Podcasts about Erving Goffman

You know all the advice about ignoring your inner critic, avoiding comparisons, and giving yourself credit for your achievements. But you can't shake the sense that the real you is something shameful, something you need to keep hidden at all costs, and that those people who say nice things about you would be horrified if they knew what you were really like. Friend, you've got Real You all wrong. The fact that there are parts of you that you'd hate to share with others doesn't make you wrong, or an impostor, or shameful. According to the sociologist Erving Goffman, you're completely normal. Your Imperfectionist Godmother is here to help you make friends with your secret self - and to see that everyone else has one too.Reference:Goffman, Erving. 1956: The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life (University of Edinburgh Social Sciences Research Centre).

We have long lacked a biography of Erving Goffman. Partly this can be explained by Goffman's direction for his papers not to be opened to researchers after his death. This meant those who may wish to write Goffman's biography had a lack of material to draw upon. Dmirti Shalin, author of Erving Manuel Goffman: Biographical Sources of Sociological Imagination (2025, Routledge), has overcome this by developing the Erving Goffman Archives, a collection of correspondence, family histories, syllabi and reminisces which allows for this book to exist as the first true biography of the great scholar. In providing the details of Goffman's life, Shalin has provided new ways of looking at Goffman, showing how factors like his upbringing in a family of Russian Jewish immigrants, his relationship with, and the sad suicide of, his wife, his interactions with colleagues and his everyday interactions shaped his sociology. Along the way we are encouraged to look anew at Goffman's work on topics such as the presentation of self, mental health, gambling and gender. In doing so, we learn much about Goffman not just as a scholar, but as a man. In our conversation we cover the whole of Goffman's life, moving from his youth and onto the significant points in his career and their impact upon his sociology. We also discuss the archive and how it came to be and discuss what Goffman's legacy maybe for the future of democratic politics. Your host, Matt Dawson is Professor of Sociology at the University of Glasgow and the author of G.D.H. Cole and British Sociology: A Study in Semi-Alienation (2024, Palgrave Macmillan), along with other texts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/anthropology

We have long lacked a biography of Erving Goffman. Partly this can be explained by Goffman's direction for his papers not to be opened to researchers after his death. This meant those who may wish to write Goffman's biography had a lack of material to draw upon. Dmirti Shalin, author of Erving Manuel Goffman: Biographical Sources of Sociological Imagination (2025, Routledge), has overcome this by developing the Erving Goffman Archives, a collection of correspondence, family histories, syllabi and reminisces which allows for this book to exist as the first true biography of the great scholar. In providing the details of Goffman's life, Shalin has provided new ways of looking at Goffman, showing how factors like his upbringing in a family of Russian Jewish immigrants, his relationship with, and the sad suicide of, his wife, his interactions with colleagues and his everyday interactions shaped his sociology. Along the way we are encouraged to look anew at Goffman's work on topics such as the presentation of self, mental health, gambling and gender. In doing so, we learn much about Goffman not just as a scholar, but as a man. In our conversation we cover the whole of Goffman's life, moving from his youth and onto the significant points in his career and their impact upon his sociology. We also discuss the archive and how it came to be and discuss what Goffman's legacy maybe for the future of democratic politics. Your host, Matt Dawson is Professor of Sociology at the University of Glasgow and the author of G.D.H. Cole and British Sociology: A Study in Semi-Alienation (2024, Palgrave Macmillan), along with other texts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

We have long lacked a biography of Erving Goffman. Partly this can be explained by Goffman's direction for his papers not to be opened to researchers after his death. This meant those who may wish to write Goffman's biography had a lack of material to draw upon. Dmirti Shalin, author of Erving Manuel Goffman: Biographical Sources of Sociological Imagination (2025, Routledge), has overcome this by developing the Erving Goffman Archives, a collection of correspondence, family histories, syllabi and reminisces which allows for this book to exist as the first true biography of the great scholar. In providing the details of Goffman's life, Shalin has provided new ways of looking at Goffman, showing how factors like his upbringing in a family of Russian Jewish immigrants, his relationship with, and the sad suicide of, his wife, his interactions with colleagues and his everyday interactions shaped his sociology. Along the way we are encouraged to look anew at Goffman's work on topics such as the presentation of self, mental health, gambling and gender. In doing so, we learn much about Goffman not just as a scholar, but as a man. In our conversation we cover the whole of Goffman's life, moving from his youth and onto the significant points in his career and their impact upon his sociology. We also discuss the archive and how it came to be and discuss what Goffman's legacy maybe for the future of democratic politics. Your host, Matt Dawson is Professor of Sociology at the University of Glasgow and the author of G.D.H. Cole and British Sociology: A Study in Semi-Alienation (2024, Palgrave Macmillan), along with other texts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/biography

