Sociologist Erving Goffman's Study

Sociologists Erving Goffman suggests that human interaction on a day to day basis is very similar to performing on stage. There is always an audience and always a performer. This can be related to going on a date. One is always trying to impress the other. When one is speaking you can consider them as being the performer and the listener the audience. In this type of conversation the roles will flip flop. Throughout these conversations both are waiting for the others true character or true person to be revealed. Goffman also suggests Impression management which refers to people’s efforts to present themselves to others in ways that are most favorable to their own interests or image. This can also happen in the same scenario. While on a date
Garfinkel suggested Ethnomethodology the study of the commonsense knowledge that people use to understand the situations in which they find themselves. The expectancies of a person while interacting with another. While you are hanging out with your friends having conversations you expect that you will all take turns talking and no one will interfere or talk over the other. These are the rules or guidelines to a conversation we are all familiar with. However what if this was disrupted what if one person was consistently talking out of turn or talking very loudly in an out of context manner? This would be what Garfinkel put to the tests. By doing experiments he tested out these scenarios. Breaking these unspoken rules causes confusion. What if someone was speaking to you very closely as if to almost touch your nose about something as simple as the weather? How would it make you feel? Intimidated maybe? But not sure because the conversation had simple harmless context? However this theory or research did not hold up. Garfinkel’s reasearch and experiments did not take age, race, or gender into consideration. Whereas such components would change the whole feel or concept and dramatically change the outcome or