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139-400: Erving Goffman (11 June 1922 – 19 November 1982) was a Canadian-born American sociologist , social psychologist , and writer, considered by some "the most influential American sociologist of the twentieth century". In 2007, The Times Higher Education Guide listed him as the sixth most-cited author of books in the humanities and social sciences . Goffman was the 73rd president of

278-557: A pit boss at a Las Vegas casino. In 1981 Goffman married sociolinguist Gillian Sankoff . The following year, their daughter Alice was born. In 1982 Goffman died in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania , on 19 November, of stomach cancer . His daughter is also a sociologist. The research Goffman did on Unst inspired him to write his first major work, The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life (1956). After graduating from

417-428: A "Goffman school"; thus his impact on social theory has been simultaneously "great and modest". Fine and Manning attribute the lack of subsequent Goffman-style research and writing to the nature of his style, which they consider very difficult to duplicate (even "mimic-proof"), and also to his subjects' not being widely valued in the social sciences. Of his style, Fine and Manning remark that he tends to be seen either as

556-532: A BA in sociology and anthropology . Later he moved to the University of Chicago , where he received an MA (1949) and PhD (1953) in sociology. For his doctoral dissertation, from December 1949 to May 1951 he lived and collected ethnographic data on the island of Unst in the Shetland Islands . Goffman's dissertation, entitled Communication Conduct in an Island Community (1953), was completed under

695-643: A black-tie affair, the definition of the situation is that they must mind their manners and act according to their class. In 2007 by The Times Higher Education Guide listed Goffman as the sixth most-cited author in the humanities and social sciences , behind Michel Foucault , Pierre Bourdieu , and Anthony Giddens , and ahead of Jürgen Habermas . His popularity with the general public has been attributed to his writing style, described as "sardonic, satiric, jokey", and as "ironic and self-consciously literary", and to its being more accessible than that of most academics. His style has also been influential in academia, and

834-606: A cofounder of the American Association for the Abolition of Involuntary Mental Hospitalization and coauthored its Platform Statement. In 1971 he published Relations in Public , in which he tied together many of his ideas about everyday life, seen from a sociological perspective . Another major book of his, Frame Analysis , came out in 1974. He received a Guggenheim Fellowship for 1977–78. In 1979, Goffman received

973-421: A discussion is keyed – based on what either person says or does over the course of an interaction, the key will change accordingly. The parallels go further, though. Goffman also claims that a speaker details a drama more often than they provide information. They invite the listener to empathize and, as was explained above, they are often not meant to be stirred to take action, but rather to show appreciation; during

1112-638: A distinctive way of thinking, the rational calculation which he associated with the Protestant Ethic (more or less what Marx and Engels speak of in terms of those 'icy waves of egotistical calculation'). Together the works of these great classical sociologists suggest what Giddens has recently described as 'a multidimensional view of institutions of modernity' and which emphasises not only capitalism and industrialism as key institutions of modernity, but also 'surveillance' (meaning 'control of information and social supervision') and 'military power' (control of

1251-652: A faculty member in the sociology department at the University of California, Berkeley , first as a visiting professor, then from 1962 as a full professor. In 1968 he moved to the University of Pennsylvania , receiving the Benjamin Franklin Chair in Sociology and Anthropology, due largely to the efforts of Dell Hymes , a former colleague at Berkeley. In 1969 he became a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences . In 1970 Goffman became

1390-500: A founder of sociology as the word gained wider meaning. For Isaiah Berlin , even though Marx did not consider himself to be a sociologist, he may be regarded as the "true father" of modern sociology, "in so far as anyone can claim the title." To have given clear and unified answers in familiar empirical terms to those theoretical questions which most occupied men's minds at the time, and to have deduced from them clear practical directives without creating obviously artificial links between

1529-410: A major contribution to the theoretical concept of structural functionalism . By carefully examining suicide statistics in different police districts, he attempted to demonstrate that Catholic communities have a lower suicide rate than that of Protestants, something he attributed to social (as opposed to individual or psychological ) causes. He developed the notion of objective social facts to delineate

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1668-560: A model of communication strategies in face-to-face interaction , and focused on how everyday rituals affect public projections of self. Goffman's The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life was published in 1956, with a revised edition in 1959. He had developed the book's core ideas from his doctoral dissertation. It was Goffman's first and most famous book, for which he received the American Sociological Association 's 1961 MacIver Award. Goffman describes

1807-440: A neo-Kantian inquiry into the limits of perception, asking 'What is society?' in a direct allusion to Kant's question 'What is nature?' The deepest problems of modern life flow from the attempt of the individual to maintain the independence and individuality of his existence against the sovereign powers of society, against the weight of the historical heritage and the external culture and technique of life. The antagonism represents

1946-468: A notable biologist , Spencer coined the term survival of the fittest . While Marxian ideas defined one strand of sociology, Spencer was a critic of socialism, as well as a strong advocate for a laissez-faire style of government. His ideas were closely observed by conservative political circles, especially in the United States and England. The first formal Department of Sociology in the world

2085-535: A particular situation. This decision how to act is based on the concept of definition of the situation. Definitions are all predetermined and people choose how they will act by choosing the proper behavior for the situation they are in. Goffman also draws from William Thomas for this concept. Thomas believed that people are born into a particular social class and that the definitions of the situations they will encounter have already been defined for them. For instance. when an individual from an upper-class background goes to

2224-489: A person projects him- or herself in society risks embarrassment and discredit. So people remain guarded to ensure that they do not show themselves to others in an unfavorable light. Goffman's book Strategic Interaction (1969) is his contribution to game theory . It discusses the compatibility of game theory with the legacy of the Chicago School of sociology and with the perspective of symbolic interactionism . It

2363-577: A person with a criminal record may simply withhold that information for fear of judgment by whoever that person happens to encounter. Goffman's Interaction Ritual: Essays on Face-to-Face Behavior is a collection of six essays. The first four were originally published in the 1950s, the fifth in 1964, and the last was written for the collection. They include "On Face-work" (1955); "The Nature of Deference and Demeanor" (1956); "Embarrassment and Social Organization" (1956); "Alienation from Interaction" (1957); "Mental Symptoms and Public Order" (1964); and "Where

