Erving Goffman

There seems to be no agent more effective than another person in bringing a world for oneself alive, or, by a glance, a finger laid on a shoulder, or an expression or tone of voice, in depriving the world of its effectiveness and leaving one unchanged.

If a situation arises where the individual feels that the line he is taking is not being ratified by the others, he may be said to be in 'wrong' or out of 'key' or 'incongruent'.

The capacity of his [the individual's] activity to yield something worthwhile is routinely inflated and deflated by his audience.

In our society the so-called negative emotions are generally discovered in the person who is 'losing' or 'failing' in some way.

A properly managed situation will have a front stage and a back stage.

The individual will present himself in a manner that will allow the audience to assume that he is who he claims to be.

We are not, of course, in a position to deny that there are important differences between man and animals, and even between men and men.

The rules of everyday conduct are drawn up and maintained by the very persons who are subject to them.

In many cases, the stigmatized individual is asked to play a part that confirms the very stigma he wishes to deny.

The self is a product of social interaction.

Perhaps the individual should be thought of as a careful gardener, cultivating his personal front.

Society is not a sum of individuals, but a system of coordinated actions.

The key factor in the organization of a coacting group is the communication system.

In an important sense, there is only one complete unblushing male in America: a young, married, white, urban, northern, heterosexual Protestant father of college education, fully employed, of low anxiety, and yet without conservative pretensions.

When we observe a young child reacting to a new situation, we see the process of impression management in its rawest form.

The individual tends to present himself to others in a way that manages their impressions favorably.

Fellow-sufferers are often the best audience for one's tales of woe.

The world of a mental patient is a world of chronic contingency.

In all societies, both the criminal and the bigamist are discreditable characters.

The techniques of impression management are learned early in life.