Focused Interaction in Behavior in Public Places (1963) Free Essay Example, 1250 words

Focussed Interaction in Behavior in Public Place(1963) Introduction Erving Goffman (June 11, 1992 – Nov 19,1982) was the important sociologist and intellectual in the twentieth century. Born in Canada, Goffman developed his intellectual interest in the humanities and social sciences. Goffman was influenced by George Herbert, Herbert Blumer and Mead as well in his sociological studies. He was selected as the73rd president of American Sociological Association and in 2007 Goffman was termed as the 6th most – referred intellectual in the humanities and social sciences. Focussed Interaction Goffmans greatest contribution to social theory is symbolic interaction. The main emphasis of his work was society acting on different settings and contexts. The main focus of his work was the everyday behavior and interaction of people. If life is theater, people have to perform in different settings. Fact to face interaction happens in gathering on any occasion where two or more people present. Goffman preferred that face to face interaction should be regarded as a separate branch of sociology and called this study as the interaction order. The study was designed to understand every occasion of face to face interaction which covers a wide gamut of places like restaurants gatherings on special occasion and public places and private parties etc. We will write a custom essay sample on Focused Interaction in Behavior in Public Places (1963) or any topic specifically for you Only $17.96 $11.86/pageorder now For all practical purposes, face to face interaction requires gathering or any occasion where people are co- present with one another. And whenever people are co-present they act as a source of information for one another. For all the co-presence there are distinctive types of communication patterns. These communication patterns or informations are focussed when all the attention converges on one point or become unfocussed when it is not. Focussed interaction happens when people mutually engage in communication required for the activity. Participants in focused interactions usually engage in interchange which requires some system requirements and ‘ritual requirements. Territories of the Self In Relations in Public Micro studies of the Public Order. (Goffman E 1971 Basic Books New York). Goffman explains how people use their territories while behaving in public spaces and places. The term territory denotes the places and spaces or objects possessed or occupied by a group of persons or individuals. According to Goffman these territories are delineated by markers referred as central markers, boundary markers and ear markers.