Goffman

Erving Goffman (June 11, 1922 – November 19, 1982) was a Canadian-American sociologist renowned for his micro-sociological analyses of everyday life. Born in Mannville, Alberta, he emigrated to the United States where he taught at the University of Chicago and later at the University of Pennsylvania. His work focused on how people present themselves in social settings and how social orders are produced and maintained through interaction.

His best-known book, The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life (1959), introduces dramaturgical analysis, depicting social activity as a series of performances in which individuals manage impressions for an audience. He differentiates front stage and back stage regions, as well as the coordination of roles and the ongoing practice of impression management. Other influential works include Asylums (1961), an ethnography of total institutions that examines how institutional settings shape behavior and self-conception; Stigma (1963), which analyzes spoiled identities and social labeling; and Frame Analysis (1974), which explores how people identify, interpret, and navigate social situations. He also contributed to concepts such as the interaction order and face-work in everyday encounters.

Goffman relied on detailed observation and qualitative methods, emphasizing close, descriptive study of everyday talk, rituals, and performances. His dramaturgical framework and focus on face-to-face interaction have influenced sociology, anthropology, communication studies, and cultural theory, shaping subsequent research on identity, stigma, and social interaction. Critics have noted that his emphasis on micro-processes can sometimes downplay broader structural forces.

He died in 1982 in Philadelphia, leaving a lasting legacy in the analysis of social interaction and the presentation of self in daily life.