Concepts and Concept Formation: Goffman and Beyond

Thomas J. Scheff

doi:10.18778/1733-8077.2.3.04

Authors

Thomas J. Scheff University of California, Santa Barbara, USA

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18778/1733-8077.2.3.04

Keywords:

Grounded concepts, Goffman, Research methods, Concrete examples, Cognates, Awareness structures, Embarrassment

Abstract

The social and behavioral sciences need distinctive concepts to escape entrapment in cultural assumptions. Currently there are several sources for concepts, but vernacular words are most frequently used. These words are usually ambiguous and may reaffirm the status quo. This essay proposes that a new approach is implied in Goffman’s work. Most of the new terms he invented went undefined. However, he can be seen as struggling in much of his writing to develop two basic components of the “looking-glass self,” awareness structures and embarrassment. His method seems to have involved using many vernacular cognates and close examination of detailed examples of each concept. The implication is that it might be possible to ground concepts by 1. Listing and examining links to vernacular and technical cognates, and 2. Closely exploring many concrete examples. A study of one type of awareness structure, collective denial (Zerubavel 2006), can also be used to illustrate the potential of this method.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biography

Thomas J. Scheff, University of California, Santa Barbara, USA

Thomas Scheff is Professor Emeritus at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is the author of many books and articles, including “Goffman Unbound!: A New Paradigm.” 2006. Boulder, Colorado: Paradigm Publishers. He is currently studying pop love songs, hypermasculinity, and alienation.

References

Blumer, Herbert (1986) Symbolic interactionism: perspective and method. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Google Scholar

Bruner, Jerome (1983) Child’s Talk. New York: Norton.
Google Scholar

Charmaz, Kathy (2006) Constructing Grounded Theory. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Google Scholar

Clark, Herbert H. and Catherine Marshall R. (1981) “Definite reference and mutual knowledge.” Pp. 10-63 in Elements of Discourse Understanding, edited by A. Josh, B. Webber, I. Sag. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Google Scholar

Clark, Herbert H. and Susan Brennan (1996) “Grounding in communication.” Pp. 31-58 in Perspectives on Socially Shared Cognition, edited by L. Resnick, J. Levine and S. Teasley. Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association.
Google Scholar

Cooley, Charles H. (1922) Human Nature and the Social Order. New York: Scribner’s.
Google Scholar

Elias, Norbert (1984) The Loneliness of the Dying. Oxford: Blackwell.
Google Scholar

Giddens, A. (1984) The Constitution of Society. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Google Scholar

Glaser, Barney and Anselm Strauss (1965) Awareness of Dying. Chicago: Aldine.
Google Scholar

Glaser, Barney and Anselm Strauss (1967) The Discovery of Grounded Theory. Chicago: Aldine.
Google Scholar

Goffman, Erving (1959) Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. New York: Anchor.
Google Scholar

Goffman, Erving (1967) Interaction Ritual. New York: Anchor.
Google Scholar

Goffman, Erving (1969) Strategic Interaction. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
Google Scholar

Goffman, Erving (1983) “The Interaction Order.” American Sociological Review 48:1-17.
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/2095141

Lazarus, Richard (1997) Stress and Emotion. London: Free Association Press.
Google Scholar

Lewis, Helen (1971) Shame and Guilt in Neurosis. New York: International Universities Press.
Google Scholar

Malle, Bertram and Sara Hodges (2005) Other Minds: How humans bridge the divide between self and other. New York: London.
Google Scholar

Pascal, Gabriel (1660/1982) Pensees. (Thoughts). Paris: Editions du Cerf.
Google Scholar

Plutchick, Robert (2003) Emotions and Life. Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association.
Google Scholar

Quine, Willard (1978) “A Postscript on Metaphor.” Critical Inquiry 5(1):161-162.
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1086/447978

Retzinger, Suzanne (1991) Violent Emotions: Shame and Rage in Marital Quarrels. Newbury Park: Sage Publications.
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.4135/9781483325927

Retzinger, Suzanne (1995) “Identifying Shame and Anger in Discourse.” American Behavioral Scientist 38(8):541-559.
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0002764295038008006

Scheff, Thomas J. (1994) Bloody Revenge. Boulder: Westview.
Google Scholar

Scheff, Thomas J. (1997) Emotions, the Social Bond, and Human Reality. Cambridge: Cambridge U. Press.
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511549496

Scheff, Thomas J. (2004) “Social and Emotional Components in Self-Esteem.” Journal of the Theory of Social Behavior 34: 73-90 (With David Fearon, Jr.)
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-5914.2004.00235.x

Scheff, Thomas J. (2005) “Looking Glass Self: Goffman as Symbolic Interactionist.” Symbolic Interaction 28(2):147-166.
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1525/si.2005.28.2.147

Scheff, Thomas J. (2006) Goffman Unbound! A New Paradigm in Social Science. Boulder: Paradigm Publishers.
Google Scholar

Scheff, Thomas J. (2006a) “Awareness Structures: Ccnceptualizing Alienation and Solidarity.” Unpublished manuscript.
Google Scholar

Schudson, Michael (1984) “Embarrassment and Erving Goffman’s Idea of Human Nature.” Theory and Society 13(5):633-648.
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00160911

Shaver, Phillip R., Shelley Wu and Judith C. Schwartz (1992) “Cross-cultural similarities and differences in emotion and its representation.” Pp. 175-212 in Emotion. Review of personality and social psychology, No. 13, edited by M. S. Clark. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Google Scholar

Sperber, Dan and Deirdre Wilson (1986) Relevance. Cambridge, MA: Harvard U. Press.
Google Scholar

Stern, Daniel (1977) The First Relationship. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Google Scholar

Strauss, Anselm and Juliet Corbin (1998) Basics of qualitative research: techniques and procedures for developing grounded theory. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.
Google Scholar

Zerubavel, Eviatar (1997) Social Mindscapes: An invitation to cognitive sociology. Cambridge: Harvard.
Google Scholar

Zerubavel, Eviatar (2006) The Elephant in the Room: silence and denial in everyday life. New York: Oxford University Press.
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195187175.001.0001