Idleness and Goffman
In his The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life (1956) American sociologist Erving Goffman approaches social life as a theatre play. Goffman’s theory develops around various forms of impression management people use to present a desired image of themselves to others.
The front stage is where people perform roles to conform to social norms. The backstage refers to private settings where individuals are not in the presence of an audience, allowing them to relax and drop their performance. Each person in everyday social intercourse presents himself and his activity to others, attempts to guide and control the impressions they form of him, and employs certain techniques in order to sustain his performance, just as an actor presents a character to an audience.
Idleness in public (urban) spaces often takes place in the backstage. People withdraw – mentally and sometimes partly physically – from public space. Assuming they don’t draw any attention from others and being oneself, imagining to be private in public. Without being distracted from phones, the idle person can truly be present at the time and place. In solitude and isolation.
This project is a visual ethnographic take on Goffman’s theory, illustrating the authentic self in public space. In the realm of human behaviour in social situations and the way that we appear to others.
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