Erving Goffman's Dramaturgical Model

In a theatrical performance, the characters interact in a specific scenario with certain roles in order to represent a script. But role playing It is not something that is limited to the theatrical or cinematographic field

In our daily lives we also tend to play different roles depending on the circumstances we live in, who we interact with, and the expectations of our performance. In this way, some theoretical perspectives consider that human beings act in their contact with others as if they were performing a play. Specifically, this is what he proposes. Erving Goffman’s dramaturgical model focused on face-to-face social contact.

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In Goffman’s dramaturgical approach

Erving Goffman’s dramaturgical approach or model is a way of interpreting social interaction in which the idea is proposed that every interaction is a performance or role played towards the other or possible observers. Social interactions and our social structure are nothing more than the representation of the roles that we have internalized so that they end up forming part of our own identity.

In any social situation that people carry out, they are playing some type of role, which will change depending on the interactive contexts. The person shows a type of specific information about himself depending on the situation and intention, which will provoke different responses depending on how it is interpreted by his fellow man. As in the theater, In every interaction there are pre-established behavioral limits a script to interpret before others.

The basic idea of this model is that Human beings try to control the impression they generate on others from the interaction in order to bring said impression closer to your ideal self. In each contact, a scheme of acts is represented from which you can express your point of view regarding reality and the interaction while attempting to modify the other’s evaluation.

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Erving Goffman’s dramaturgical model part of a conception of symbolic interactionism in which the mental and the situational influence the performance of behavior and the construction of the psyche from the construction and transmission of shared meanings referring to the symbols used in the interactive context.

Stage

Social interaction takes place in a context or in a certain framework, what the author calls establishment. In other words, it is the scenario in which the interaction takes place, in which impressions will be exchanged. It is made up of the personal facade or internalized role and the public facade or image that we show to the public when representing.

In this stage the physical location and the actors and roles come together of each one to configure the scene in which the actors are going to express themselves and be interpreted.

The actors and their interaction

For social interaction to exist, one of the key components is the existence of someone who carries them out. These people, who interact, are called actors.

In an interaction, the different actors are in a situation of co-presence, that is, mutual interaction, in which these people represent specific roles and exchange impressions which will be used to understand the performance and act accordingly. Both subjects are senders and receivers at the same time they are both actor and audience.

Furthermore, during the interaction, impressions are transmitted both voluntarily and consciously and involuntarily through contextual elements that escape the control and intentionality of the actor. The two types of elements will be captured and interpreted by the other, acting accordingly. Knowledge of this fact allows that contextual elements are used strategically to give different interpretations than they would have at another time or situation.

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The actor must try to manage the impressions he provokes in the audience so that he is interpreted as he intends, without falling into contradiction.

The role or role

Roles play a fundamental role in the interaction between people, indicating the type of behaviors they are expected to carry out in a given situation. They mainly indicate what position each person should take, as well as their status or the meaning given by the culture to the role in question.

These roles involve a process through which an influence is established from one person to another, generating an action on the part of the other. Roles are a fundamental part of our relationship with our peers and can vary depending on the scenario or contextual framework. In addition, they are also linked to identity or the concept of the Self.

Identity according to the dramaturgical model

The concept of the I or self It is an element that, for Goffman’s model, is the product of the manipulation of the impressions of others so that they develop a certain and flattering image of the individual. Identity is a construction that the human being makes of himself for others based on the roles that he carries out.

Thus, people create a general public facade for their actions. This main role that we play throughout our lives, the integration of most of the roles, is what we consider self This assumes that people are actually offering an appearance of themselves to others, which they try to bring closer to an ideal Self.

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The identity, the Self, It is nothing more than the set of masks that we put on, what we express and project to others. We are what others interpret about us based on our interactions.

Interpreting social situations: meaning frameworks

Another of the concepts of Goffman’s dramaturgical model is that of framework or frame, which is understood as the scheme or perspective from which social phenomena are understood and allows the subject to organize their knowledge and experiences.

These frames They are largely given by culture to which we belong, from which we acquire ways of interpreting our social world and the symbolisms that are part of it, as well as the situations that we experience in them, so that we can adjust our interaction with the environment.

Knowing what happens in a given situation requires these frameworks, which will be used as elements both to understand the reality of the interaction and to contribute to its realization by the individual. These frames can be primary, which They are used to understand natural or social events but sometimes they require secondary frames to give an act a purpose other than the original or to consciously manipulate the perception of the other regarding a specific action (respectively, modifications or fabrications).