Erving Goffman - Goffman As A Sociologist

Goffman As A Sociologist

Along with many other sociologists of his cohort, Goffman was heavily influenced by George Herbert Mead and Herbert Blumer in developing his theoretical framework. Goffman studied at the University of Chicago with Everett Hughes, Gregory Adams, Edward Shils, and W. Lloyd Warner. He would go on to pioneer the study of face-to-face interaction, or micro-sociology, elaborate the "dramaturgical approach" to human interaction, and develop numerous concepts that would have a massive influence.

Goffman was considered a micro-sociologist because he concentrated on the detailed analysis of encounters and the norms governing these encounters. With this type of sociology came the evaluation of face-to-face interactions, paying close attention to the small details of these interactions and discovering things that may seem insignificant yet actually are what structure behavior and behavior norms. In doing so, Goffman investigated gestures, such as shaking hands or placing a hand on someone else's shoulder and facial expressions during interactions. These types of gestures came to be known as 'gramatical structures' of social interactions. There were two types of structures that Goffman discussed: remedial sequence and civil inattention. Remedial sequence consisted of what we know as governed rules of social interactions, for example, when we do something by accident as to injure someone, we would apologize, wait for the injured person to say 'ok', then apologize again and reassure that he/she is ok. Civil inattention consisted of how the unconsciously patterned interactions of people produces and maintains social order. Goffman argued that although interactions between people vary from culture to culture, there is a common predictable way in which we all characterize interactions, like how we say hello and goodbye to one another. Social interactions create the world to be a predictable place and saw interactions as rituals. Interactions are rituals in the sense that 'interaction order' as Goffman called it is a social order; when we disrupt interaction we disrupt society. Goffman argued that our interactions give us a sense of our social belonging and our sense of sacredness as a people.