The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life

Chapter five: The demolished backstage.

In 1956, Erving Goffman published "The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life," and his claim was blunt.

All social life is theater.

We perform at work, at dinner, everywhere.

This podcast covers books, interviews, academic life, and applying a sociological perspective to current events.

In episode 29, I overview Irving Goffman's classic book, The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life.

Today I wanted to talk about this book, The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life by Irving Goffman.

So Irving Goffman, of course, is a classic foundational American sociologist.

He was born in Canada, went to University of Toronto, but he earns his PhD from the University of Chicago.

And so just imagine if those kinds of things started to break down and imagine all the ways in which it could break down and how that could, you know, break down society itself.

That's chapter one, that's the performance.

And so that's like the most important aspect of Goffman's theory in the presentation of self in everyday life is the performance.