2502-482: A play this generally takes the form of applause. Other similarities include engaging in the suspense the speaker is attempting to create. In both scenarios, you must put aside the knowledge that the performers know the outcome of the event being relayed and, in a sense, play along. This is integral to his stance as he explains "the argument that much of talk consists of replayings and that these make no sense unless some form of storyteller's suspense can be maintained shows

2641-443: A possible character beyond positivist data-collection or grand, deterministic systems of structural law. Relatively isolated from the sociological academy throughout his lifetime, Simmel presented idiosyncratic analyses of modernity more reminiscent of the phenomenological and existential writers than of Comte or Durkheim, paying particular concern to the forms of, and possibilities for, social individuality. His sociology engaged in

2780-425: A relatively serious way: "Kidding aside," "Now, I'm really serious about this," and other such tags become necessary as a means of momentarily down keying the flow of words." Folklorist Richard Bauman builds heavily on Goffman's work, specifically on the idea of key, in his work pertaining to an analysis of the performance frame. Bauman details that a performance is dependent on it being properly keyed, without this,

2919-568: A replaying of a strip – what he describes as a personal experience or event. When we talk with others, the speaker's goal is often always the same, to provide "evidence for the fairness or unfairness of his current situation and other grounds for sympathy, approval, exoneration, understanding, or amusement. And what his listeners are primarily obliged to do is to show some kind of audience appreciation." Essentially, through interaction, we are only looking to be heard, not inspire any kind of action but simply to know that someone listened and understood. This

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3058-651: A resolutely subjective perspective. Max Weber argued that sociology may be loosely described as a science as it is able to identify causal relationships of human " social action "—especially among " ideal types ", or hypothetical simplifications of complex social phenomena. As a non-positivist, however, Weber sought relationships that are not as "historical, invariant, or generalisable" as those pursued by natural scientists. Fellow German sociologist, Ferdinand Tönnies , theorised on two crucial abstract concepts with his work on " gemeinschaft and gesellschaft " ( lit.   ' community' and 'society ' ). Tönnies marked

3197-403: A revolutionary re-constitution of society at large, or in the common ruin of the contending classes. Symbolic interaction —often associated with interactionism , phenomenology , dramaturgy , interpretivism —is a sociological approach that places emphasis on subjective meanings and the empirical unfolding of social processes, generally accessed through micro-analysis. This tradition emerged in

3336-401: A scene that would originally be meaningless and makes it meaningful. One type of primary framework is a natural framework, which identifies situations in the natural world and is completely biophysical , with no human influences. The other type of framework is a social framework, which explains events and connects them to humans. An example of a natural framework is the weather, and an example of

3475-463: A scholar whose style is difficult to reproduce, and therefore daunting to those who might wish to emulate it, or as a scholar whose work was transitional, bridging the work of the Chicago school and that of contemporary sociologists, and thus of less interest to sociologists than the classics of either of those groups. Of his subjects, Fine and Manning observe that the topic of behavior in public places

3614-400: A setting which is constructed of a stage and a backstage; the props in both settings direct his action; he is being watched by an audience , but at the same time he may be an audience for his viewers' play. According to Goffman, the social actor in many areas of life will take on an already established role, with pre-existing front and props as well as the costume he would wear in front of

3753-409: A sharp line between the realm of concepts and the reality of social action: the first must be treated axiomatically and in a deductive way ("pure sociology"), whereas the second empirically and inductively ("applied sociology"). [Sociology is] ... the science whose object is to interpret the meaning of social action and thereby give a causal explanation of the way in which the action proceeds and

3892-442: A social framework is a meteorologist who predicts the weather . Focusing on the social frameworks, Goffman seeks to "construct a general statement regarding the structure, or form, of experiences individuals have at any moment of their social life". Goffman saw this book as his magnum opus , but it was not as popular as his earlier works. In Frame Analysis , Erving Goffman provides a platform for understanding and interpreting

4031-558: A social whole. The German philosopher Hegel criticised traditional empiricist epistemology, which he rejected as uncritical, and determinism, which he viewed as overly mechanistic. Karl Marx 's methodology borrowed from Hegelian dialecticism but also a rejection of positivism in favour of critical analysis, seeking to supplement the empirical acquisition of "facts" with the elimination of illusions. He maintained that appearances need to be critiqued rather than simply documented. Early hermeneuticians such as Wilhelm Dilthey pioneered

4170-464: A specific audience. The actor's main goal is to keep coherent and adjust to the different settings offered him. This is done mainly through interaction with other actors. To a certain extent this imagery bridges structure and agency enabling each while saying that structure and agency can limit each other. Since the metaphor of a theatre is the leading theme of the book, the German and consequently also

4309-407: A subject of sociological study. Goffman treats it as a kind of report in which he frames out the theatrical performance that applies to these interactions. He believes that when an individual comes in contact with other people, that individual will attempt to control or guide the impression that others might make of him by changing or fixing his or her setting, appearance, and manner. At the same time,

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4448-528: A theoretical empiricism . The extent of antipositivist criticism has also diverged, with many rejecting the scientific method and others only seeking to amend it to reflect 20th-century developments in the philosophy of science. However, positivism (broadly understood as a scientific approach to the study of society) remains dominant in contemporary sociology, especially in the United States. Loïc Wacquant distinguishes three major strains of positivism: Durkheimian , Logical, and Instrumental. None of these are

4587-439: A theory that bridges the agency-and-structure divide—for popularizing social constructionism , symbolic interaction , conversation analysis , ethnographic studies, and the study and importance of individual interactions. His influence extended far beyond sociology: for example, his work provided the assumptions of much current research in language and social interaction within the discipline of communication. Goffman introduced

4726-426: A unique empirical object for the science of sociology to study. Through such studies he posited that sociology would be able to determine whether any given society is healthy or pathological, and seek social reform to negate organic breakdown, or " social anomie ". Sociology quickly evolved as an academic response to the perceived challenges of modernity , such as industrialization, urbanization, secularization , and

4865-760: A variety of different fields. Since its inception, sociological epistemology, methods, and frames of inquiry, have significantly expanded and diverged. Durkheim, Marx, and the German theorist Max Weber are typically cited as the three principal architects of sociology. Herbert Spencer , William Graham Sumner , Lester F. Ward , W. E. B. Du Bois , Vilfredo Pareto , Alexis de Tocqueville , Werner Sombart , Thorstein Veblen , Ferdinand Tönnies , Georg Simmel , Jane Addams and Karl Mannheim are often included on academic curricula as founding theorists. Curricula also may include Charlotte Perkins Gilman , Marianne Weber , Harriet Martineau , and Friedrich Engels as founders of

