Final answer:
Erving Goffman is known for his dramaturgy theory, where he likens social interaction to a theatrical performance, focusing on impression management and role-playing across different social situations.
Step-by-step explanation:
Sociologist Erving Goffman is widely known for his influential theories, particularly the concept of dramaturgy. Goffman compared everyday life to a theatrical production in his theory, where social interaction is viewed as a series of performances. Developing on existing ideas, such as Charles Cooley’s looking-glass self, Goffman suggested that our social life is a continuous process of managing impressions and performing according to the expectations of the situation and audience at hand.
His seminal work, The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life (1958), outlines these ideas by observing that individuals alter their behavior based on their environment, much like actors change roles depending on the context and audience. Subsequently, in Frame Analysis: An Essay on the Organization of Experience (1974), Goffman explores how individuals classify and interpret life experiences to understand what is expected of them in a social context.
The foundation of Goffman’s dramaturgy is that we employ various techniques of impression management to present ourselves in certain ways to influence how others perceive us. In essence, dramaturgy is about the varied roles we play and the stages upon which we perform these roles in our day-to-day interactions. From one situation to the next, like scenes in a play, we are constantly adjusting our performance to suit the social setting.