Extra credit— The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life——LI YULUN

Erving Goffman: 1922-1982, American sociologist, representative of symbolic interactionism and advocate of "mimetic theatre".

The core concept of the book Self-Presentation in Everyday Life is "mimetic theatre", but many important concepts are also mentioned in the book, such as impression management, performer, troupe, audience, contextual definition, social agency, performance style, ritual activity, codes of decency, routines, backstage, frontstage, outsider, secrecy, operation Consistency, out-of-role communication, unintentional gestures, faults, farce, meltdowns, technique, good manners and a host of other concepts that correspond to what happens to us on a daily basis.

Many of our everyday behaviours and roles are false; we do not have a true, stable self, but rather play different roles in different situations. People often believe that they have a core self within them, but this self is actually indefinable because we have to present a contextually appropriate image in our interactions in order to be accepted and trusted. Thus, the roles we play do not come from a core self, but from the situation we are in. This idea can be interpreted as meaning that people's self-perceptions and behaviours are determined by environmental and social factors rather than by a fixed and unchanging inner self.

Finally, in this book Goffman discusses the ways and means by which individuals present their selves to others and to society when they interact socially with others, and he presents us with a clear vector for formal sociological analysis by showing us the dramaturgical aspects of the activities of individuals presenting themselves to others.