SOC 1101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Erving Goffman, Impression Management, Impression Formation

• School: University of Ottawa
• Department: Sociology
• Course: SOC 1101
• Professor: Sam Alvaro

Document Summary

Soc 1101- lecture 9: exploring the social: questions, socialization, the self. The process of imaginatively occupying the position of another person and viewing the self and the situation from their perspective. Through role taking, a child learns to responds reflexively. One of the earliest signs of role taking is the correct use of the pronouns you and. From an interactionist perspective, individuals have the ability to choose how to act, above and beyond their inclinations. The study of how we present ourselves, playing roles and managing impressions during interactions with other people, is called dramaturgical sociology. Dramaturgical sociology is most closely associated with erving goffman (1922-1982) Erving goffman believed that we use info from others" presentations to help establish expectations of our behaviour and that of the people around us. Goffman argued that we are driven to maintain positive impressions, probably because outcomes of interactions serve as a source of self esteem.