Behavior in Its Place – Friday

Reading Summary:

The reading discusses how you can discuss an event with different audiences and highlight different things based on your audience. One’s constant behavior is their behavior across situations. Sociologist Erving Goffman describes social life a as a drama where we perform different roles in different social arenas, depending on the nature of the situation, our particular role in it, and the makeup of the audience. We learn social cues, so we act differently based on what is considered is appropriate. McLuhan attributed changes in social behavior in the late 60s to the widespread use of electronic media. Goffman says that the factor that molds behavior is the “definition of the situation” as it is shaped by settings and audiences, but he ignores the changes in roles and the social order. The combination of many different audiences is rare in face-to-face situations, and even when it occurs, they are often more private. Because of electronic media, people find themselves in contact with others in new ways. Additionally, it discusses how there are some parts of our lives that we might want to remain private. For example, we usually don’t see our bosses get yelled at by their boss or politicians drinking – we have some barriers in our life. Electronic media has encroached on the privacy of our lives, even if it is not that extreme, it has made the interactions in our life more public to the world. In the US, there has also been a changing relationship of people and space – people are no longer associated with a singular space. TV has helped to foster the rise of several minorities – showing them doing things and being in places that they were not typically shown in.

Example:

When I was reading this, I thought of how my mom used to always tell me to be careful about what I posted on Instagram and that I wouldn’t get into college if I posted anything bad. You have to find a picture and a caption that you would be okay presenting to everyone in your life – your friends, your family, and colleges/job recruiters. I think that this is one of the reasons that social media seems so fake – you can only post things that make you look good to everyone in your life, so you are less likely to be authentic to yourself. Before, it was easier to act differently with different people, but now, information that you share is more public with everyone. For example, now everyone can see who your friends are on social media and who you post pictures with, whereas before, those things might have been more private.

Reading Connection:

This example relates to the reading, because the reading discusses how we present different versions of ourselves to different people. Social media makes this harder to do, because our lives become more public to everyone. Social media has broken down the “walls” that were previously used to distance our different friend groups, work friends, family, etc. In other words, before, it was easier to act differently with different people, but now, information that you share is more public with everyone and it is harder to keep our different “lives” separate.