Attached is my data for the Data Discussion Presentation tomorrow. Hopefully this works...fingers crossed
Wednesday, 29 August 2012
SOC250 Blog - Week 6
SOC250
Weekly Blog 2
“All the world’s a stage, And all
the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts” By William Shakespeare.
I really like the ideas that were
discussed in this week’s lecture, and the text we read “Performances” by Erving
Goffman. The above quote from Shakespeare’s play As You Like It, appeared in the lecture, and is one of my all-time favourites
sayings as the idea that we are all part of a larger performance and play various
roles is quite intriguing.
In his text, Goffman talks about
what he calls the ‘front’, and I found the concept of acting a certain way for
a certain audience fascinating. The idea that the ‘setting’, which includes
things like props, layout, furniture and so on, stays in the same place and so
the individual can only perform when they are at this place and stop performing
when they leave (Goffman 1971). This makes me think about work, while there we
all ‘perform’ different roles for the audience.
A person is employed to do a particular job for money and there are
expectations about how you should present yourself and ‘perform’ within
the workplace. While at work you may refrain from swearing, wear appropriate
clothing suitable for your job and ensure your workstation is tidy and so on.
These are all things that you would ‘perform’ while at work, which give your
colleagues the idea that this is who you are, yet once you leave work you can
to be yourself again, you may swear (if you want to), wear whatever you like
and live in a bedroom where you can’t see the floor, as long as come Monday
morning you are back to work performing your role on the stage in the workplace
along with everyone else.
- · Goffman, Erving 1971, “Performances” The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life, Hamondsworth, Penguin, accessed 23 August 2012, University of Wollongong Library e-reading.
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· Whelan, A 2012, “Dramaturgy”, lecture notes, accessed 28/8/12, Blogger.com
Wednesday, 22 August 2012
SOC250 Blog - Week 5
This week’s reading “The Nature of Deference and Demeanor” by Erving
Goffman, discussed in depth ideas about the Rules of Conduct, Deference and
Demeanor in everyday life. Below I will highlight the parts of the reading I
found the most curious.
Firstly, in Goffmans text “The Neglected Situations,” he describes
social situations as a time when one person is in the company of another person
until one of them leaves (Goffman 1964), these social situations can vary
dramatically from waiting impatiently in a line at the shops, to having coffee
with a friend. Today while at work I found myself in countless social
situations with different colleagues, and I adjusted my behaviours and
interactions with each person depending on our social relationship. With that
in mind, I found Goffman’s ideas about Rules of Conduct quite interesting as
they seem to be present in many situations and activities that are undertaken
in our day to day lives. People in society tend to follow the various rules of
conduct as it is the appropriate and right thing to do. These rules affect people
in two different ways either directly, through obligation and how you are
obliged to act in a situation, or indirectly, through expectations and what you
expect from people and what others expect from you. Goffman also describes two types of rules
within our society, a substance rule and
also a ceremonial rule. Substance rules are enforced through variants such as
the law, what is ethical and moral, whereas ceremonial rules focus on etiquette
and manners (Goffman 1967).
As a final note, Goffman also discusses Deference and Demeanor in the
reading; he refers to Deference as the use of presentation or avoidance rituals
that are used by people to show gratitude for another person. Demeanor on the
other hand, looks at ceremonial behaviours and etiquette. For instance, how
someone dresses plays a vital role in others discerning if that individual is
desirable or unwelcome (Goffman 1967), one example of this is a person going
for a job interview wearing old jeans and a torn shirt, as opposed to being
dressed in a smart suit, in doing this the individual may give the employer the
impression that they are an undesirable candidate for the job.
Goffman, Erving 1964, “The Neglected Situation”, American Anthropologist, Vol 66, no 6, pp 133-136, accessed
22/8/12, Google Scholar http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1525/aa.1964.66.suppl_3.02a00090/pdf
Goffman, Erving 1967, “The nature of Deference and Demeanor”, in Interaction Ritual: Essays on Face-to-Face
Behaviour, Doubleday, Garden City, accessed 21/8/2012, University of
Wollongong Library e-readings
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