COM 170 Communication Environments

Assignment 5  -- Erving Goffman, Chapter 1 (up to p. 16-30)

1.  Goffman's book is about the roles people play in life.  He recognizes that we play many different roles.  List four roles you play (roles in which you can think of yourself as a "different" person.)

Goffman thinks it's important to examine the "belief in the role you are playing."  Sometimes people move from contrivance to reality.  That is, they start out "acting," and end up becoming the role for "real."  Sometimes people move from reality to contrivance.  In this case they start out believing in the role and then move away from it, so that they are "just acting." 

2.  Write an example of a person moving from contrivance to reality.

3.  Write an example of a person moving from reality to contrivance.

4.  When you come to class, what aspect of the front or setting are "fixed?"

5.  What aspects are "mobile?"

6.  Sometimes appearance (image) and manner (behavior) don't match.  Describe an example of a person you have met in which this was the case.  What elements were inconsistent?