Hand out for Being There (movie) and Goffman

Goffman’s conception of the self is deeply indebted to Mead’s ideas, in particular his discussion of the tension between I, the spontaneous self and me, social constraints within the self. This tension is mirrored in Goffman’s work on what he called the “crucial discrepancy between our all-too-human selves and our socialized selves”. This tension results from the differences between what people expect us to do and what to may want to do spontaneously. We are confronted with the demand to do what is expected of us. (Ritzer p362)


In order to maintain self-image, people perform for their social audience and, on the contrary, audience influence on self-image.


Goffman perceived the self not as a possession of the actor but rather as the product of the interaction between actor and social audience.


Also, Goffman was interested in the gap between what a person ought to be, “virtual social identity” and what a person actually is, “actual social identity.” Anyone who has a gap between these two identities is stigmatized. The nature of that interaction depends on which of the two types of stigma an individual has. According to Goffman two kinds of stigma is existing: discredited and discreditable. In our case a second kind of stigma is important. A discreditable stigma is one in which the differences are neither known by audience members nor perceivable by them (p367)





Source: Ritzer, George. 2000. Sociological Theory; McGraw – Hill, New York





For further theoretical sources, see:

Goffman, Erving. 1959. Presentation of self in everyday life. Garden City, New York
Goffman, Erving. 1963. Stigma: notes on the management of spoiled identity. Simon & Shuster, New York