5004-409: Is a front region where the performers (individuals) are on stage in front of the audiences. This is where the positive aspect of the idea of self and desired impressions are highlighted. There is also a back region , where individuals can prepare for or set aside their role. The "front" or performance that an actor plays out includes "manner," or how the role is carried out, and "appearance" including

5143-423: Is also a backstage—a hidden, private area where people can be themselves and drop their societal roles and identities . Goffman is sometimes credited with having coined the term "total institution", though Fine and Manning note that he had heard it in lectures by Everett Hughes in reference to any institution in which people are treated alike and in which behavior is regulated. Regardless of whether Goffman coined

5282-523: Is also in this tradition that the radical-empirical approach of ethnomethodology emerges from the work of Harold Garfinkel . Utilitarianism is often referred to as exchange theory or rational choice theory in the context of sociology. This tradition tends to privilege the agency of individual rational actors and assumes that within interactions individuals always seek to maximize their own self-interest. As argued by Josh Whitford , rational actors are assumed to have four basic elements: Exchange theory

5421-820: Is an established tradition within sociological theory. Lastly, as argued by Raewyn Connell , a tradition that is often forgotten is that of Social Darwinism , which applies the logic of Darwinian biological evolution to people and societies. This tradition often aligns with classical functionalism, and was once the dominant theoretical stance in American sociology, from c.  1881  – c.  1915 , associated with several founders of sociology, primarily Herbert Spencer , Lester F. Ward , and William Graham Sumner . Contemporary sociological theory retains traces of each of these traditions and they are by no means mutually exclusive. A broad historical paradigm in both sociology and anthropology , functionalism addresses

5560-431: Is but a consequence of this rationalism. The term has long since ceased to carry this meaning; there are no fewer than twelve distinct epistemologies that are referred to as positivism. Many of these approaches do not self-identify as "positivist", some because they themselves arose in opposition to older forms of positivism, and some because the label has over time become a pejorative term by being mistakenly linked with

5699-420: Is connected with the division of labor) and his achievements which make him unique and indispensable but which at the same time make him so much the more dependent on the complementary activity of others; Nietzsche may have seen the relentless struggle of the individual as the prerequisite for his full development, while socialism found the same thing in the suppression of all competition – but in each of these

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5838-400: Is considering are discussed in previous sections of the book, "fabrications, keyings, frame breaks, misframing, and, of course, frame disputes." That a frame can assume so many forms is the basis of his analyses, "these framings are subject to a multitude of different transformations − the warrant for a frame analysis in the first place." Goffman's key idea is that most conversation is simply

5977-672: Is credited with popularizing a less formal style in academic publications. Interestingly, if he is rightly so credited, he may by this means have contributed to a remodelling of the norms of academic behaviour, particularly of communicative action, arguably liberating intellectuals from social restraints unnatural to some of them. His students included Carol Brooks Gardner, Charles Goodwin , Marjorie Harness Goodwin , John Lofland , Gary T. Marx , Harvey Sacks , Emanuel Schegloff , David Sudnow and Eviatar Zerubavel . Despite his influence, according to Fine and Manning there are "remarkably few scholars who are continuing his work", nor has there been

6116-416: Is critical, just as is an awareness of the audience. Depending on who you're speaking with (a teacher, a child, a loved one, a friend, a pet, etc.) you will curve your speech to fit the frame of what your intended audience is expecting. Goffman uses the metaphor of conversation being a stage play. A play's tone will shift throughout the performance due to the actions taken by the actors; this is similar to how

6255-622: Is more or less synonymous with quantitative research , and so only resembles older positivism in practice. Since it carries no explicit philosophical commitment, its practitioners may not belong to any particular school of thought. Modern sociology of this type is often credited to Paul Lazarsfeld , who pioneered large-scale survey studies and developed statistical techniques for analysing them. This approach lends itself to what Robert K. Merton called middle-range theory : abstract statements that generalize from segregated hypotheses and empirical regularities rather than starting with an abstract idea of

6394-459: Is not homogeneous; we must act differently in different settings. This recognition led Goffman to his dramaturgical analysis. He saw a connection between the kinds of "acts" that people put on in their daily lives and theatrical performances. In a social interaction, as in a theatrical performance, there is an onstage area where actors (people) appear before the audience; this is where positive self-concepts and desired impressions are offered. But there

6533-500: Is often associated with the symbolic interaction school of sociological thought, he did not see himself as a representative of it, and so Fine and Manning conclude that he "does not easily fit within a specific school of sociological thought". His ideas are also "difficult to reduce to a number of key themes"; his work can be broadly described as developing "a comparative, qualitative sociology that aimed to produce generalizations about human behavior". Goffman made substantial advances in

6672-478: Is often stigmatized as trivial and unworthy of serious scholarly attention. Nonetheless, Fine and Manning note that Goffman is "the most influential American sociologist of the twentieth century". Elliott and Turner see him as "a revered figure—an outlaw theorist who came to exemplify the best of the sociological imagination", and "perhaps the first postmodern sociological theorist". Goffman's early works consist of his graduate writings of 1949–53. His master's thesis

6811-444: Is one of his few works that clearly engage with that perspective. Goffman's view on game theory was shaped by the works of Thomas Schelling . Goffman presents reality as a form of game, and discusses its rules and the various moves that players can make (the "unwitting", the "naive", the "covering", the "uncovering", and the "counter-uncovering") while trying to get or hide an information. Goffman credited Gregory Bateson for creating

6950-533: Is represented in the advertising to which all individuals are commonly exposed. In her 2001 work Measuring Up: How Advertising Affects Self-Image , Vickie Rutledge Shields stated that the work was "unique at the time for employing a method now being labeled 'semiotic content analysis'" and that it "[provided] the base for textual analyses ... such as poststructuralist and psychoanalytic approaches". She also noted that feminist scholars like Jean Kilbourne "[built] their highly persuasive and widely circulated findings on

7089-423: Is specifically attributed to the work of George C. Homans , Peter Blau and Richard Emerson. Organizational sociologists James G. March and Herbert A. Simon noted that an individual's rationality is bounded by the context or organizational setting. The utilitarian perspective in sociology was, most notably, revitalized in the late 20th century by the work of former ASA president James Coleman . Following

