Customer Reviews

Interaction Ritual - Essays on Face-to-Face Behavior

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

People call Goffman a sociologist, but the more I read of him, the more I see him as a philosopher. I mean, George Herbert Mead is considered a philosopher and not a sociologist, right? In my day-to-day life, I find Goffman's observations about ritual human behavior and face-to-face interaction to be endlessly useful. Almost every day I think about something he's written in one of his books. His style is not overly pedantic, and you can read through any of his books without specialized education.

Sure, the 50s/60s examples he gives are sort of dated, but so what- we all watch Mad Men, don't we?

Edgar Schein recommended this book, so I read it. I'm glad I did. Goffman is fascinated by what happens when people engage one another face-to-face, and the essays in this book synthesize many years of observation, research and deep thinking on this topic. There is much to learn in the book, and it's even well-written and filled with interesting anecdotes that illustrate his points.

However, the book was written at a time when psychologists made no distinction between the social actiions of men and women. In this book, "a person" is always male. It's easy to see that the book was written long before Deborah Tannen came along, and it suffers from that.

As a communication major, I used this book frequently when I write papers and do research. If you want to know about concepts such as "face", you will have to read this original. But I don't think it's a book for everybody, that's the only reason I gave it 4 star.

This is not as profound as some of his other works, but it is important nonetheless. Goffman's understanding about interactions and how society shapes them, and learns from them, is as applicable in 2011 as it was 50 years ago.

I think if a man begins reading a subject, he / she has to understand it. At social people how can be achived an individually ? That must be found as an answer by reading the book.

Good seminal work by Goffman. It includes one of Goffman's most noted pieces: "On Face-Work," originally published in Psychiatry: Journal for the Study of Interpersonal Processes.