We have long lacked a biography of Erving Goffman. Partly this can be explained by Goffman's direction for his papers not to be opened to researchers after his death. This meant those who may wish to write Goffman's biography had a lack of material to draw upon. Dmirti Shalin, author of Erving Manuel Goffman: Biographical Sources of Sociological Imagination (2025, Routledge), has overcome this by developing the Erving Goffman Archives, a collection of correspondence, family histories, syllabi and reminisces which allows for this book to exist as the first true biography of the great scholar. In providing the details of Goffman's life, Shalin has provided new ways of looking at Goffman, showing how factors like his upbringing in a family of Russian Jewish immigrants, his relationship with, and the sad suicide of, his wife, his interactions with colleagues and his everyday interactions shaped his sociology. Along the way we are encouraged to look anew at Goffman's work on topics such as the presentation of self, mental health, gambling and gender. In doing so, we learn much about Goffman not just as a scholar, but as a man. In our conversation we cover the whole of Goffman's life, moving from his youth and onto the significant points in his career and their impact upon his sociology. We also discuss the archive and how it came to be and discuss what Goffman's legacy maybe for the future of democratic politics. Your host, Matt Dawson is Professor of Sociology at the University of Glasgow and the author of G.D.H. Cole and British Sociology: A Study in Semi-Alienation (2024, Palgrave Macmillan), along with other texts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/sociology

Why are women punished for being honest about motherhood?When Chappell Roan said her friends with kids are “in hell,” the backlash wasn't about the words but about breaking the performance. In this episode of Scenic Route, sociologist and coach Jennifer Walter unpacks the emotional labour, mental load, and societal expectations that define modern motherhood.Why do we praise men like Seth Rogen for opting out of parenthood while vilifying women who name the cost of caregiving? Why do tradwife aesthetics trend while actual support for mothers disappears?This episode explores:The mental load and invisible labour that mothers carryWhy motherhood is a performance, not just an experienceThe backlash against Chappell Roan and what it revealsAdrienne Rich on motherhood as institution vs. experienceErving Goffman's theory of social roles and the "good mother" maskThe rise of the trad wife movement and its political implicationsWhy unpaid care work is central to the global economy—and still invisibleThe cost of honesty in a culture built on maternal silence

Erving Goffman has always seen as somewhat of an enigma by sociologists and historians of the discipline. In his provocative new book Erving Goffman and the Cold War (2023, Lexington) Gary Jaworski suggests a ‘marginal man' trope has grown up around him, whereby Goffman is seen as an outsider, unconnected to broader debates in sociology and to the events happening around him as he wrote. Seeking to overcome this trope, Jaworski presents him instead as a sociologist ‘in, and of' the cold war. This involves looking anew at Goffman's work, moving away from the more frequently used concepts and looking at less studied metaphors in his work such as loyalty, provocation and secrecy. Here we see how Goffman was a perceptive sociologist of cold war America and, in so doing, can explore his connections to cold warriors, on both sides of the divide. In our conversation we explore the ways in which looking at Goffman's work via the cold war allows us to understand some of the underappreciated greatness of his work. Topics discussed include why lesser known texts such as Strategic Interaction and Where the Action Is are so important, the role that spies play in his work and why Goffman was such a fan of post-WWII satire. Your host, Matt Dawson is Professor of Sociology at the University of Glasgow and the author of G.D.H. Cole and British Sociology: A Study in Semi-Alienation (2024, Palgrave Macmillan), along with other texts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/sociology

Plongez dans l'univers fascinant d'Erving Goffman, le maître de la microsociologie ! Dans cette vidéo, nous explorons les idées fascinantes du sociologue Erving Goffman et leur lien avec l'univers du jeu de rôle. Vous découvrirez comment ses concepts, comme la "mise en scène de la vie quotidienne", la distinction entre la scène et les coulisses, ou encore la gestion des impressions, trouvent un écho dans les pratiques des rôlistes. Que vous soyez passionné par la sociologie, fan de jeux de rôle, ou simplement curieux, cette vidéo vous invite à voir les interactions sociales sous un nouveau jour, tout en plongeant dans un univers ludique et captivant! Pour rejoindre notre Patreon :   / coupcritique   ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pour suivre Coup Critique : https://linktr.ee/coupcritique  

