Blog #2 Soc 250

Blog #2

In this week’s reading Goffman examines the performances in which individuals undertake in everyday life. Individuals create a personal front through various settings, appearances, and manners. Each individual creates this ‘front’ through various means such as clothing, speech, mannerisms, etc. and these individual actors can dramatize their performances in ways that help them achieve their desired outcome.  Each individual has a front stage (where they behave in a way that portrays them in the way they wish to be seen) and a back stage (how they behave when they are in private and no one can see them).  Robert Brown takes this theory of dramaturgy and applies it to the political realm in the United States.

Brown argues that the entire political sphere today can be viewed from Goffman’s dramaturgical scope.  How potential political figures dress, speak, and how they behave during their front stage time all impact whether or not they will be elected.  They have to create an image of the self in which they wish to portray to the audience (the voters) and hope that they perform well enough to convince them that they are in fact what they are trying to portray.  Every act of running for presidency must be carefully staged and scripted from pep rallies to fund raisers.  If a candidate strays away from this script they may destroy the perception of their self that they were trying to create. 

I agree with Brown’s assertion that one can apply the theory of dramaturgy to the behavior of presidential candidates.  It is fascinating and terrifying to ponder how much of what they’re saying is an act in a well-staged play or how they genuinely feel.  I would hope that at least some of what they are preaching reflects their own genuine beliefs and not just a tactic to win the support of the audience. 

Reference:

Brown, R., “Acting Presidential: The Dramaturgy of Bush Versus Kerry.” American Behavioral Scientist Vol. 49 2005 pp. 78-92.