Presentation of Self and Impression Management: Erving Goffman's Sociology

The Secret To Improving Your Charisma Dozens of PROVEN, easy-to-LEARN tips you can use right now... howcommunicationworks.com
The social world is a stage, and we are all performers. In every interaction, we are engaged in a performance. The point of the performance is to get social support and validation for one of our many role identities. Keeping this in mind will help you make sense of your own and other people's behavior.
This video begins to introduce the basic sociological concepts of impression management, presentation of self, and symbolic interactionism. All of these ideas are fundamental to understanding the theories of the famous sociologist Erving Goffman.
This is the first video from Bruce Lambert of www.howcommunicationworks.com.
(I messed up the Shakespeare quote because I couldn't read my own handwriting. The correct quote is, "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, His acts being seven ages." It's from As You Like It, Act II, Scene VII.)
Key words: sociology, impression management, dramaturgy.

[@axcelsabilona5961]

I am writing this to validate your performance.

[@HowCommunicationWorks]

I feel validated!!

[@motionsuggests]

My favourite quote from Shrek: "Ogres are like onions - they have layers. And only absolute emptiness at its core"

[@grouchypotatowolfpack5580]

All my life I felt like I was playing a game where everyone but me knew the rules. Turns out I'm right. So thanks, I guess, for the validation and for the information. You're a godsend to the whole spectrum.

[@amymurray9857]

Love the onion vs. peach analogy.

[@Jules_Chicago]

My high school daughter and I just watched this together and I'm pretty sure I saw a lightbulb go on inside her head. Thanks Bruce!

[@HowCommunicationWorks]

julie wakeman I'm so glad you and your daughter found it to be useful. Thanks for letting me know.

[@rapha.gentil]

Thanks for all the content in this platform, Bruce! Your work is amazing, it’s been helping me a lot!

[@kristypatel2811]

So good explanation of social identities and validation.

[@kelvinxg6754]

i subscribed within seconds i knew this is a good content

[@CleverProgrammer]

This is awesome! Keep it up Bruce. Definitely interested in hearing more about why people go crazy in solitary confinement. It peaked my interest :).

[@samlauer8855]

Piqued

[@rogeliorodriguez9350]

These videos are gold! Thank you!

[@tillykelp6340]

The concept of layers of identities that are played out in social. roles resonates with me. I would like to ask, where do our values and essential beliefs and our 'ideal self' sit in these layers of identities if not in a 'core' self?

[@deanbosnjak6604]

Great content. Thank you!

[@wojciechstefaniak3541]

As a recent subscriber, this is fascinating content!

[@gracetruexbby]

Wow! When applied, this is socially life changing content.thanks for sharing this.

[@HowCommunicationWorks]

My pleasure, Grace. Glad it was so useful to you. Please share with your friends. Thank you.

[@maryannelarsen1186]

Enjoyed your lecture. You certainly have grown in your yourtube video and presentation skills in 5 years. Great lessons. You are validated!

[@HowCommunicationWorks]

Thank you so much. There is definitely a learning curve. ESpecially with the technology.

[@jonathanbolduc6502]

Clear and concise. Thanks!

[@HowCommunicationWorks]

Thanks Jonathan. Glad it was helpful. Might I inquire about your interest in Goffman? Are you a student or researcher?

[@jonathanbolduc6502]

I'm a bachelor. I study sociology at Université du Québec à Montréal, in Quebec. I was reading La sociologie d'Erving Goffman by Jean Nizet and Nathalie Rigaux today, and I was looking for a short explanation of its sociology on YT. Then, I found your video and a few others.

[@julialednicky7542]

Very interest foundational info!

[@dlind36]

Fantastic explanation of Goffman's concepts.

[@HowCommunicationWorks]

Thank you.

[@HectoRerike-fb7eg]

Please Professor ,what is your full name

[@alexs.2221]

Subscribed. Think you are digging the roots here..

[@ayeekiahh]

This was amazing, my professor provided this for our class to help us understand Goffman's dramaturgy theory and you summarized it perfectly in less than 20 mins. Bless your heart!!!

[@HowCommunicationWorks]

Glad it was helpful!

[@HowCommunicationWorks]

Where are you going to school, and what class are you taking? Tell your professor I said hello.

[@fluffalbear]

great video :3

[@jakobkurup5867]

I am reading Goffman at the moment, for my professional bachelor in pedagogy. When he assumes that the individual is striving for others accept of a certain image of the self, he introduces indirectly an actively acting body in the individual, which is not interactive. If we do not have a core self, what instance is then controlling our facework and changing our social masks?

[@albertoramirez8248]

Great video!

[@HowCommunicationWorks]

Thank you.

[@FUNNYMANERICWHITE]

Thanks

[@warsoldier3758]

I feel that I am naive with others. I want to talk about this thing and hesitate to make decisions. I try to build my personality well. Sometimes I face contradictions in thinking, especially since I am in a teenage phase. I hope for help from you.

[@delgirrr]

Interesting

[@wojciechstefaniak3541]

How does this video not have 1 billion views???

[@HowCommunicationWorks]

You’re too kind.

[@blodsvedtaarer]

Good video

[@HowCommunicationWorks]

Glad you enjoyed

[@craiglist6694]

I remember when a famous actor extolled how happy he was to stop playing someone else (in his movie roles) and just being himself. So there is a base core self to "return" to. Not to mention one's convictions , morals, etc .. belong to his base core and can be at odds with the ones of roles one performs on social stage. What do you think?

[@HowCommunicationWorks]

I’m not sure I agree. And I’m pretty sure Goffman would not agree.

[@bsdiceman]

Can you talk about how we have roles in which we get paid for our performance. Like a garbafe man get paid for the daily performance of his role. The money acts as social validation...

[@bradfranklin-j66co]

15:40 summary

[@ilikaplayhopscotch]

Why isn’t this stuff taught in school?

[@WorldWideWebObserver]

Wow! Makes me never want to interact with people again. Too many confusing and conflicting expectations of our behavior as well as hoops to jump through in order to attempt to gain others’ approval and acceptance. I give up!

[@not9285]

do you think it is possible to apply this concept to serial killers?

[@HowCommunicationWorks]

I have no idea what you’re talking about. Serial killers? WTF?

[@not9285]

@@HowCommunicationWorks ok thank you

[@HowCommunicationWorks]

Do you think putting question marks after your scolding statements makes them less harsh? Does that normally work for you? Strikes me as passive aggressive.

[@stoneage6379]

I've always understood this on an instinctive level. Unfortunately, it always seems to me that any interaction with another person is rather empty, exactly because it is an 'act'. As I've become older and experienced more, this has only become more evident. It is what it is and I accept it but it has made any human interaction pointless and uninteresting.

[@andresham9447]

We are not peaches

[@HowCommunicationWorks]

You got it! We are onions. Peel away the layers, and nothing left.

[@andresham9447]

Thank you