Encounters: Two Studies in the Sociology of Interaction

by Erving Goffman

Encounters is the first volume in The Advanced Studies in Sociology series. This series has been projected to provide a needed outlet for studies and research at the frontiers of Social Science. The criteria for the series are that each study treats an area of research or thought of more than parochial interest, represents the highest standards of scholarship and is presented in literate prose. The series is dedicated to the belief that serious and important scholarship is provoked and stimulated by the widest possible distribution of the written work of leading thinkers and new investigators in a field.

Genres: Sociology, Nonfiction, Philosophy, Psychology, Anthropology

152 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1961

About the author

Erving Goffman 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 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 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.

Reviews

[Nicolás Rivas · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the second book I read by Goffman, and I'm still impressed by his thoughts. Two ideas captivate me. The first one is the atomistic belief that sociology could learn a lot from the study of the basic interactions of humans beings. If someone tomorrow would tell me that my mission for the next 10 years is to write a sociological study I would start with that atomistic premise. If someone tomorrow would tell me that my mission for the next 10 years is to write a sociological study, I would start with that premise, a reduction not to individuals and their passions, a la Locke and others, but to the basic interactions between humans. I would do this mainly because I'm a scientist and I thus have a completely irrational belief in reduction. But also because studies of the everyday will definitely be more relevant for—guess what—the everyday of common people, and could even get to be useful. Actually, one direct consequence of reading Goffman can be a notorious alteration of our social interactions. If our mind happens to remember anything that we read from him when in the middle of a conversation, or say while playing a game—the situation covered by the best essay of the book—then we'll be immediately transported to a new dimension of thought, where we'll almost be able to hear the coughing of the audience looking at us, at the stage, representing.

The second idea that convinces me in Goffman's writings is precisely this, its mapping of human interactions to theater. It doesn't follow the obvious route of personality and characters, but a more broad and spacial aspect of stage, audience, entrances and exits. It goes beyond one-to-one, more psychological relations to explore the dynamics of our roles and the conditions and consequences of absorption; how we constantly play with our level of involvement, a sequence of layers that seem to lead to theater itself: the game of endless masks. It's a seductive read, a bait for the mind suggesting a new world of ideas with which to sprinkle even the most boring social situations. And it's also inspiring for anyone who still, maybe, perhaps, believes in change from bottom-up.

[Diana180]

Excellent, core Goffman, a good review of his game and dramaturgical metaphors. "Fun in Games" is about the game-internal and game-external conditions necessary for flow and absorption in a game or other face-to-face activity. "Role Distance" is about why it's rare to own your role completely. He didn't believe in well-integrated consistent personalities, that's for sure.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

Goffman's writings on the workings of the interaction order are deservedly classics, and are immensely readable. They still have a lot to offer, though it can't be denied they are of their time.

[Jack Mikuszewski · Rating 4 out of 5]

‘To be awkward or unkempt, to talk or move wrongly, is to be a dangerous giant, a destroyer of worlds.’ - Never before have I felt this empowered by a book.

[Artur]

Goffman jak zawsze, jak tosty z serem po ciężkim dniu.