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7228-741: Is the scientific study of human society that focuses on society , human social behavior , patterns of social relationships , social interaction , and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. Regarded as a part of both the social sciences and humanities , sociology uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about social order and social change . Sociological subject matter ranges from micro-level analyses of individual interaction and agency to macro-level analyses of social systems and social structure . Applied sociological research may be applied directly to social policy and welfare, whereas theoretical approaches may focus on

7367-418: Is to extract from their subject-matter 'correct' or 'valid' meaning. Both Weber and Georg Simmel pioneered the " Verstehen " (or 'interpretative') method in social science; a systematic process by which an outside observer attempts to relate to a particular cultural group, or indigenous people, on their own terms and from their own point of view. Through the work of Simmel, in particular, sociology acquired

7506-498: Is why often a simple head nod or grunt is accepted as an appropriate response in conversation. Goffman explains that the way a conversation is keyed is critical to understanding the intent behind many utterances in everyday speech. Key is probably best understood as the tone of the dialogue which can change numerous times during an interaction. Signaling a change in key is one way that framing often takes place, "special brackets will have to be introduced should he want to say something in

7645-440: The American Sociological Association . His best-known contribution to social theory is his study of symbolic interaction . This took the form of dramaturgical analysis , beginning with his 1956 book The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life . Goffman's other major works include Asylums (1961), Stigma (1963), Interaction Ritual (1967), Frame Analysis (1974), and Forms of Talk (1981). His major areas of study included

7784-562: The Chicago School of the 1920s and 1930s, which, prior to World War II, "had been the center of sociological research and graduate study." The approach focuses on creating a framework for building a theory that sees society as the product of the everyday interactions of individuals. Society is nothing more than the shared reality that people construct as they interact with one another. This approach sees people interacting in countless settings using symbolic communications to accomplish

7923-466: The Domesday Book in 1086, while ancient philosophers such as Confucius wrote about the importance of social roles. Medieval Arabic writings encompass a rich tradition that unveils early insights into the field of sociology. Some sources consider Ibn Khaldun , a 14th-century Muslim scholar from Tunisia , to have been the father of sociology, although there is no reference to his work in

8062-543: The Frankfurt School of critical theory ) was founded in 1923. International co-operation in sociology began in 1893, when René Worms founded the Institut International de Sociologie , an institution later eclipsed by the much larger International Sociological Association (ISA), founded in 1949. The overarching methodological principle of positivism is to conduct sociology in broadly

8201-407: The effects which it produces . By 'action' in this definition is meant the human behaviour when and to the extent that the agent or agents see it as subjectively meaningful ... the meaning to which we refer may be either (a) the meaning actually intended either by an individual agent on a particular historical occasion or by a number of agents on an approximate average in a given set of cases, or (b)

8340-479: The institution of medicine ; economy ; military ; punishment and systems of control ; the Internet ; sociology of education ; social capital ; and the role of social activity in the development of scientific knowledge . The range of social scientific methods has also expanded, as social researchers draw upon a variety of qualitative and quantitative techniques. The linguistic and cultural turns of

8479-444: The social structure —referred to as " social organization " by the classical theorists—with respect to the whole as well as the necessary function of the whole's constituent elements. A common analogy (popularized by Herbert Spencer ) is to regard norms and institutions as 'organs' that work towards the proper functioning of the entire 'body' of society. The perspective was implicit in the original sociological positivism of Comte but

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8618-461: The sociology of everyday life , social interaction , the social construction of self, social organization ( framing ) of experience, and particular elements of social life such as total institutions and stigmas . Goffman was born 11 June 1922, in Mannville, Alberta , Canada, to Max Goffman and Anne Goffman, née Averbach. He was from a family of Ukrainian Jews who had emigrated to Canada at

8757-532: The theatrical performances that occur in face-to-face interactions. He holds that when someone comes in contact with another person, he attempts to control or guide the impression the other person will form of him, by altering his own setting, appearance and manner. At the same time, the second person attempts to form an impression of, and obtain information about, the first person. Goffman also believes that participants in social interactions engage in certain practices to avoid embarrassing themselves or others. Society

8896-625: The ASA in 1905. The sociological canon of classics with Durkheim and Max Weber at the top owes its existence in part to Talcott Parsons , who is largely credited with introducing both to American audiences. Parsons consolidated the sociological tradition and set the agenda for American sociology at the point of its fastest disciplinary growth. Sociology in the United States was less historically influenced by Marxism than its European counterpart, and to this day broadly remains more statistical in its approach. The first sociology department established in

9035-502: The Action Is". The first essay, "On Face-work", discusses the concept of face , which is the positive self-image a person holds when interacting with others. Goffman believes that face "as a sociological construct of interaction is neither inherent in nor a permanent aspect of the person". Once someone offers a positive self-image of him- or herself to others, they feel a need to maintain and live up to that image. Inconsistency in how

9174-820: The Cooley-Mead Award for Distinguished Scholarship, from the Section on Social Psychology of the American Sociological Association. He was elected the 73rd president of the American Sociological Association , serving in 1981–82, but was unable to deliver the presidential address in person due to progressing illness. Posthumously, in 1983, Goffman received the Mead Award from the Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction. Goffman

9313-522: The Czech translation used a fitting summary as the name of the book We All Play-Act (German: Wir Alle Spielen Theater ; Czech: Všichni hrajeme divadlo ), apart from the names in other languages that usually translate the title literally. Another translation, which also builds on the leading theatrical theme, rather than the original title, is the Swedish title of the book Jaget och Maskerna ( The Self and

9452-471: The Harvard department." As Parsons began to dominate general theory, his work primarily referenced European sociology—almost entirely omitting citations of both the American tradition of sociocultural-evolution as well as pragmatism. In addition to Parsons' revision of the sociological canon (which included Marshall, Pareto, Weber and Durkheim), the lack of theoretical challenges from other departments nurtured

9591-490: The Management of Spoiled Identity (1963) examines how, to protect their identities when they depart from approved standards of behavior or appearance, people manage impressions of themselves, mainly through concealment. Stigma pertains to the shame a person may feel when he or she fails to meet other people's standards, and to the fear of being discredited—which causes the person not to reveal his or her shortcomings. Thus

