Enacted others: specifying Goffman's phenomenological omissions and sociological accomplishments

Smith, GWH ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9496-434X 2005, 'Enacted others: specifying Goffman's phenomenological omissions and sociological accomplishments' , Human Studies, 28 (4) , pp. 397-415.

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Abstract

Erving Goffman's distinctive contribution to an understanding of others was grounded in his information control and ritual models of the interaction process. This contribution centered on the forms of the interaction order rather than self-other relations as traditionally conceived in phenomenology. Goffman came to phenomenology as a sympathetic but critical outsider who sought resources for the sociological mining of the interaction order. His engagement with phenomenological thinkers (principally Gustav Ichheiser, Jean-Paul Sartre and Alfred Schutz) has to be understood in these terms. The article traces basic differences in analytical focus through a range of phenomenological critiques of Goffman and a comparison of salient aspects of Schutz's and Goffman's writings. While the contrasts have perhaps been overplayed, I conclude that Goffman's thinking about others probably owed more to his pragmatist roots than to his later encounters with phenomenology.

Item Type:	Article
Themes:	Subjects outside of the University Themes
Schools:	Schools > School of Health and Society > Centre for Applied Research in Health, Welfare and Policy
Journal or Publication Title:	Human Studies
Publisher:	Springer
Refereed:	Yes
ISSN:	01638548
Depositing User:	H Kenna
Date Deposited:	03 Feb 2009 15:40
Last Modified:	20 Dec 2018 00:25
URI:	http://usir.salford.ac.uk/id/eprint/1481

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