Goffman - ‘Backstage’
Impression management
ability to act outside of created character
Goffman - Decorum
Moral and instrumental – reflect how you comport yourself, i.e. with clothing
Goffman - Discrepant Roles
Secrets
- Dark secrets – things the group hides because they would discredit them
- Strategic secrets – things you keep secret so they don’t catch on and you can bring your plan to fruition
- Inside secrets – may have little strategic importance and may not be very dark, i.e. tricks of the trade
Roles
- Informer – sells out backstage secrets
- Shill – acts like part of the audience but is in league with the performers
- Spotter – those in league with the audience (i.e. someone checking out the competition)
- Shopper/go-between/mediator – sells out both sides to each other
- Non-person – i.e. servants who are treated as though they are not there
Stimga
Discredited and discreditable
Spoiled identity
Greek - a mark
“abominations of the body, blemishes of individual character, and tribal stigma”
Actual vs virtual social identity
Virtual identity is essentially the false identity that is created by assumptions, stereotypes, and stigma attached to a person. … Actual Identity is the real identity and actions that may defy the perceived identity
What is a ‘wise one’ according to Goffman?
Someone who is not discredited in a specific way, but who understand the struggle. And actual ally.
Formal and informal social control
Formal social control occurs when “functionaries…check up on the
possible presence of the ill-reputed” (Goffman, 1963: 70). For example, police officers and (to
some extent) doctors may be under this category. Informal social control often occurs in public
when people are ‘policing’ other people in order to get them to conform to the social norms in
society. For example, people may stare, verbally comment, avoid others, etc.
Jones et al’s six dimensions of stigma (in Link and Phelan)
“concealability, course, disruptiveness, aesthetic qualities, origin, and peril”
