Goffman Sumblog 9

Erving Goffman had a very interesting sociological theory. He used theatre as his representation for society, which can be viewed as an over simplification for this unique and complex process. Goffman said that the stage and theatre were our platforms for performance- how we interact. With that, there are scripts on what to say and how to behave in different settings. Goffman used three different categories to describe how these interactions are formed, status, roles, and self-label. A status is a particular social position, an example would of one of my status’s is that I am a student. Roles are the expected behavior of a particular status, for example as a student I am expected to study, attend class, and complete my assignments on time. Self-label is the identity that one presents to others in an attempt to manage their impression. Goffman felt that power and authority lied in the individual to create their identity. So as a student, who is fulfilling my roles at an adequate level, the self-label I would like to achieve is that I am an active participant in my own individual learning process. By properly acting out my roles as a student, I am achieving the self-label I have chosen to perform.

An interesting idea to Goffman’s theory is the idea of stigma’s, which happen when something gets in the way of one’s roles and self- label. This could be various issues such as a physical or character defect and an “unacceptable” group. I feel that stigmas are prominent social issues in our country; one in particular is the idea of same-sex marriage. I feel that people are still being stigmatized for their sexuality and this creates a disconnect between the self-label the wish to portray and their roles in society. There is a neat video that has gone viral on Facebook this past week. It interviews 13 children from the ages of 5-13 and asks them their opinions on same sex marriage. I thought this was a really cool idea as a way to help fight the stigma and create ideas of equality starting at a young age. Out of 13 children there was only one child against this idea, and he provides no grounds for his opinion.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TJxnYgP6D8