Communicating and Organizing in Context

8

ERVING GOFFMAN'S INTERACTIONORDER

An Introductory Overview

Erving Goffman is regarded as one of the leading sociologists of the twentieth century. His work continues to significantly influence ethnomethodology, symbolic interaction, discourse analysis and other areas within sociology, as well as being widely read and used in other disciplines such as political science, communication and history. It is to Goffman that we credit concepts such as the ‘interaction order,’ ‘frames,’ ‘ritual,’ ‘the social self,’ ‘face,’ ‘the presentation of self’ and ‘performance’ (See, for example, Goffman, 1956a, 1965, 1979 and 1983a). His writing was witty, brilliant and insightful.

What his contributions are, and will be, remain controversial, but his work continues ...