Week 6 - Life as a game

Once again, the SOC250 reading had me thinking twice about normal 'everyday interactions' that I have. This weeks reading was Performances by Goffman. In particular, I found it entertaining comparing the frontstage and backstage performances to Facebook. I look at Facebook everyday. I think most students who attend UOW can say the same thing. It's comical to think about those friends on Facebook, the ones that you have added even though you really do not know them all that well. You know, those ones you may have met once through a friend or even someone that you have shared many drunken nights with but don't actually acknowledge each other when you cross paths at uni. Those Facebook 'friends'. We all have them. You sit on your computer bored and creep their pages making critical assumptions about their life based on their profile pictures, photo albums, mutual friends and wall posts. This Facebook profile, or frontstage as Goffman would call it, portrays the person the way they want their friends, family and public to see them. There's also the wall posts and comments. When you sit on Facebook on the same photo for fifteen minutes trying to come up with a good comeback to the previous comment so that your audience (friends) of your frontstage (Facebook profile) will applaud you with 'likes'. This topic relates back to last weeks readings about demeanor and deference in that the response from your audience influences your performance.

Another topic that Goffman presented was of idealized characters and performance. I have to say I find his example of girls playing dumb to make boys like them as stereotypical. Most guys I know do not like girls that act dumb - they think they are dumb. However, I do agree that people put on roles to impress their peers or love interests. Girls may put on roles to make men feel more masculine which in turn causes him to like her more. This leads to the topics of misinterpretation and social cues which give way to some of the most awkward situations that have ever occurred.