9730-706: The Masks ). The French title is La Mise en scène de la vie quotidienne ( The Staging of Everyday Life ). Similarly, in the Polish language the book is known as Człowiek w teatrze życia codziennego ( The Human in the Theatre of Everyday Life ). 1800s: Martineau · Tocqueville  ·  Marx ·  Spencer · Le Bon · Ward · Pareto ·  Tönnies · Veblen ·  Simmel · Durkheim ·  Addams ·  Mead · Weber ·  Du Bois ·  Mannheim · Elias A major theme that Goffman treats throughout

9869-603: The Mental Patient" (1959); "The Underlife of a Public Institution: A Study of Ways of Making Out in a Mental Hospital"; and "The Medical Model and Mental Hospitalization: Some Notes on the Vicissitudes of the Tinkering Trades". The first three focus on the experiences of patients; the last, on professional-client interactions. Goffman is mainly concerned with the details of psychiatric hospitalization and

10008-545: The Sociological Method (1895). For Durkheim, sociology could be described as the "science of institutions, their genesis and their functioning." Durkheim's monograph Suicide (1897) is considered a seminal work in statistical analysis by contemporary sociologists. Suicide is a case study of variations in suicide rates among Catholic and Protestant populations, and served to distinguish sociological analysis from psychology or philosophy. It also marked

10147-693: The United Kingdom was at the London School of Economics and Political Science (home of the British Journal of Sociology ) in 1904. Leonard Trelawny Hobhouse and Edvard Westermarck became the lecturers in the discipline at the University of London in 1907. Harriet Martineau , an English translator of Comte, has been cited as the first female sociologist. In 1909, the German Sociological Association

10286-497: The United States in 1959, it is Goffman's first and most famous book, for which he received the American Sociological Association 's MacIver award in 1961. In 1998, the International Sociological Association listed the work as the tenth most important sociological book of the 20th century. The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life was the first book to treat face-to-face interaction as

10425-648: The University of Chicago, in 1954–57 he was an assistant to the athletic director at the National Institute for Mental Health in Bethesda, Maryland . Participant observation done there led to his essays on mental illness and total institutions which came to form his second book, Asylums: Essays on the Social Situation of Mental Patients and Other Inmates (1961). In 1958 Goffman became

10564-638: The World Unite (2010), Russell W. Belk's "Extended Self in a Digital World" (2013), and Nell Haynes' Social Media in Northern Chile: Posting the Extraordinarily Ordinary (2016). In 1961, Goffman received the American Sociological Association 's MacIver award for The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life . Philosopher Helmut R. Wagner called the book "by far" Goffman's best book and "a still unsurpassed study of

10703-419: The accepted definition of the situation has been discredited, some or all of the actors may pretend that nothing has changed, provided that they find this strategy profitable to themselves or wish to keep the peace. For example, when a person attending a formal dinner—and who is certainly striving to present himself or herself positively—trips, nearby party-goers may pretend not to have seen the fumble; they assist

10842-493: The actions of individuals, groups and societies. Frame analysis , then, is the study of the organization of social experience. To illustrate the concept of the frame, Goffman gives the example of a picture frame : a person uses the frame (which represents structure) to hold together his picture (which represents the content) of what he is experiencing in his life. The most basic frames are called primary frameworks. A primary framework takes an individual's experience or an aspect of

10981-418: The basic form of society would increase in complexity and those forms of social organization that promoted solidarity would eventually overcome social disorganization. As Giddens states: Functionalist thought, from Comte onwards, has looked particularly towards biology as the science providing the closest and most compatible model for social science. Biology has been taken to provide a guide to conceptualizing

11120-405: The close relevance of frame-indeed, the close relevance of dramaturgy-for the organization of talk." Lastly, because the replaying of strips is not extemporaneous, but rather preformulated, it is yet another parallel between a stage production and conversation. All of these things work in concert to provide a foundation of how talk is framed. In Gender Advertisements , Goffman analyzes how gender

11259-415: The concept of nonperson treatment as a level of social interaction. Goffman defined "impression management" as a person's attempts to present an acceptable image to those around them, verbally or nonverbally. This definition is based on Goffman's idea that people see themselves as others view them, so they attempt to see themselves as if they are outside looking in. Goffman was also dedicated to discovering

11398-416: The decline of theories of sociocultural evolution in the United States, the interactionist thought of the Chicago School dominated American sociology. As Anselm Strauss describes, "we didn't think symbolic interaction was a perspective in sociology; we thought it was sociology." Moreover, philosophical and psychological pragmatism grounded this tradition. After World War II, mainstream sociology shifted to

11537-411: The detail of Comte's philosophy, he retained and refined its method, maintaining that the social sciences are a logical continuation of the natural ones into the realm of human activity, and insisting that they may retain the same objectivity, rationalism, and approach to causality. Durkheim set up the first European department of sociology at the University of Bordeaux in 1895, publishing his Rules of

11676-650: The display will not be successful. His work on performance analyses is deeply indebted to what Goffman establishes here in "Frame Analyses." Context is one other element to framing that is essential. "The participants will be bound by norms of good manners: through frequency and length of turns at talk, through topics avoided, through circumspection in regard to references about self, through attention offered eagerly or begrudgingly-through all these means, rank and social relationship will be given their due." Certain things can and will be said in one scenario that would never be uttered in another. An awareness of these social framings

11815-503: The distinction between natural and social science (' Geisteswissenschaft '). Various neo-Kantian philosophers, phenomenologists and human scientists further theorized how the analysis of the social world differs to that of the natural world due to the irreducibly complex aspects of human society, culture, and being . In the Italian context of development of social sciences and of sociology in particular, there are oppositions to

11954-577: The dress and look of the performer. Additionally, “front” also includes the “setting”, which means the environment of performance. It can be a furniture, physical lay-out or the stage props. Often, performers work together in "teams" and form bonds of collegiality based on their common commitment to the performance they are mutually engaged in. The core of Goffman's analysis lies in this relationship between performance and life. Unlike other writers who have used this metaphor, Goffman seems to take all elements of acting into consideration: an actor performs on

12093-408: The feminist tradition in sociology. Each key figure is associated with a particular theoretical perspective and orientation. Marx and Engels associated the emergence of modern society above all with the development of capitalism; for Durkheim it was connected in particular with industrialization and the new social division of labor which this brought about; for Weber it had to do with the emergence of

12232-489: The film industry for the National Film Board of Canada , established by John Grierson . Later he developed an interest in sociology. Also during this time, he met the renowned North American sociologist Dennis Wrong . Their meeting motivated Goffman to leave the University of Manitoba and enroll at the University of Toronto , where he studied under C. W. M. Hart and Ray Birdwhistell , graduating in 1945 with

