Goffman's Theory Research Articles

Reading Uncle Bumba and the Rumba: The Comedian Harmonists and Transnational Youth Culture at the End of the Weimar Republic

ABSTRACTThis article presents an analytical and cultural reading of the 1932 song ‘Der Onkel Bumba aus Kalumba tanzt nur Rumba’ by the German vocal group the Comedian Harmonists. It incorporates Erving Goffman's stigma theory to propose an alternative interpretation of performances of commercial rumba and jazz by members of a Weimar cosmopolitan youth culture that pushes beyond paradigms of appropriation and exoticism. The author argues that songs seemingly exoticizing an Other could rather serve as a means of articulating concerns of an Othered Self in the context of the rise of National Socialism. The article contrasts a close reading of the Comedian Harmonists’ performance of the song with performances by Leo Monosson and the Melody Gents and incorporates the contrasting experiences of the lyricist Fritz Rotter with those of the Comedian Harmonists to show how ‘Der Onkel Bumba’ presented jazz/rumba as an indicator for both utopian idealism and looming dystopian horror.

The “moral career” of perinatally HIV-infected children: revisiting Goffman's concept

HIV-infected children usually live in vulnerable situations, experiencing discrimination and stigma commonly felt by other people living with HIV/AIDS. The present study aims to analyse primary socialisation of HIV-infected children and adolescents recruited from a public health service in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) as a social process that shapes a new generation of stigmatised and vulnerable persons. Research was informed by an interactionist perspective, focusing on key aspects of HIV-infected children and adolescents life histories under the conceptual frame of Erving Goffman's theories regarding “moral careers”. Goffman defines the making of a moral career as the process through which a person learns that she/he possesses a particular attribute, which may lead her/him to be discredited by members of the surrounding society. We have identified aspects of life histories of HIV-vertically infected children and adolescents for each aspect of “moral career” as described by Goffman, relating them to as family structure, the experience of living HIV within the family, and the position and family role of a given subject. The patterns of “moral career” proposed by Goffman in 1963 were useful in identifying components of HIV-related stigma among children and adolescents. These include gender and social disadvantages, difficulty in coping with a child with a potentially severe disease, orphanhood, abandonment, adoption and disclosure of one's HIV serostatus. Primary socialisation of HIV-infected children and adolescents is a key piece of the complex HIV/AIDS-labelling process that could be targeted by interventions aiming to decrease stigma and marginalisation. Health care workers and stakeholders should be committed to ensuring education and guaranteeing the legal rights of this specific population, including the continuous provision of quality health care, full access to school and support to full disclosure of HIV diagnosis.

Role społeczne osób z zaburzeniami psychicznymi w ujęciu nauk społecznych

The paper aims to discuss social roles performed by the mentally ill as well as the changes that have occurred within this area in the last few decades. We have presented the sources of social scientific interest in the area of health and sickness, along with the basic theoretical assumptions behind various concepts, such as Parson's social roles, Freidson's secondary deviance, and Goffman's stigma theory as well Akers and Krohn's social learning theory. Changes that have taken place in the last few years in the type of social roles that are played by the mentally ill have also been discussed, with an evaluation of the contribution made by community psychiatry. A number of public opinion surveys have been referred to, the recent ones including CBOS 2005, 2007, 2008, 2012 and also the OBOP 1975. Each individual performs many social roles yet people who suffer from mental disorders face serious limitations in this area. A few decades ago, ubiquitously our society hardly allowed any roles to be played by the mentally ill, who were often isolated and excluded from the social sphere. This situation has improved considerably with the arrival of community-based psychiatry and the creation of such facilities as day wards, patient's clubs, training apartments and protected employment. Patients have now more opportunities to play more roles related to their recovery process, social interactions and professional life. However, there is still an urgent need to break through common stereotypes and raise the level of knowledge about mental disorders in Poland. Public opinion polls reveal that there is still much to be done in this field.

