“The Impact of Electronic Media on Social Behavior”

Summary: The article starts with the example of the author telling his travel experience to his many audiences to highlight the idea of playing roles and why our behavior changes from situation to situation. He then talks about the ideology of Goffman, on how social life plays out like a drama. It then shows the limitations of this by saying “dynamism is mostly in the projection of figures against a static ground” and how it did not correspond to his time with all the changing performances. Next it talks about McLuhan and how he predicted the behavioral changes because of changes in media. The author combines the two ideas to show how media of communication sets the stage for appropriate behavior and the transition to mixed company under one audience. His next claim is about the overlapping of social spheres, causing the “blurring of formerly distinct social roles”. In the next section of the article, he talks about American’s changes of ‘sense of place’. He explains that this is due to the “restructuring of relationships between physical place and social place”. He shows this idea by showing how TV breaks down the distinction between the two places and pull us into it. It is a point of information for all audiences and does so by merging distinct communities. This no longer “mysterious knowledge” of a group not only educate us but changes social reality.

Outside Example: When reading about the idea of social life as a drama and how some aspects are kept backstage and onstage, it made me think about the LGBTQ community. During my teenage years, it was a very big issue concerning rights and as the years have gone on people are more willing to put that part of their life “onstage”. Just recently are these members being represented in the media and it is a big part of changing those social roles.  

Reading Connection: In the article it says, “some behaviors that were once kept in the “backstage” of each performance would, of necessity, emerge into the enlarged “onstage” area”. The phrase “coming out of the closet” is a synonym of this social reality coming to the onstage. In the past, identifying your sexuality or gender would’ve not been appropriate or even known in some cases. In the same paragraph it says, “Certain behavior patterns that never existed before, therefore, would come into being”. The representation of the LGBTQ community has brought information to all audiences and is now a normal social role because it was talked about enough and represented through media.