The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life Author: Erving Goffman Publisher: Peking University Press Original title: The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life

Erving Goffman (1922-1982) is an American sociologist, a representative of symbolic interactionism, and an advocate of dramaturgy. He was born in Manville, Canada. He graduated from the University of Toronto in 1945 and received his doctorate from the University of Chicago in 1953. He was a professor of sociology at the University of California, Berkeley from 1962 to 1968. In 1968, he served as the Benjamin Franklin Professor of Anthropology and Sociology at the University of Pennsylvania, and was the president of the American Sociological Association from 1981 to 1982. He conducted field research in the Shetland Islands from 1945 to 1951. He used the results of personal experience observation as the main source of data and conducted a lot of research on social interaction, encounters, gatherings, small groups and abnormal behavior. He pioneered the "dramatism theory". He believed that people give meaning to social order or specific behavior. Social behavior is social performance. Social members play multiple roles on the social stage to make their own images serve their desired goals. He also proposed the "stigma theory", arguing that ascribed or self-inflicted stigma devalues ​​the value of individuals or groups and limits their social status. Once people label deviant behavior, they enter a "deviant career", resulting in the reinforcement of deviant behavior. Goffman's works and theories are widely recognized in the American sociology community. His major works include: "The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life" (1956), "Refuge" (1961), "Encounters" (1961), "Behavior in Public Places" (1963), "Stigma" (1963), "Interaction Rituals" (1967), "Frame Analysis" (1974), "Speech Styles" (1981), etc.