In today's episode of Specimen the Sociologist, titled "N95," we explore Erving Goffman's dramaturgical theory, which examines how we, as individuals, take on curated roles to navigate the complexities of social interactions. Goffman's insights reveal that much of our behavior is a performance, shaped by societal expectations. By the end of this episode, we hope to inspire you to question the roles you've adopted and remove the "mask" that may be hiding your most authentic self. Artist spotlight | IG: Kylamaeo Want to sow into the vision of this podcast! Donate here.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit andrewsullivan.substack.comChristine is a columnist for Commentary and a co-host of The Commentary Magazine Podcast. She's also a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and a fellow at UVA's Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture. The author of many books, her new one is The Extinction of Experience: Being Human in a Disembodied World.For two clips of our convo — on algorithms killing serendipity, and smartphones killing quiet moments — pop over to our YouTube page.Other topics: the optimism of the early Internet; IRL (In Real Life) experience vs. screen experience; Taylor Swift concerts; the online boon for the physically disabled; Taylor Lorenz and Covid; how IRL improves memory; how emojis improve tone; how screens hinder in-person debate; sociologist Erving Goffman; tourists who never experience a place without an audience; Eric Schmidt's goal of “manufacturing serendipity”; Zuckerberg's “frictionless” world; dating apps; the decline of IRL flirting; the film Cruising; the pornification of sex; Matthew Crawford and toolmaking; driverless cars; delivery robots in LA; auto-checkouts at stores; the loss of handwriting; reading your phone on the toilet; our increased comfort with surveillance; the Stasi culture of Nextdoor; the mass intimacy of blogging; Oakeshott and “the deadliness of doing”; the film Into Great Silence; Christine's time at a monastery in Kentucky; Musk's drive to extend life indefinitely; Jon Haidt and kids' phones; trans ideology as gnosticism; the popularity of podcasts; music pollution in public; the skatepark at Venice Beach; and the necessity of downtime.Browse the Dishcast archive for an episode you might enjoy (the first 102 are free in their entirety — subscribe to get everything else). Coming up: Aaron Zelin on the fall of Assad; Brianna Wu and Kelly Cadigan on trans lives and politics, Mary Matalin on our sick culture, Adam Kirsch on his book On Settler Colonialism, Nick Denton, and John Gray on the state of liberal democracy. Please send any guest recs, dissents, and other comments to dish@andrewsullivan.com.

É possível um webdesigner que nunca tocou numa prancha aprender surfe em apenas quatro semanas e ainda conseguir enganar especialistas em uma competição? Um programa de TV britânico nos faz pensar em trabalho, personalidade e o que é fingir. Este é mais um episódio do Escuta Essa, podcast semanal em que Denis e Danilo trocam histórias de cair o queixo e de explodir os miolos. Todas as quartas-feiras, no seu agregador de podcasts favorito, é a vez de um contar um causo para o outro. Não deixe de enviar os episódios do Escuta Essa para aquela pessoa com quem você também gosta de compartilhar histórias e aproveite para mandar seus comentários e perguntas no Spotify, nas redes sociais, ou no e-mail escutaessa@aded.studio. A gente sempre lê mensagens no final de cada episódio! ... NESTE EPISÓDIO -“Faking it” estreou no Channel 4 do Reino Unido em 2000. É possível assistir a quase todos os 31 episódios no site do canal. -Em um texto para o Telegraph, Kate Lloyd conversou com ex-participantes do programa para saber dos bastidores e o que aconteceu com eles nos anos seguintes. -O programa chegou ao Brasil em 2003 pelo canal GNT. Ele recebeu o nome de “Tudo é Possível”. -Laura-Jane Foley, a garota do coral que tentou virar roqueira, escreveu para a revista Varsity, da Universidade de Cambridge, sobre sua experiência e como ela acha que foi manipulada -A Síndrome de Impostor, originalmente chamada de Fenômeno do Impostor, foi proposta por Pauline Rose Clance e Suzanne Imes em um estudo de 1978 intitulado “The Impostor Phenomenon in High Achieving Women: Dynamics and Therapeutic Intervention”. -O livro “Working”, de Studs Terkel, lançado em 1974, traz depoimentos dos mais diversos trabalhadores americanos sobre suas profissões. A obra se tornou um clássico e inspirou um musical da Broadway. -O conceito de dramaturgia social foi cunhado pelo sociólogo canadense Erving Goffman na obra “A Apresentação do Eu na Vida Cotidiana”, de 1956. ... AD&D STUDIO A AD&D produz podcasts e vídeos que divertem e respeitam sua inteligência! Acompanhe todos os episódios em aded.studio para não perder nenhuma novidade.

