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The Microsociological Perspective: Social Interaction in Everyday Life 115

arriving guests (head sunk into the shoulders, a springy step) to know how to greet them
dramaturgy an approach, pio-
(Petersen 2012). “Reading” body language has also become a tool in the fight against neered by Erving Goffman, in which
terrorism. Because many of our body messages lie beneath our consciousness, airport social life is analyzed in terms of
personnel and interrogators are being trained to look for telltale facial signs—from a drama or the stage; also called
quick downturn of the mouth to rapid blinking—that might indicate nervousness or dramaturgical analysis
lying (Davis et al. 2002). The U.S. army is also trying to determine how to apply body impression management peo-
language to alert soldiers to danger when interacting with civilians in a military zone ple’s efforts to control the impres-
(Yager et al. 2009). sions that others receive of them
These applications are an interesting twist for an area of sociology that had been entirely front stage place where people
theoretical. Let’s now turn to dramaturgy, a special area of symbolic interactionism. give performances
back stages places where people
Dramaturgy: The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life rest from their performances, dis-
cuss their presentations, and plan
It was their big day, two years in the making. Jennifer Mackey wore a white wedding future performances
gown adorned with an 11-foot train and 24,000 seed pearls that she and her mother had
role performance the ways in
sewn onto the dress. Next to her at the altar in Lexington, Kentucky, stood her intended,
which someone performs a role;
Jeffrey Degler, in black tie. They said their vows, then turned to gaze for a moment at the showing a particular “style” or
four hundred guests. “personality”
That’s when groomsman Daniel Mackey collapsed. As the shocked organist struggled to
play Mendelssohn’s “Wedding March,” Mr. Mackey’s unconscious body was dragged away,
his feet striking—loudly—every step of the altar stairs.
“I couldn’t believe he would die at my wedding,” the bride said. (Hughes 1990)

Sociologist Erving Goffman (1922–1982) added a new twist to microsociology when he
Read on MySocLab
recast the theatrical term dramaturgy into a sociological term. Goffman (1959/1999) Document: Erving Goffman,
used the term to mean that social life is like a drama or a stage play: Birth ushers us onto The Presentation of Self in
the stage of everyday life, and our socialization consists of learning to perform on that Everyday Life
stage. The self that we studied in the previous chapter lies at the center of our perfor-
mances. We have ideas about how we want others to think of us, and we use our roles
in everyday life to communicate these ideas. Goffman called our efforts to manage the
impressions that others receive of us impression management.
Stages. Everyday life, said Goffman, involves playing our assigned roles. We have
front stages on which to perform them, as did Jennifer and Jeffrey. (By the way, Daniel
Mackey didn’t really die—he had just fainted.) But we don’t have to look at weddings In dramaturgy, a specialty within
sociology, social life is viewed as
to find front stages. Everyday life is filled with them. Where your teacher lectures is a
similar to the theater. In our everyday
front stage. And if you wait until your parents are in a good mood to tell them some bad lives, we all are actors. Like those in
news, you are using a front stage. In fact, you spend most of your time on front stages: the cast of The Big Bang Theory, we,
A front stage is wherever you deliver your lines. We also have back stages, places where too, perform roles, use props, and
we can retreat and let our hair down. When you close the bathroom or bedroom door deliver lines to fellow actors—who, in
turn, do the same.
for privacy, for example, you are entering a back stage.
The same setting can serve as both a back and a front stage. For
example, when you get into your car and look over your hair in
the mirror or check your makeup, you are using the car as a back
stage. But when you wave at friends or if you give that familiar
gesture to someone who has just cut in front of you in traffic, you
are using your car as a front stage.
Role Performance, Conflict, and Strain. As discussed earlier,
everyday life brings many statuses. We may be a student, a shop-
per, a worker, and a date, as well as a daughter or a son. Although
the roles attached to these statuses lay down the basic outline
for our performances, they also allow a great deal of flexibility.
The particular interpretation that you give a role, your “style,” is
known as role performance. Consider how you play your role as
a son or daughter. Perhaps you play the role of ideal daughter or
son—being respectful, coming home at the hours your parents set,