SOCIOL 102 Lecture Notes - Lecture 13: Erving Goffman, Van Stephenson, Alice Goffman
Document Summary
Mead (1863-1931): philosopher from university of chicago (mind, self, society) mind: cognition or mental activity self: personality and individuality society: interaction between selves. These 3 are all based on language and gesture gesture: action that is symbolic language: spoken gesture. Social action, symbolically, is role taking individuals can represent themselves in roles those roles can be symbolically conveyed to others roles are carried out through language/gesture: mead: role-taking, goffman: performances. Alice goffman (daughter-tangent): gang members and criminal activity observation. Back to eg: dramaturgical school of sociology: life as a stage . Znanlecki and thomas: definition of the situation if people define something as real, they have real consequences ex: guards and prisoners: started acting out these roles schools: child genius v late bloomers (completely random) Durkheim: ritual builds social solidarity through concrete elements. Life is like a series of performances that take plac eon stage: front: out in the open, back: curtained, hidden, where preparation takes place.
