The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life Erving Goffman

Definition of the situation

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. In interactions or performances the involved parties may be audience members and performers simultaneously; the actors usually foster impressions that reflect well upon themselves and encourage the others, by various means, to accept their preferred definition. 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. For example, when a person attending a formal dinner—and who is certainly striving to present himself or herself positively—trips, nearby party-goers may pretend not to have seen the fumble; they assist the person in maintaining face. Goffman avers that this type of artificial, willed credulity happens on every level of social organization, from top to bottom.

Self-presentation theory

The book proposes a theory of self that has become known as self-presentation theory, which suggests that people have the desire to control the impressions that other people form about them.

The concept is still used by researchers in social media today, including Kaplan and Haenlein's Users of the World Unite (2010), Russell W. Belk's "Extended Self in a Digital World" (2013), and Nell Haynes' Social Media in Northern Chile: Posting the Extraordinarily Ordinary (2016).