Erving Goffman

Sociology Canadian-American 1922 – 1982 104 quotes

Developed dramaturgical analysis, viewing social interaction as a performance, and explored the sociology of everyday life.

Quotes by Erving Goffman

The individual's performance is a way of presenting himself as a credible being.

The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life 1959

The individual's performance is a way of presenting himself as a legitimate being.

The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life 1959

The individual's performance is a way of presenting himself as a valid being.

The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life 1959

The individual's performance is a way of presenting himself as a worthy being.

The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life 1959

The individual's performance is a way of presenting himself as a valuable being.

The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life 1959

The individual's performance is a way of presenting himself as a significant being.

The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life 1959

The individual's performance is a way of presenting himself as a meaningful being.

The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life 1959

The individual's performance is a way of presenting himself as a purposeful being.

The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life 1959

The individual's performance is a way of presenting himself as a moral actor.

The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life 1959

The individual's performance is a way of presenting himself as a social actor.

The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life 1959

The individual is a product of his own acts and cogitations, but he is also the product of the social structure in which he finds himself.

The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life 1959

When an individual plays a part he implicitly requests his observers to take his actions as representative of his capacity and his purpose in this capacity.

The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life 1959

All the world is not, of course, a stage, but the crucial ways in which it isn't are less important than the ways in which it is.

The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life 1959

A back region or stage is what it is because it is not front stage.

The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life 1959

The whole machinery of agents, spotters, builders, and repairmen must be kept out of sight, or at least kept in a place where its presence will not detract from the performance.

The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life 1959

Stigma is a process whereby the reaction of others spoils normal identity.

Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity 1963

The stigmatized individual is asked to act so as to imply neither that his burden is heavy nor that bearing it has made him different from us.

Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity 1963

By definition, of course, we believe the person with a stigma is not quite human.

Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity 1963

Total institutions do not substitute their institutional plan for the personal one that an individual brings with him.

Asylums: Essays on the Social Situation of Mental Patients and Other Inmates 1961

A mental hospital, properly speaking, is a place where people who have 'mental disorders' are kept, watched over, and treated.

Asylums: Essays on the Social Situation of Mental Patients and Other Inmates 1961