12371-492: The first foundation of the discipline, sustained by speculative philosophy in accordance with the antiscientific tendencies matured by critique of positivism and evolutionism, so a tradition Progressist struggles to establish itself. At the turn of the 20th century, the first generation of German sociologists formally introduced methodological anti-positivism , proposing that research should concentrate on human cultural norms , values , symbols , and social processes viewed from

12510-410: The first sociology textbook: An introduction to the study of society . George Herbert Mead and Charles Cooley , who had met at the University of Michigan in 1891 (along with John Dewey ), moved to Chicago in 1894. Their influence gave rise to social psychology and the symbolic interactionism of the modern Chicago School . The American Journal of Sociology was founded in 1895, followed by

12649-403: The foundation of the discipline itself. Social analysis has origins in the common stock of universal, global knowledge and philosophy, having been carried out from as far back as the time of old comic poetry which features social and political criticism, and ancient Greek philosophers Socrates , Plato , and Aristotle . For instance, the origin of the survey can be traced back to at least

12788-501: The idea of framing and psychological frames. Frame Analysis: An Essay on the Organization of Experience (1974) is Goffman's attempt to explain how conceptual frames – ways to organize experience – structure an individual's perception of society. This book is thus about the organization of experience rather than the organization of society. A frame is a set of concepts and theoretical perspectives that organize experiences and guide

12927-420: The inequality between particular groups. The following quotes from Durkheim and Marx epitomize the political, as well as theoretical, disparities, between functionalist and conflict thought respectively: To aim for a civilization beyond that made possible by the nexus of the surrounding environment will result in unloosing sickness into the very society we live in. Collective activity cannot be encouraged beyond

13066-459: The interaction between individuals engaging speech communication. In the chapter "The Frame Analyses of Talk," the focus is put on how words are exchanged and what is being said, specifically in informal talk or conversation. The concept of framing is introduced through an exploration of why misunderstandings occur in these basic, everyday conversations. He argues that they are more errors in verbal framing than anything else. The types of frames Goffman

13205-438: The later decades of the nineteenth century. To say this is certainly not to claim that French sociologists such as Durkheim were devoted disciples of the high priest of positivism. But by insisting on the irreducibility of each of his basic sciences to the particular science of sciences which it presupposed in the hierarchy and by emphasizing the nature of sociology as the scientific study of social phenomena Comte put sociology on

13344-453: The less complex sciences , attacking the laissez-faire sociology of Herbert Spencer and Sumner. Ward's 1,200-page book was used as core material in many early American sociology courses. In 1890, the oldest continuing American course in the modern tradition began at the University of Kansas , lectured by Frank W. Blackmar . The Department of Sociology at the University of Chicago was established in 1892 by Albion Small , who also published

13483-401: The map. To be sure, [its] beginnings can be traced back well beyond Montesquieu , for example, and to Condorcet , not to speak of Saint-Simon , Comte's immediate predecessor. But Comte's clear recognition of sociology as a particular science, with a character of its own, justified Durkheim in regarding him as the father or founder of this science, even though Durkheim did not accept the idea of

13622-419: The meaning attributed to the agent or agents, as types, in a pure type constructed in the abstract. In neither case is the 'meaning' to be thought of as somehow objectively 'correct' or 'true' by some metaphysical criterion. This is the difference between the empirical sciences of action, such as sociology and history, and any kind of prior discipline, such as jurisprudence, logic, ethics, or aesthetics whose aim

13761-403: The means of violence in the context of the industrialisation of war). The first college course entitled "Sociology" was taught in the United States at Yale in 1875 by William Graham Sumner . In 1883, Lester F. Ward , who later became the first president of the American Sociological Association (ASA), published Dynamic Sociology—Or Applied social science as based upon statical sociology and

13900-785: The mid-20th century, especially, have led to increasingly interpretative , hermeneutic , and philosophical approaches towards the analysis of society. Conversely, the turn of the 21st century has seen the rise of new analytically , mathematically , and computationally rigorous techniques, such as agent-based modelling and social network analysis. Social research has influence throughout various industries and sectors of life, such as among politicians, policy makers , and legislators; educators ; planners ; administrators ; developers ; business magnates and managers; social workers; non-governmental organizations; and non-profit organizations, as well as individuals interested in resolving social issues in general. Sociological reasoning predates

14039-474: The most modern form of the conflict which primitive man must carry on with nature for his bodily existence. The eighteenth century may have called for liberation from all the ties which grew up historically in politics, in religion, in morality, and in economics to permit the original natural virtue of man, which is equal in everyone, to develop without inhibition; the nineteenth century may have sought to promote, in addition to man's freedom, his individuality (which

14178-495: The nature and effects of the process he calls "institutionalization". He describes how institutionalization socializes people into the role of a good patient, someone "dull, harmless and inconspicuous"—a condition that in turn reinforces notions of chronicity in severe mental illness. Total institutions greatly affect people's interactions; yet even in such places, people find ways to redefine their roles and reclaim their identities. Asylums has been credited with helping catalyze

14317-401: The nature of gender in advertising on Goffman's original categories". Goffman's book, Forms of Talk (1981), includes five essays: "Replies and Responses" (1976); "Response Cries" (1978); "Footing" (1979); "The Lecture" (1976); and "Radio Talk" (1981). Each essay addresses both verbal and non-verbal communication through a sociolinguistic model. The book provides a comprehensive overview of

14456-424: The notion of objective sui generis "social facts" to serve as unique empirical objects for the science of sociology to study. The variety of positivism that remains dominant today is termed instrumental positivism . This approach eschews epistemological and metaphysical concerns (such as the nature of social facts) in favour of methodological clarity, replicability , reliability and validity . This positivism

14595-473: The person in maintaining face . Goffman avers that this type of artificial, willed credulity happens on every level of social organization , from top to bottom. The book proposes a theory of self that has become known as self-presentation theory , which suggests that people have the desire to control the impressions that other people form about them. The concept is still used by researchers in social media today, including Kaplan and Haenlein's Users of

14734-486: The person the individual is interacting with is trying to form and obtain information about the individual. Believing that all participants in social interactions are engaged in practices to avoid being embarrassed or embarrassing others, Goffman developed his dramaturgical analysis , wherein he observes a connection between the kinds of acts that people put on in their daily life and theatrical performances. In social interaction , as in theatrical performance, there

