Question

According to Erving Goffman, we engage in a __________________ when we use costumes, props, tone of voice, and gestures to convey information to others.
a) roleb) performancec) statusd) self

Answer 1

Answer:      B. Performance

Explanation:  Erving Goffman was a sociologist who saw the study of society, especially the interaction of people in society, as a play that people perform daily in life as a stage. Some of his expressions are known in the daily interaction and behaviour of people when they are in public and when they are trying to make an impression on others. These are expressions he gave in describing what people, in Goffman's view, like to expect to be in public, or want to make an impression on the public or what happens to them.There are, for example, a "losing face" when someone is embarrassed in the public, or an overall "impression management" where each manages his actions and facial expressions to make certain impressions he wishes to give to others.

So apart from other terms, according to Goffman, people are socially interacting as in a stage where they use a variety of props for their daily "performance" in public. They also use costumes, tones of voice, masks, even films made on the subject, to prepare everyone for their desired role on stage, i.e in public, depending on impression they want to make. The ultimate goal of this performance is to present ourselves, but as we would like to, with a particular impression and the desired aspect of our personality that we somewhat idealise, emphasise and present with this performance for certain needs of everyday social struggle.