Week12.1--weekly blog--LI LINLIN

 (1)Summary:

Dramatics is a sociological approach that analyzes everyday social interactions through the metaphors of drama. This theory divides social participants into actors and viewers, and interactive scenes into front and back stages. Dramatics was first proposed by Irving Goffman in his 1956 work, The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life, and was influenced by Kenneth Burke, although Burke considered life itself to be a drama, while Goffman used theatre as an analytical tool.

In Goffman's theory, social interaction is seen as a performance dependent on time, place, and audience. The individual shapes himself through performance and tries to control the audience's perception. Such performances are often carefully planned to gain the approval of the audience. If the performance is successful, the audience will understand the actors the way they want them to.

Goffman also discusses in detail how to manage public image through theatrical performance, including wearing masks to control audience perceptions, dramatically emphasizing certain aspects to influence audiences, and idealizing performances to avoid misunderstandings. He suggests that performers need to maintain expressive control to ensure that the right message is conveyed, while avoiding the risk of misrepresentation, and sometimes even mystifying certain messages to increase audience interest or protect themselves.

In the concept of "foreground" and "backstage" in social interaction, the foreground is a place where individuals follow social norms and meet audience expectations, while the backstage is a private space where individuals can relax and break away from their roles. This distinction helps to understand how individuals present different selves in different social contexts.

The application of dramatics is not limited to theoretical research, but also includes how to analyze power dynamics in social movements through field observations, such as participatory observation. It is also used to study personal image management in social media, such as how users curate and present their public image on social networks.

Moreover, critics argue that theatrics should be limited to the study of individual interactions in relation to the system as a whole, and point out that this approach does not offer much help in understanding the legitimacy of society because it is based on positivism, which is not interested in reason and rationality.

Overall, dramatics provides a unique perspective to analyze and understand social interactions in everyday life, emphasizes the importance of expression and impression management, and reveals how individuals define and maintain their social identities through social performance.

(2)interesting point:
 Goffman's concept of "front office" and "back office," which play an important role in social interactions in everyday life. The front stage is a stage where individuals follow social norms and perform for the audience, while the backstage is a private space where individuals can relax and do not have to abide by performance rules. This distinction reveals how individuals adjust their behavior and expression to different social contexts, and how individuals shift between public and private identities.

(3)Q:

How do Goffman's concepts of "front office" and "back office" help us understand the differences between professional performance and personal behavior in a professional setting?