NOTE 1: This is an example of what an outline of ONE lesson might look like. When you actually write up each lesson (which is only 1/4 of your report), be sure to exclude headings like "Main idea 2" and "Example(s) (& metaphor(s))", but leave "Title", "Writer", "My Summary", and "References".
NOTE 2: For every idea, you need to include an example (or several) that is either hypothetical or historical, i.e., it could happen or it has happened and has been recorded. You are not required to include both. You are not required to include more than one analogy/metaphor.
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Title: “The
Presentation of Self in Everyday Life” from Introductory Sociology Reader by
Hensley and Castro
Writer: Erving
Goffman
My Summary: In this text, writer Erving Goffman explains
how in everyday interaction, people use signs in order to present who they are
and what is going on in terms of, e.g., their feelings and thoughts to others.
The recipients of these signs must interpret them and infer what type of
interaction they are in and, therefore, how they should behave toward the
person emitting these signs.
Intro: people as detectives trying to figure out “What
is the case? What’s going on?”
Main idea 1:
sign-vehicles; indicating absences
– Example(s) (&
metaphor(s)): trans person emitting signs
– Subordinate idea 1:
expressions given; characteristics: controllable/governable/intentional
– Example(s) (&
metaphor(s)): intentional masculine signs
– Subordinate idea 2:
expressions given off; characteristics:
uncontrollable/ungovernable/unintentional
– Example(s) (&
metaphor(s)): unintentional feminine signs
– Subordinate idea 3:
calculated unintentionality; exploiting assumptions
– Example(s) (&
metaphor(s)): faked laughter; controlled masculine facial expression
– Segue into next Main
idea: Through these sign-vehicles, individuals in the presence of others
define what is going on in their interaction – they define the definition of the situation.
Main idea 2: definition
of the situation
– Example(s) (&
metaphor(s)): unhappy person claiming to be happy; a police officer
claiming to be a police officer; trans person claiming to be a man
– Subordinate idea 1:
sincere & successful impressions; when someone’s intended impression
obtains
– Example(s) (&
metaphor(s)): a parking lot preacher appears as a mere friendly
acquaintance; a trans person claiming to be a man appears to be a man
– Subordinate idea 2:
insincere & unsuccessful impressions; failed intentions
– Example(s) (&
metaphor(s)): a parking lot preacher appears to be a parking lot preacher;
a trans person claiming to be a man appears to be a woman
– Subordinate idea 3:
effective definition of the situation; whenever an impression is made and
people respond to this impression; seems to be intention-independent
– Example(s) (&
metaphor(s)): a trans persons failed or successful intended impression
– Segue into next Main
idea: In some if not all situations, people behave as if an unsuccessful
intended impression was successful because they are morally expected to do so.
Or they fabricate deceptive signs of their feelings and thoughts, in order to
maintain a noncontentious interaction.
Main idea 3: a
presentation or a claim is also a moral demand (71)
– Example(s) (&
metaphor(s)): “it’s never okay to misgender”
– Subordinate idea 1:
the moral right of the presenter to expect (71)
– Example(s) (&
metaphor(s)): a person claiming to be a man
– Subordinate idea 2:
the moral obligation of the recipient of a presentation to behave according to
the presenter’s expectation (71)
– Example(s) (& metaphor(s)):
a person responding to a person claiming to be a man
– Metaphor: 1) sign-vehicles : clues :: observer in
everyday interaction : detective, 2) sign-vehicles : commands :: presenter in
everyday interaction : drill sergeant
– Subordinate idea 3:
the moral obligation of a presenter to present honestly (71)
– Example(s) (&
metaphor(s)): …
– Subordinate idea 4:
exclusion principle (72)
– Example(s) (&
metaphor(s)): a person claiming to be a man forgoes any claims to being a
woman
Outro: interactions have a game-like character; like
detectives and drill sergeants, people and interaction have to figure out which
game they are in and signify to others which game they should play,
respectively
Possible applications
(or related topics): can enable comprehension of deception, everyday
interaction, misgendering, stereotyping, sexuality (in terms of the
presentation of signs of the object of desire such as “male” or “female” or
“man” or “woman”), gender, the production of interactions through signs and
inferential processes in factory-situations, news editing as impression
management, keeping things private, control and manipulation of people in order
to get them to do what you want, online definition of the situation
References:
Goffman, Ervning (1959/2010) The Presentation of Self in
Everyday Life. Introductory Sociology Reader by Rebecca Hensely and Russell Castro.
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