Self Part Two: Identity Performance and Stigma Management
Concepts and Processes of Self-Presentation
Definition of Self-Presentation: Self-presentation is the process by which individuals attempt to control the impressions that others form of them during social interactions. This process is inherent in all social situations and occurs continuously, often without the individual's conscious awareness.
Everyday Execution of Self-Presentation: Common examples of "performance work" include:
Deciding what to wear for the day.
Choosing whether to style one's hair.
Monitoring the tone of one’s voice around certain people.
Avoiding swearing or linguistically adapting when around parents or authority figures.
Types of Self-Presentation:
Authentic Self-Presentation: Presenting the self that you believe you truly are. It is characterized by the mindset of "just being me."
Ideal Self-Presentation: Presenting the self you want to be. This is often associated with the concept of "dressing for success" or the phrase "fake it till you make it."
Tactical Self-Presentation: Presenting a self that is consistent with the expectations of others, specifically what others want or expect us to be. Individuals are typically hyper-aware and intentional during tactical presentations.
The Job Interview as Tactical Presentation: The classic example of tactical self-presentation is the job interview for a high-stakes position (e.g., corporate, business, or engineering). In this scenario, individuals are hyper-aware of their behaviors, such as:
Dressing formally.
Styling hair specifically.
Shaking hands firmly, but not too firmly.
Defining the Situation: Frames and Situated Identities
Requirements for Smooth Social Interaction: Successful interaction requires a shared understanding of the situation, a sense of situated identities, shared goals, agreed-upon appropriate actions, and shared meanings for behaviors.
Frames: A frame is a set of widely understood rules or conventions pertaining to a transient but repetitive situation. It indicates which rules should be enacted and which behaviors are proper. Frames help clarify the framework of a situation, such as:
Going for coffee.
Attending a wedding.
Participating in a church service.
Attending a punk rock show.
Interactional Failures (Faux Pas): A failure in framing occurs when participants have different understandings of the occasion. For example, one person arrives at a fancy dinner date while the other arrives in baseball gear ready to play.
Situated Identity: This is the conception of who one is in relation to the specific people and context at hand. One's performance depends on these situated roles, such as the different "vibes" required when teaching kindergarten versus teaching at a university.
Self-Disclosure and Impression Management
Self-Disclosure: The process of revealing personal aspects of the self, including feelings and behaviors, to others.
Progression: Initial interactions are typically superficial (asking about hometown, occupation, or schooling). As comfort increases, individuals present more authentic identities.
Reciprocity: Self-disclosure tends to be a reciprocal process where both parties reveal information to one another.
Impression Management: This involves controlling information in an interaction to influence others' impressions. It can be implicit or tactical.
Social Media Examples: The contrast between a "Facebook version" or "Instagram version" of a person versus their realistic, everyday version is a modern example of tactical impression management.
Dramaturgy: Erving Goffman’s Performance Theory
Theory Overview: Developed by Erving Goffman in the , Dramaturgy views identity as a performance and life as a stage.
Front Stage (Front Region): The area where the performance is given for an audience. It involves the use of:
Costumes: Every clothes.
Makeup: Cosmetic enhancement.
Props: Physical objects, such as the title of the book one is carrying.
Scripts: Agreed-upon discourse or frames.
Back Stage (Back Region): The private area where individuals can step out of character. Goffman describes this space as "gnarly" or "dusty" (analogous to a real theater's backstage), where one can remove the costume and makeup, ignore the script, and relax in "stinky sweats."
Motivations for Tactical Impression Management: Individuals may perform to make others like them, fear them, respect them, or feel sorry for them.
Strategies for Ingratiation and Aligning Actions
Ingratiation: Attempts to make others like us more than they already do. Strategies include:
Opinion Conformity: Agreeing with others even if you do not believe what they are saying.
Other Enhancement: The use of flattery (e.g., complimenting someone’s outfit).
Supplication: Presenting oneself as needy and deserving of help.
Selective Self-Presentation: Including self-promotion (socially highlighting successes like getting an ) or self-deprecation (downplaying an achievement to elicit reassurance/compliments).
Aligning Actions: Tactics used to neutralize the fallout from a failure in impression management and redefine questionable actions as being in tune with cultural norms.
Disclaimers: A preemptive strike used before a failure occurs. Example: Warning an audience that you are losing your voice from a cold or are tired from a baby keeping you up to gain sympathy or "wiggle room."
Accounts: Explanations provided after a performance failure to mitigate responsibility.
Excuses: Attributing the failure to factors beyond one's control (e.g., "My baby kept me up all night").
Justifications: Admitting responsibility but defining the action as appropriate under the circumstances (e.g., justify slackness at work because the boss is a "jerk").
Audience Interaction and Identity Failure
Cooling Out: A process where an individual who has repeatedly or significantly failed in their identity performance is gently eased out of that role or identity. This is more likely if the person has empathetic relations with others and alternative identity options are available (e.g., moving a manager to a role with less responsibility).
Identity Degradation: A severe process where an individual is forced out of a role. Characteristics include:
A lack of intimacy or connection between the individual and the audience.
The absence of adequate alternative identities.
A "dramatic ceremony" where the person is deemed untrustworthy to perform the role.
The individual is forced to adopt a "lesser identity," such as being labeled as a "criminal" or "insane."
Stigma and Stigma Management
Stigma Theory (Erving Goffman): Stigma is an attribute that is "deeply discrediting." Stigmatization is not just about the attribute itself but requires relationships and social interaction.
Types of Stigma:
Discredited Stigma: Stigma based on apparent physical attributes (e.g., weight, acne, hair color).
Discreditable Stigma: Stigma that is hidden/concealable (e.g., mental illness, sexual orientation, gender identity).
Relativity of Stigma: Stigma is subjective and relative to time, place, audience, and situation.
Management Strategies:
Concealment: Hiding the attribute. For example, wearing loose clothing to hide being thin or dyeing hair to hide a stigmatized color.
Remedy: Attempting to fix the stigma, such as getting inappropriate tattoos removed.
Refusing Disclosure: Simply not sharing the information.
Overly Pleasant Behavior: Being extremely friendly to neutralize the negative associations people might have with the stigmatized individual or their group.
Case Study: Topless Dancers in the Bible Belt
Study Overview: An in-depth ethnography conducted in with a follow-up in . Researchers studied topless dancers in highly conservative, Christian areas of the United States.
Identified Stigma Strategies:
Dividing Social Worlds: Creating a clear divide between their "normal" world (family/friends) and their work life to avoid disclosure and subsequent stigma.
Techniques of Neutralization: Using accounts to mitigate the severity of the stigma. Examples include:
Arguing that the work "doesn't hurt anybody."
Appealing to a Higher Loyalty: Arguing that they must perform the work to feed their children or pay rent.