The Presentation Of Self In Everyday Life

“The expressiveness of an individual (and therefore his capacity to give impressions) appears to involve two radically different kinds of sign activity: the expression that he gives, and the expression that he gives off. The first involves verbal symbols [...] The second involves a wide range of action that others can treat as symptomatic of the actor.” 

Goffman outlines two ways individuals express themselves in the presence of others (i.e., observers). First, there are those gestures and utterances that an individual intentionally explicates or makes, what Goffman calls the expression one “gives.” Second, there are all those gestures and utterances that remain implicit or unintentional in what was signified by the individual’s intentional actions, what Goffman calls the expression that one “gives off.” This distinction is clarified in the Introduction primarily because Goffman’s study is more concerned with the latter than the former. Thus, this distinction between expressions given and expressions given off is at work throughout the text.

“For the purpose of this report, interaction (that is, face-to-face interaction) may be roughly defined as the reciprocal influence of individuals upon one another’s actions when in one another’s immediate physical presence. […] A ‘performance’ may be defined as all the activity of a given participant on a given occasion which serves to influence in any way any of the other participants. […] The pre-established pattern of action which is unfolded during a performance and which may be presented or played through on other occasions may be called a ‘part’ or ‘routine.’ These situational terms can easily be related to conventional structural ones. […] Defining social role as the enactment of rights and duties attached to a given status, we can say that a social role will involve one or more parts and that each of these different parts may be presented by the performer on a series of occasions to the same kinds of audiences or to an audience of the same persons.” 

Goffman outlines the three key categories that guide his analysis: interaction, performance, and part/routine. Taken together, these elements constitute the substance of all social (face-to-face) interactions. According to Goffman, interactions are always intersubjective and thus refer to situations where more than one individual is present. Moreover, the individuals involved in such situations mutually influence one another’s behavior, whether through actions or nonverbal expressions. Regarding performances, Goffman refers to how individuals act out certain social positions with respect to the functions and merits accorded to that role (e.g., a manager conducts themselves so they appear knowledgeable about the workings of the entire business, thus appearing as deserving of their position of authority to the workers).