The presentation of self in everyday life - Essay Example

The presentation of self in everyday life The presentation of self in everyday life The presentation of self in everyday life is thetitle to Erving Goffman’s book. The book employs theater imagery to portray the necessity of interaction, human, and social action. Goffman’s work seeks to explain the human daily life from the angle that human’s actions are social in nature.1 A space of consumption gets made up of the performance conducted by human beings in their social interactions. Humans conduct their performances dependent on the setting, the people around, the type of formality of their interactions, and the appearance he or she intends to make.

In an interactive space, the parties involved are the audience and performers. The performers forge an impression that reflects best upon themselves, and encourage the audience to accept these reflections by various means.2 When an accepted definition of a situation is profitable or peaceful then the audience and performers are likely to be in tandem. For a good consumption space, the actors need to ensure they adjust to the different settings he or she finds him or herself in. the actor has to keep in mind of the costume that he wears for different audiences.

The actor has to be coherent too to help the audience maintain a positive outlook of him or her.1The modes of communication around the space determine the success or failure of the situation. These modes of communication are those expressions we give and those we give off.The discussion complements the theory of structuration which appreciates the action of an individual by grasping the structural components of a social institution.ReferenceGoffman, E., The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life.

, Peter Smith Pub Incorporated, Massachusetts, 1991.