Behavior in Public Places: Notes on the Social Organization of Gatherings[1] is a 1963 book by American sociologist Erving Goffman.
It is one of several books by Goffman which focuses on everyday public interactions.
One of its major premises is that face-to-face interactions embody certain rules that follow a certain logic regardless of the occasions in which they occur.
[2] Many of the examples in the book are drawn from or contrasted with Erving's earlier experiences as a visiting member of the National Institute of Mental Health in the 1950s.
[1] He also discusses three levels of social interaction: "nonperson treatment: which one person does not acknowledge the presence of another person; "civil inattention", whereby some form of subtle, implicit acknowledgement is provided; and "encounter", which is an explicit engagement.