Can you pull it off? Appearance modifying behaviours adopted by wig users with alopecia in social interactions

In the academic and medical literature on alopecia, wigs (hair prostheses) are typically recommended as a coping strategy: a device to camouflage, conceal, or cover hair loss, and cope with the psychological impact of a dramatic change in body image. This paper used Goffman's (1959) theory of impression management to demonstrate (a) the social significance of self-presentation, and (b) how adults with alopecia managed their wig use in their daily lives. Data from 14 interviews, two focus groups and six video diaries with 22 Caucasian adults (19 females, 3 males; 29–74 years, SD=13.75) with alopecia in Scotland were analysed using discursive psychology. The analysis detailed how participants managed their wig use and behaviours in relation to social interaction with different categories of people. The paper raises concerns about health and medical discourse about wigs as a coping mechanism, and provides practical suggestions for wig users in social settings.

Little of Italy? Assumed ethnicity in a New York City neighbourhood

Utilizing the case study of Albanian Kosovars employed in the restaurant business in Little Italy, New York, this paper introduces the concept of assumed ethnicity. This concept describes one ethnic group strategically presenting itself as another ethnic group, neither assimilating into mainstream society ethnicity nor validating place of origin ethnicity. Such assumed ethnicity is outwardly expressed (assumed) by the ethnic group in question, as well as accepted (assumed to be true) in both mainstream encounters and understandings of self. Applying and building on Goffman's theory of the front stage and back stage elucidates this phenomenon, where migrants instrumentally assume an ethnicity different from their own, in order to facilitate front-stage (mainstream) encounters. On the backstage, they expose their ‘true’ ethnicity, in the process drawing connections between Kosovo, Albania and Italy: ironically, authenticating assumed ethnicity by linking their front- and back-stage performances of everyday life.

Biting the forbidden apple: Unmasking the strategies that married women employ when conducting their extra marital affairs in Shamva's Wadzanai Township Zimbabwe

The present paper is a follow up to the article “'Wives in watercolours': Infidelity among married women in Shamva, Zimbabwe (RJFS-2015-0140) that has been submitted to the Journal of Family Studies by Chadambuka, Pelser and Muzvidziwa. Whilst the first article thrusts its main focus on causes and consequences, this particular paper is committed to documenting the strategies that married women in a multi ethnic African community employ as they conduct their secret love affairs. The study was carried out in Shamva District's Wadzanai Township in Mashonaland Central Province, Zimbabwe. This qualitative study shows that extra marital affairs of married women thrive in secrecy. Networks with friends as well as secret rendezvous and character staging were some of the strategies used by the women. Indepth interviews were carried out with six married women who were involved in extra marital affairs with other men and these took place on a face to face basis. Goffman's dramaturgical theory and Michel Foucault's concept of the gaze and the African concept of Ubuntu are the sociological lenses which were used to analyse these dynamics. Keywords: Extra marital affairs, infidelity, married women, Ubuntu, culture

Using group role-playing games with gifted children and adolescents: A psychosocial intervention model.

Gifted children develop asynchronously, often advanced for their age cognitively, but at or between their chronological and mental ages socially and emotionally (Robinson, 2008). In order to help gifted children and adolescents develop and practice social and emotional self-regulation skills, we investigated the use of an Adlerian play therapy approach during pen-and-paper role-playing games. Additionally, we used Goffman's (1961, 1974) social role identification and distance to encourage participants to experiment with new identities. Herein, we propose a psychosocial model of interactions during role-playing games based on Goffman's theory and Adlerian play therapy techniques, and suggest that role-playing games are an effective way of intervening with gifted children and adolescents to improve their intra- and interpersonal skills. We specifically targeted intrapersonal skills of exercising creativity, becoming self-aware, and setting individual goals by raising participants' awareness of their privately logical reasons for making decisions and their levels of social interest. We also targeted their needs and means of seeking significance in the group to promote collaboration and interaction skills with other gifted peers through role analysis, embracement, and distancing. We report results from a case study and conclude that role-playing games deserve more attention, both from researchers and clinical practitioners, because they encourage change while improving young clients' social and emotional development.

Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure (MEIM) Expansion: Measuring Racial, Religious, and National Aspects of Sense of Ethnic Identity Within the United Kingdom

These studies examined the degree to which racial, religious, and national aspects of individuals' sense of ethnic identity stand as interrelated, yet distinct, constructs. Results of exploratory factor analyses in Study 1 (n = 272) revealed that a three-factor model specifying racial, religious, and national identities yielded optimal fit to correlational data from an expanded, 36-item version of the Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure (MEIM; Roberts et al., 1999), although results left room for improvement in model fit. Subsequently, results of confirmatory factor analyses in Study 2 (n = 291) revealed that, after taking covariance among the items into account, a six-factor model specifying exploration and commitment dimensions within each of the racial, religious, and national identity constructs provided optimal fit. Implications for the utility of Goffman's (1963b) interactionist role theory and Erikson's (1968) ego psychology for understanding the full complexity of felt ethnic identity are discussed.

Stigmatized among the Stigmatized: Sex Offenders in Canadian Penitentiaries

Convicted sex offenders carry an additional stigma to that of being a criminal, fuelled by their charges. This stigma of an incarcerated sex offender has been studied from the perspective of professionals and paraprofessionals working in corrections, although never before from the position of other prisoners. Via semi-structured interviews with 56 Canadian men on parole, this study investigated how federally incarcerated men stigmatize sex offenders and the shape, scope, and implications of this stigma for the offender. The lived experiences of incarcerated sex offenders were examined empirically, as well the interactions and perceptions of sex offenders by former prisoners who had served time due to non-sex-related convictions. The study was framed by Goffman's (1963) stigma theory, providing insight into the scope, dynamics, and implications of the sex offender stigma as created by other prisoners. In itself, this stigma shapes the overall prison experience of the sex offender; and, interestingly, the threat of being falsely labelled with such a stigma is real for prisoners without such convictions. Findings also suggest that the sex offender stigma can manifest itself as physical/verbal abuse, social exclusion, and victimization and can become embedded in prison policies and structures. Given the current political climate in Canada and the fact that corrections facilities known by prisoners to house sex offenders are being closed and their prisoner populations relocated, this study is particularly relevant and important – specifically in examining the potential risks that await many sex offenders upon transferring to a new institution in which this stigma may strongly prevail.

Telling Others How You Live—Refining Goffman's Stigma Theory Through an Analysis of Housing Strugglers in a Homeowner Nation

This article revisits Goffman's stigma theory from the perspective of housing studies. We elaborate on Goffman's approach by exploring how housing tenure can work as a proxy for moral character. We interviewed twenty‐seven people who are excluded from access to homeownership in two cities in Norway, which is a “homeowner nation.” These individuals are unable to enter the dominant “homeowner class” for different reasons, including drug‐dependency, mental illness, refugee background, low socioeconomic status; thus, they must access housing through other tenures; private renting or social housing. To many of them, housing becomes a stigma, in Goffman terms, an “undesired differentness.” Social housing is known to carry stigma in Norway. It was thus a paradox, that those with the softest differentness—private rental—were most likely to practice (Goffman:) “information control” over their housing situation. Goffman's theoretical apparatus, and his distinction between the discreditable and the discredited in particular, helped us make this paradox comprehensible. Through this analysis, refinements to Goffman's theory were discovered. We suggest that “multiple stigmas,” which was not seen clearly by Goffman himself, should be a key notion in stigma studies. We use this notion to distinguish between possible sub‐types to the discredited‐discreditable distinction.