14873-427: The point set by the condition of the social organism without undermining health. The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles. Freeman and slave, patrician and plebeian, lord and serf, guild-master and journeyman, in a word, oppressor and oppressed, stood in constant opposition to one another, carried on an uninterrupted, now hidden, now open fight, a fight that each time ended, either in

15012-514: The process of rationalization . The field predominated in continental Europe , with British anthropology and statistics generally following on a separate trajectory. By the turn of the 20th century, however, many theorists were active in the English-speaking world . Few early sociologists were confined strictly to the subject, interacting also with economics, jurisprudence , psychology and philosophy, with theories being appropriated in

15151-400: The progression of human understanding, after conjectural theological and metaphysical phases. In observing the circular dependence of theory and observation in science, and having classified the sciences, Comte may be regarded as the first philosopher of science in the modern sense of the term. Comte gave a powerful impetus to the development of sociology, an impetus that bore fruit in

15290-591: The reform of mental health systems in a number of countries, leading to reductions in the numbers of large mental hospitals and of the people locked up in them. It was also influential in the anti-psychiatry movement. In Behavior in Public Places (1963), Goffman again focuses on everyday public interactions. He draws distinctions between several types of public gatherings ("gatherings", "situations", "social occasions") and types of audiences (acquainted versus unacquainted). Goffman's book Stigma: Notes on

15429-713: The rise of the Parsonian structural-functionalist movement, which reached its crescendo in the 1950s, but by the 1960s was in rapid decline. By the 1980s, most functionalist perspectives in Europe had broadly been replaced by conflict -oriented approaches, and to many in the discipline, functionalism was considered "as dead as a dodo:" According to Giddens : The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life Originally published in Scotland in 1956 and in

15568-462: The same as that set forth by Comte, who was unique in advocating such a rigid (and perhaps optimistic) version. While Émile Durkheim rejected much of the detail of Comte's philosophy, he retained and refined its method. Durkheim maintained that the social sciences are a logical continuation of the natural ones into the realm of human activity, and insisted that they should retain the same objectivity, rationalism, and approach to causality. He developed

15707-937: The same fundamental motive was at work, namely the resistance of the individual to being leveled, swallowed up in the social-technological mechanism. The contemporary discipline of sociology is theoretically multi-paradigmatic in line with the contentions of classical social theory. Randall Collins ' well-cited survey of sociological theory retroactively labels various theorists as belonging to four theoretical traditions: Functionalism, Conflict, Symbolic Interactionism, and Utilitarianism. Accordingly, modern sociological theory predominantly descends from functionalist (Durkheim) and conflict (Marx and Weber) approaches to social structure, as well as from symbolic-interactionist approaches to social interaction, such as micro-level structural ( Simmel ) and pragmatist ( Mead , Cooley ) perspectives. Utilitarianism (also known as rational choice or social exchange), although often associated with economics,

15846-449: The same manner as natural science . An emphasis on empiricism and the scientific method is sought to provide a tested foundation for sociological research based on the assumption that the only authentic knowledge is scientific knowledge, and that such knowledge can only arrive by positive affirmation through scientific methodology. Our main goal is to extend scientific rationalism to human conduct.... What has been called our positivism

15985-593: The scientific understanding of social life. Writing shortly after the malaise of the French Revolution , he proposed that social ills could be remedied through sociological positivism , an epistemological approach outlined in the Course in Positive Philosophy (1830–1842), later included in A General View of Positivism (1848). Comte believed a positivist stage would mark the final era in

16124-433: The structure and the function of social systems and to analyzing processes of evolution via mechanisms of adaptation. Functionalism strongly emphasizes the pre-eminence of the social world over its individual parts (i.e. its constituent actors, human subjects). Functionalist theories emphasize "cohesive systems" and are often contrasted with "conflict theories", which critique the overarching socio-political system or emphasize

16263-489: The study of face-to-face interaction , elaborated the " dramaturgical approach " to human interaction , and developed numerous concepts that have had a massive influence, particularly in the field of the micro-sociology of everyday life. Much of his work was about the organization of everyday behavior, a concept he termed "interaction order". He contributed to the sociological concept of framing ( frame analysis ), to game theory (the concept of strategic interaction), and to

16402-608: The study of talk . In the introduction, Goffman identifies three themes that recur throughout the text: " ritualization , participation framework, and embedding". The first essay, "Replies and Responses", concerns " conversational dialogue" and the way people respond during a conversation, both verbally and non-verbally. The second essay, "Response Cries", considers the use of utterances and their social implications in different social contexts. Specifically, Goffman discusses " self-talk " (talking to no one in particular) and its role in social situations. Next, in "Footing", Goffman addresses

16541-465: The study of interactions and linguistics . With regard to the latter, he argued that the activity of speaking must be seen as a social rather than a linguistic construct. From a methodological perspective, Goffman often employed qualitative approaches, specifically ethnography , most famously in his study of social aspects of mental illness , in particular the functioning of total institutions. Overall, his contributions are valued as an attempt to create

16680-432: The subtle ways humans present acceptable images by concealing information that may conflict with the images for a particular situation, such as concealing tattoos when applying for a job in which tattoos would be inappropriate, or hiding a bizarre obsession such as collecting/interacting with dolls, which society may see as abnormal. Goffman broke from George Herbert Mead and Herbert Blumer in that while he did not reject

16819-442: The supervision of W. Lloyd Warner , Donald Horton, and Anselm Strauss . In 1952 Goffman married Angelica Schuyler Choate (nicknamed Sky); in 1953, their son Thomas was born. Angelica experienced mental illness and died by suicide in 1964. Outside his academic career, Goffman was known for his interest, and relative success, in the stock market and gambling. At one point, in pursuit of his hobbies and ethnographic studies, he became

16958-457: The survey-research of Paul Lazarsfeld at Columbia University and the general theorizing of Pitirim Sorokin , followed by Talcott Parsons at Harvard University . Ultimately, "the failure of the Chicago, Columbia, and Wisconsin [sociology] departments to produce a significant number of graduate students interested in and committed to general theory in the years 1936–45 was to the advantage of

