Research Paper on:
Erving Goffman's The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life Analyzed

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
an assemblage of statistical data. What distinguishes his landmark book, The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life, first published in 1959, is that Dr. Goffman does not limit his  inquiry into human behavior alone, but concentrates primarily upon the motivations behind the behavior. It is recommended that the student writing about this topic consider that Presentation of Self  in Everyday Life examines both human interaction and the reasons behind such interaction. The immediate reaction to Dr. Goffmans text is that he almost completely discards the notion of free  will. He maintains that human behavior is dependent upon a variety of variables often dictated by society. For example, according to Goffman, there are certain rules which humans  are expected to adhere to, and have been conditioned to perform by society in almost a ritualistic fashion that influences verbal and nonverbal communication. Therefore, people are not interacting  with each other spontaneously, in Goffmans view, but are actors following a carefully-crafted script that is subliminally directing their actions and reactions. He illustrates this point by simply considering  two people walking down the street who are engaged in conversation. If someone wishes to pass these two people, Goffman asserts that the socially-programmed response is to either walk  around them, or if it is necessary to walk between the interaction taking place, the person does so by saying a polite, "Excuse me." This seemingly simple act may  appear to be based upon the individuals personal choice, but Goffman correctly points out that these choices have been selected by society, and the individual has been conditioned to act  accordingly. If the person who intrudes upon this social interaction does so without any sort of apology, he or she is regarded negatively by the other two people because