1800s: Martineau · Tocqueville · Marx · Spencer · Le Bon · Ward · Pareto · Tönnies · Veblen · Simmel · Durkheim · Addams · Mead · Weber · Du Bois · Mannheim · Elias Dramaturgy is a sociological perspective that analyzes micro-sociological accounts of everyday social interactions through the analogy of performativity and theatrical dramaturgy, dividing such interactions between "actors", "audience" members, and various "front" and "back" stages.
The term was first adapted into sociology from the theatre by Erving Goffman, who developed most of the related terminology and ideas in his 1956 book, The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life.
Kenneth Burke, whom Goffman would later acknowledge as an influence,[1] had earlier presented his notions of dramatism in 1945, which in turn derives from Shakespeare.
If people imagine themselves as directors observing what goes on in the theatre of everyday life, they are doing what Goffman called dramaturgical analysis, the study of social interaction in terms of theatrical performance.
[2]: 133 In dramaturgical sociology, it is argued that the elements of human interactions are dependent upon time, place, and audience.
[3] Goffman forms a theatrical metaphor in defining the method in which one human being presents itself to another based on cultural values, norms, and beliefs.
The theatrical metaphor can be seen in the origins of the word person, which comes from the Latin persona, meaning 'a mask worn by actors'.
Because of this dependence on consensus to define social situations, the perspective argues that there is no concrete meaning to any interaction that could not be redefined.
[2] This analysis offers a look at the concepts of status, which is like a part in a play; and role, which serves as a script, supplying dialogue and action for the characters.
[2] Just as on the stage, people in their everyday lives manage settings, clothing, words, and nonverbal actions to give a particular impression to others.
Goffman described each individual's "performance" as the presentation of self; a person's efforts to create specific impressions in the minds of others.
Front, then, is the expressive equipment of a standard kind intentionally or unwittingly employed by the individual during his performance.
[14] It is a part of the dramaturgical performance that is consistent and contains generalized ways to explain the situation or role the actor is playing to the audience that observes it.
The off-stage is where individual actors meet the audience members independently of the team performance on the front stage.
[22] The border phenomenon is highlighted by Victor Turner's concept of liminality, and thus prolonged in the imaginable field: semiotics of ritual.
Thus the study of liminality in sociology, ritual and theatre reveals the fictional elements underpinning society.
[10] These roles can be divided into three groups:[10] Performers may communicate out of character on purpose, in order to signal to others on their team, or by accident.
Hunt argued that "social movements can be described as dramas in which protagonists and antagonists compete to affect audiences' interpretations of power relations in a variety of domains.
They speak differently when going out to the break room: they may complain, mimic and discuss with their fellow peers how irritating and rude the customer is.
Dramaturgy has also been applied to the emerging interdisciplinary domain of scholarly research known as technoself studies, which deals with human identity in a technological society.
Social media users create profiles and post things that are specifically curated to portray a certain image that they want their followers to see.