The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life is a 1956 sociological book by Erving Goffman, in which the author uses the imagery of theatre to portray the importance of human social interaction.

Originally published in Scotland in 1956 and in the United States in 1959,[1] it is Goffman's first and most famous book,[2] for which he received the American Sociological Association's MacIver award in 1961.

Since the metaphor of a theatre is the leading theme of the book, the German and consequently also the Czech translation used a fitting summary as the name of the book We All Play-Act (German: Wir Alle Spielen Theater; Czech: Všichni hrajeme divadlo), apart from the names in other languages that usually translate the title literally.

Similarly, in the Polish language the book is known as Człowiek w teatrze życia codziennego (The Human in the Theatre of Everyday Life).

1800s: Martineau · Tocqueville · Marx · Spencer · Le Bon · Ward · Pareto · Tönnies · Veblen · Simmel · Durkheim · Addams · Mead · Weber · Du Bois · Mannheim · Elias A major theme that Goffman treats throughout the work is the fundamental importance of having an agreed upon definition of the situation in a given interaction, which serves to give the interaction coherency.

Goffman acknowledges that when the accepted definition of the situation has been discredited, some or all of the actors may pretend that nothing has changed, provided that they find this strategy profitable to themselves or wish to keep the peace.

Goffman avers that this type of artificial, willed credulity happens on every level of social organization, from top to bottom.