thinking about those online relationships and how as a researcher to observe and understand them. I have harnessed the use of a metaphor of Japanese Kabuki and Noh theatres to help me structure my thinking and to play with ideas drawn from the different disciplines with which I approach my research. My metaphor is built on that of Goffman (1969), with performance and stage serving as a way to understand the presentation of self. My refinement of Goffman's metaphor allows me to explore the issues associated with self presentation in this asynchronous online environment where interaction is apparently more measured and controlled. As with Goffman there are criticisms to be made of the dramaturgical analogy concerning how much conscious control there is of behaviour, but these criticisms become integral to my exploration of this environment, throwing up questions about communication and what it is to perform. My attention turns to the audience. In my research of this online environment I see myself as part of the audience. I use the metaphor to explore the role of a researcher in this context, highlighting issues of ontology and epistemology that colour how I regard 'the show'. However, in pursuing an approach informed by grounded theory and from a 'relational psychoanalytic' stance, I find myself shifting position in the dramaturgical analogy. I recognise my interpretations shaping and influencing the way I collect and understand data but I also recognise that I am instrumental in generating some of that data through the relationships between me and my interviewees. I need to regard not only my own responses and interpretations as part of my research data, but also to observe the process of intersubjectivity between me and my research participants. In turn I need also to consider the process of intersubjectivity between me and my own audience, you the reader.

Beyond the frontstage: trust, access, and the relational context in research with refugee communities.

This paper examines the role of trust and the concept of access as they affect the relational context in which community research, and research with refugee communities in particular, is conducted. Sociologist Irving Goffman's metaphor of frontstage and backstage behavior is used to illustrate the complexity and importance of developing of relations of trust, and thereby gaining "backstage" access, in communities that are generally closed to outsiders. It is argued that gaining authentic ("backstage") access to refugee communities, as well as other communities that have developed a self-protective insularity, is essential if we are to gather data that accurately reflect the actual beliefs, feelings, and experiences of community members. The paper then examines the puzzling lack of discussion regarding issues of trust, access, and the relational context in the literature on refugee mental health. Explanations for this apparent inattention are sought in the influence of the prevailing scientific paradigm that guides most research with refugees, and that shapes the values of the field's "gatekeepers," the editors and reviewers of scholarly journals. Throughout the paper, key points are illustrated with examples drawn from the author's research with refugees from Guatemala, Bosnia, and Afghanistan.