17097-487: The tasks at hand. Therefore, society is a complex, ever-changing mosaic of subjective meanings. Some critics of this approach argue that it only looks at what is happening in a particular social situation, and disregards the effects that culture, race or gender (i.e. social-historical structures) may have in that situation. Some important sociologists associated with this approach include Max Weber , George Herbert Mead , Erving Goffman , George Homans , and Peter Blau . It

17236-516: The term, he popularized it with his 1961 book Asylums: Essays on the Social Situation of Mental Patients and Other Inmates . The book has been described as "ethnography of the concept of the total institution". It was one of the first sociological examinations of the social situation of mental patients in psychiatric hospitals and a major contribution to understanding of social aspects of mental illness . The book comprises four essays: "Characteristics of Total Institutions" (1957); "The Moral Career of

17375-413: The three states and criticized Comte's approach to sociology. Both Comte and Karl Marx set out to develop scientifically justified systems in the wake of European industrialization and secularization , informed by various key movements in the philosophies of history and science . Marx rejected Comtean positivism but in attempting to develop a "science of society" nevertheless came to be recognized as

17514-492: The turn of the century. He had an older sister, Frances Bay , who became an actress. The family moved to Dauphin, Manitoba , where his father operated a successful tailoring business. From 1937 Goffman attended St. John's Technical High School in Winnipeg , where his family had moved that year. In 1939 he enrolled at the University of Manitoba , majoring in chemistry. He interrupted his studies and moved to Ottawa to work in

17653-419: The two, was the principal achievement of Marx's theory. The sociological treatment of historical and moral problems, which Comte and after him, Spencer and Taine , had discussed and mapped, became a precise and concrete study only when the attack of militant Marxism made its conclusions a burning issue, and so made the search for evidence more zealous and the attention to method more intense. Herbert Spencer

17792-550: The understanding of social processes and phenomenological method. Traditional focuses of sociology include social stratification , social class , social mobility , religion , secularization , law , sexuality , gender , and deviance . Recent studies have added socio-technical aspects of the digital divide as a new focus. As all spheres of human activity are affected by the interplay between social structure and individual agency , sociology has gradually expanded its focus to other subjects and institutions, such as health and

17931-471: The way people perceive themselves, he was more interested in the actual physical proximity or the "interaction order" that molds the self. In other words, Goffman believed that impression management can be achieved only if the audience is in sync with a person's self-perception. If the audience disagrees with the image someone is presenting then their self-presentation is interrupted. People present images of themselves based on how society thinks they should act in

18070-646: The way that footing, or alignment, can shift during a conversation. The fourth essay, "The Lecture", originally an oral presentation, describes different types and methods of lecture. Lastly, in "Radio Talk", Goffman describes the types and forms of talk used in radio programming and the effect they have on listeners. In his career, Goffman worked at the: Sociology 1800s: Martineau · Tocqueville  ·  Marx ·  Spencer · Le Bon · Ward · Pareto ·  Tönnies · Veblen ·  Simmel · Durkheim ·  Addams ·  Mead · Weber ·  Du Bois ·  Mannheim · Elias Sociology

18209-458: The work is the fundamental importance of having an agreed upon definition of the situation in a given interaction, which serves to give the interaction coherency. In interactions or performances the involved parties may be audience members and performers simultaneously; the actors usually foster impressions that reflect well upon themselves and encourage the others, by various means, to accept their preferred definition. Goffman acknowledges that when

18348-599: The writings of European contributors to modern sociology. Khaldun's Muqaddimah was considered to be amongst the first works to advance social-scientific reasoning on social cohesion and social conflict . The word sociology derives part of its name from the Latin word socius ('companion' or 'fellowship' ). The suffix -logy ('the study of') comes from that of the Greek -λογία , derived from λόγος ( lógos , 'word' or 'knowledge'). The term sociology

18487-459: Was a survey of audience responses to a radio soap opera, Big Sister . One of its most important elements was a critique of his research methodology—of experimental logic and of variable analysis . Other writings from the period include Symbols of Class Status (1951) and On Cooling the Mark Out (1952). His doctoral dissertation, Communication Conduct in an Island Community (1953), presented

18626-435: Was established in 1892 by Albion Small —from the invitation of William Rainey Harper —at the University of Chicago . The American Journal of Sociology was founded shortly thereafter in 1895 by Small as well. The institutionalization of sociology as an academic discipline, however, was chiefly led by Émile Durkheim , who developed positivism as a foundation for practical social research . While Durkheim rejected much of

18765-599: Was first coined in 1780 by the French essayist Emmanuel-Joseph Sieyès in an unpublished manuscript . Sociology was later defined independently by French philosopher of science Auguste Comte (1798–1857) in 1838 as a new way of looking at society. Comte had earlier used the term social physics , but it had been subsequently appropriated by others, most notably the Belgian statistician Adolphe Quetelet . Comte endeavored to unify history, psychology, and economics through

18904-601: Was founded by Ferdinand Tönnies , Max Weber, and Georg Simmel , among others. Weber established the first department in Germany at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich in 1919, having presented an influential new antipositivist sociology. In 1920, Florian Znaniecki set up the first department in Poland . The Institute for Social Research at the University of Frankfurt (later to become

19043-764: Was influenced by Herbert Blumer , Émile Durkheim , Sigmund Freud , Everett Hughes , Alfred Radcliffe-Brown , Talcott Parsons , Alfred Schütz , Georg Simmel and W. Lloyd Warner . Hughes was the "most influential of his teachers" according to Tom Burns . Gary Alan Fine and Philip Manning have said that Goffman never engaged in serious dialogue with other theorists, but his work has influenced and been discussed by numerous contemporary sociologists, including Anthony Giddens , Jürgen Habermas and Pierre Bourdieu . Though Goffman

19182-478: Was one of the most popular and influential 19th-century sociologists. It is estimated that he sold one million books in his lifetime, far more than any other sociologist at the time. So strong was his influence that many other 19th-century thinkers, including Émile Durkheim , defined their ideas in relation to his. Durkheim's Division of Labour in Society is to a large extent an extended debate with Spencer from whose sociology Durkheim borrowed extensively. Also

19321-448: Was theorized in full by Durkheim, again with respect to observable, structural laws. Functionalism also has an anthropological basis in the work of theorists such as Marcel Mauss , Bronisław Malinowski , and Radcliffe-Brown . It is in the latter's specific usage that the prefix "structural" emerged. Classical functionalist theory is generally united by its tendency towards biological analogy and notions of social evolutionism , in that

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