Informal management, interactive performance: street vendors and police in a Taipei night market

In various geopolitical contexts, a strategy of flexibility exists in the urban politics involved in governing extralegal or informal practices, yet the actual processes involved have not really been analysed. This paper is based on a case study of the informal management of street vendors in Taipei's Shilin Night Market. The city deploys a policy of loose policing of the extralegal vendors, demonstrating its will to improve the situation, and the vendors respond by performing a series of spatial routines in order to maintain their occupancy of appropriated arcades and streets. This ritualised interaction, explored here in the light of Ervin Goffman's performance theory, allows the municipality to accommodate informality within a contemporary urban context. The paper analyses the political, social and spatial significance of this informal management in order to clarify one of the ways in which modern cities can benefit from urban policies and planning strategies that support urban informality.

Managing challenges on the front stage: The face-work strategies of musicians

Employing ethnographic fieldwork supported by semi-structured interviews, I examine how musicians—like all those who perform identity work—attempt to maintain a “correct” face that meets what they perceive to be the requirements of a particular context. When musicians’ presentations are somehow “wrong” for the moment, musicians choose from four face-work strategies—underscoring, substituting, deflecting, and neutralizing—in attempts to save face and perform an identity that is contextually appropriate. Theoretically, I expand upon Erving Goffman's theory of face-work by demonstrating how Bourdieusian field theory and insight on the qualities of capital can inform an understanding of face-saving practices. By showing how social actors succeed or fail in face-to-face interaction, this expanded model of face-work helps explain how situational stratification occurs in everyday encounters.

The Effort of Being in a Fictional World: Upkeyings and Laminated Frames in MMORPGs

AbstractOn the basis of ten months of fieldwork studying a role‐playing guild in the game World of Warcraft, this article shows that contrary to the idea that virtual worlds are seductive illusions, technology does not necessarily support players' feelings of being immersed in fictional worlds. Applying Goffman's frame theory, the author explains how role‐players in the game actively upkey elements from primary frameworks in order to create and uphold the frame of being in a fictional world. This kind of narrative immersion is rather hindered than facilitated by technology.

Frames and social games

In this paper, we model socially-embedded games. We use non-cooperative game forms with pure strategy Nash equilibria and embed them through framing structures. These frames alter how players perceive the game, or rule out the choice of some elements of players’ option sets. In this way, we explicitly link the notion of social game to concepts taken from Erving Goffman's theory of interaction. According to Goffman, game theory is flawed because it applies a single-level model to two-leveled situations, ignoring the fact that people form impressions and expectations during or before any strategic game. In this essay, we provide a set-up endowed with these two levels. Firstly, players endogenize a given setting and frame the interaction. This determines what kind of game they will play. Secondly, they select Nash equilibrium strategies. As we shall discuss, it is possible in this way to consider how frames operate and what role they have in determining Nash solutions of non-cooperative games.

Nonsocial Transient Behavior: Social Disengagement on the Greyhound Bus

Based on two years of observations and engaging in informal conversations with passengers on Greyhound Line buses, this article describes the long‐distance bus journey and the ways in which people actively disengage from others over the course of the ride. Using the Greyhound buses and stations as a microcosm of other such public spaces, I examine its unspoken rules and behavior. I paint a picture of the buses and stations, the patrons, the employees, and the transactions that take place between them. Using ideas from Goffman's civil inattention theory, Lofland's thoughts on strangers, and symbolic interactionism, I explain what I call “nonsocial transient behavior” and “nonsocial transient space.” The reasons nonsocial transient behavior emerges and thus encourages disengagement are identified as follows: uncertainty about strangers, lack of privacy or absence of a personal space, and exhaustion.

