We do this by when we control our expressions, so that's our facial as well as our gestures. Impression management then refers to the actions we take to influence how others perceive us, and we can do this in a variety of ways. So, going out to lunch with co-workers might be really relaxing for one person, might be high anxiety, self-consciousness for another. And what's backstage for one person, might be front stage for others. If a person's alone, they are most likely backstage in terms of their behavior. I've seen that in the MCAT a lot where they have some sort of question, a lot, maybe three times about somebody being in the back stage and all times, the reference was to somebody being alone. We act more natural, less poised, maybe we're relaxing. Back stages, or back regions are where we let down our guard. So, front stages don't have to be formal and what constitutes the front stage really is just putting in efforts in terms of how we come across. So, for instance you might be at a super casual party, but you're trying to make a really positive impression on somebody, your level of composure is likely to be very high, at least at the beginning of the party. However, a front stage setting does not have to be formal. Although we could say that probably most of the patrons are also acting at some level of formality and poise due to the setting. Front stage regions, this particular photo is looking at fine dining environment, in particular, the staff. So, let's look a little bit at the front stage, back stage in more detail. So, in some settings we are more concerned with how we come across and are more poised. And a key concept in dramaturgy is that there's a distinction between the front stage and back stage settings in which our behavior plays out. And so, that's whether we're at work, in public, at home. And we're giving theatrical performances in every area of life, pretty much all the time. We create atmospheres, we have props, we create drama. So, dramaturgy is basically the idea is people can be thought of as actors on a social stage. So, in particular, when people are talking with one another, what's going on in their head? What are they making sense of? What are they trying to convey? What are their motives? Three concepts we're looking at, dramaturgy, impression management, and face work. He was interested in the momentary aspects of people's daily lives. I'm only gonna go over a couple of them in this lesson. And Erving Goffman was one of these such micro levels symbolic interactionists, extremely famous, known for tons of concepts. If you remember, they tend to be micro level. Not surprisingly, symbolic interaction is sort of the masters of studying social interactions. If we were raised in isolation, we would not have the characteristics that are typically thought of as human social behavior at all. This is the essence of social life, there is no human outside of interaction.

Symbolic interactionists, as their name displays, they argue that interaction is what makes us human.

So, solidarity let's us achieve both simple and complex tasks, and that happens through the division of labor.

And interactions are what build the solidarity. Functionalist would say, well, societies can't function without solidarity. Maybe we're trying to restore some kind of fairness and justice from people who seized our resources. So, a conflict theorist would say, we try to get physical needs met, we form alliances, we defend against others. But what draws us towards each other? There are different ways of thinking about this based on which theory you're looking through. Okay so, this question as to, how do humans interact? I mean, on some level, of course, we have to interact to survive. Let's just take a little break to apply some theory. And thinking about this, so 8C, right, is social interactions as a whole. And so, we're looking at that along with impression management, and we are here in 8C of the master outline. One of the more entertaining and definitely relatable concepts to memorize in sociology is dramaturgy.

Impression management sociology