Contemporary social interaction: How communication technologies alter Goffman's dramaturgical model?

Abstract

The dramaturgical model in sociology was developed by Erving Goffman in his famous work “The Presentation of Self in Everyday life” published in 1959. This theoretical model views social life as a stage on which an individual plays a role of performer, trying and tries to impress audience throughout her/his show. This viewpoint is one of Goffman's substantial contributions to comprehension of social interaction in day-to-day life. However, recent advances in communication technologies, especially the diffusion of the Internet and mobile phones, have brought many significant changes to social world. Those changes have led to the demand of revising Goffman’s theory in order to better capture the nature and rules of current social phenomena. This paper aims at assessing Goffman’s dramaturgical model by examining contemporary social interaction based on recent improvement in communication technologies. Four main points in his framework including the interaction order, self, front, and backstages and frontstages are put into discussion. By reviewing recent research, the paper suggests some modifications to Goffman’s theory and leaves some questions for the future research to investigate.