More than a Façade: Somatic and Structural Determinants in Erving Goffman's Theory of the Perduring Self

This paper argues that Erving Goffman endorses the veracity of a perduring self. Culling the corpus of his work, recent findings in neurophysiology and cognitive science surrounding the autonomy and mutual determination of emotion, cognition, and social structure are drawn upon when unpacking his highly composite theory. Isolating Goffman's claims about the psychobiological underpinning of the emotionally sentient body and those pertaining to macro and micro‐structural determinants, the former, it is argued, champion the coherence of the self insofar as they link cathected feelings to individual desires and inclinations. The latter, conversely, complicate the picture by accentuating the social construction of emotions and the relationship between episodic cognitive operations and multifarious interpretive frames. In the end, however, it is shown that Goffman's macro‐structural account, far from being residual, discloses the consistency, and unity of the self occasioned by social proximity and general social norms.

Library service as theatre

PurposeLibrarians have traditionally followed a model of service based on a professional ethic. Attempts to introduce a retail model of service have generally met with staff resistance. The study aims to ask librarians about their attitudes to the retail and professional models of service and what they did not like about the retail model.Design/methodology/approachData were drawn from focus groups consisting of experienced reference librarians.FindingsResults suggest that librarians behave differently while front‐stage and backstage. They resist the retail model because it is perceived to replace service based upon knowledge with fake behaviour.Practical implicationsManagers can draw on the results when considering how best to improve the service provided by library staff who prefer the professional model of service over the retail model.Originality/valueThe use of Goffman's theory of dramaturgy has highlighted previously unknown attitudes to service held by reference librarians that will slow or stop the introduction of the retail model of service.

Micro-interaction dynamics in group decision making: Face games, interaction order and boundary work

Summary Drawing on Goffman's face theory, this paper documents and interprets the micro interaction dynamics underlying group decision making within a consultancy task force. Our analysis suggests that decision making is an instance of strategic face-to-face behavior where individuals seek to influence each other and reach decisions by means of face-work and self-presentation tactics. Moreover, face-to-face behavior generates an ‘interaction order’ that frames the decision making situation and constrains further interactions among decision makers. We discuss the implications that can be drawn from the observed case by relating our findings to the emergent stream of studies on micro-decision making.

‘The old-fashioned way’: conception and sex in serodiscordant relationships after ART

This paper explores heterosexual women's accounts of conception and sex within serodiscordant relationships in the period after the advent of Anti-Retroviral Treatment in Australia. It utilises Goffman's theory of stigma and narrative identity theory as a framework for analysis. Six women had planned and conceived pregnancies, four had an unexpected pregnancy and one was attempting to conceive. Accounts of conception usually consisted of a story that involved unprotected sex, once, for the purpose of conceiving. This included what they perceived to be an acceptable risk; one they were willing to take for the desired outcome. Two women gave accounts of artificial insemination. The conception story was usually constructed for the benefit of family and friends aware of the women's status thereby reinforcing the woman's identity as responsible and moral. However, most women revealed their partner did not like condoms and used them sporadically or not at all, directly contradicting the ‘conception story’. To justify their actions as informed and responsible, women constructed accounts around low viral load and female-to-male transmission. But a consequence of limited or no condom use was that some women reported worrying about ensuing stigma from their partner's and their families if their partner did seroconvert.

Language and space in a multilingual undergraduate physics classroom in Rwanda

This case study examines how a lecturer and a group of students adjust to a request for English-only medium of instruction in tertiary education. The study draws on sociocultural theories considering context and language use as tools for meaning making. Goffman's theories of stage setting and footing are used to analyse how the lecturer positions himself in relation to language use. The findings show that in the observed session the lecturer used code-switching as a tool to extend students’ academic literacy. Further, we found that he in most cases assigned different classroom spaces to different languages. Hence, English as the targeted language of instruction was used when the lecturer was standing at the board, the official teaching space, whereas French, a previously accepted language, was used in a semi-official space closer to the students. Kinyarwanda, the lecturer's and students’ first language, is not permitted as a medium of instruction, but was used when the lecturer was close to the students. We label this a personal space, where the lecturer changed code in order to improve interaction and students’ understanding. Such code-switching has cultural and historical traditions and is viewed in this study as a strategy to avoid misunderstandings and allow more equitable learning opportunities.