"COCONUT TRIAL" LIVE REACTION W/NELS ABBEY + SCHOOLS ARE COPYING PRISONS - S2 EP12 ➡️Video (filmed by Shezal Laing founder of Sankofa Day) of the Marieha Hussain "Coconut Trial" Reaction w/Nels Abbey + Kehinde: https://www.instagram.com/p/C_3UwFsIdh3/ In this week's Black World News Kehinde Andrew has been looking at secondary schools for his son, Kadiri, which reminded him of how the schools are just prisons. He explains why some not all inner city secondary schools, with mostly Black and Brown kids, are just prisons designed to police mostly Black and Brown children. But the problem is the schools, not the kids because these schools are not a welcoming environment, the schools are not resolving things effectively and the schools not building relationships between children. Schools are historically designed like prisons and are designed by designers of prisons. To support this, Kehinde brings in and breaks down the concept of Total Institution popularised by White man sociologist, Erving Goffman. It's important to overstand that schooling is not education, we can't rely on the schools to provide the education that Black children need. We also need community education so we are going to create a resource bank to offer an alternative curriculum for Saturday School and Black Education, please send in your resource links to mip@blackunity.org.uk and we'll create a Black education resource bank. Kehinde will talk more about schooling stuff in next week's podcast episode when he chops it up with Busayo Twins ("sharer of intrusive political thoughts").  -In this week's official guest interview, Kehinde and Nels Abbey (his second appearance on the pod) share their immediate reactions to Marieha Hussein's "Coconut Trial" verdict and circus (recorded during an IG live straight after the trial). We've also got Kehinde's audio from his speech at the protest during the two-day trial.  - Nels Abbey is a British-Nigerian writer, media executive, and satirist. Before this, he worked as a banker. His debut book, “Think Like a White Man” was published in 2019. It contains satire of modern racial discourse and politics in the corporate world. It lays bare the rules by which mediocre White men get ahead. Nel's writings can be found in several major newspapers and magazines. His latest book, “Hip Hop MBA: what the Empires, moguls and Business of rap can teach the World” is out now. Nels is one of the co-founders of @blackwritersguild and a fellow of the Royal Society for the Arts. In addition to all of the above, @nelsabbey is a social and political commentator and can be seen contributing to debates on several major TV channels. - BLACK WORLD NEWS LINKS ‘Emoji trial': Black man acquitted of hate crime charges over use of raccoon emoji in politician rowhttps://independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/black-man-hate-crime-raccoon-emoji-b2508680.html Total institutionhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Total_institution “This is an attack on our community”: Kehinde Andrews blasts police probe over ‘House Negro commentshttps://www.voice-online.co.uk/news/uk-news/2024/09/18/this-is-an-attack-on-our-community-kehinde-andrews-blasts-police-probe-over-house-negro-comments/ In last week's podcast episode, Kehinde gives an explainer about Britain's history of policing Black political thoughthttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=taE6h5olFYQ Will P. Diddy Become the New Jeffrey Epstein and Blow the Lid Off Black Hollywood?! https://www.theroot.com/will-p-diddy-become-the-new-jeffrey-epstein-and-blow-t-1851650011 The education of the Black child in Britain: The myth of multiracial education https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4444310-the-education-of-the-black-child-in-britain - COCONUT TRIAL + GUEST SHOW LINKS (IG) @nelsabbey (T) @nelsabbey Prof. Kehinde Andrews, full speech outside Westminster Magistrates during the trial of Marieha Hussain https://x.com/actualinterview/status/1834659976695931340?s=48 Police asked Black Studies professor for help on ‘coconuts' case before his own ‘house n*gro' investigation by Nadine White https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/kehinde-andrews-coconuts-calvin-robinson-b2612298.html Think Like a White Man by Boulé Whytelaw III and Nels Abbey (2019) https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42005594-think-like-a-white-man The Hip-Hop MBA: Lessons in Cut-Throat Capitalism from Rap's Moguls by Nels Abbey (2024) https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/199630775-the-hip-hop-mba - THE HARAMBEE ORGANISATION OF BLACK UNITY NEEDS YOU Harambee Organisation of Black Unity (Marcus Garvey Centre + Nicole Andrews Community Library, Birmingham, UK)https://www.blackunity.org.uk/ CAP25 - Convention of Afrikan People - Gambia - May 17-19, 2025 (Everyone's Welcome) On Malcolm X's 100th birthday, the Harambee Organisation of Black Unity is bringing together those in Afrika and the Diaspora who want to fulfill Malcolm's legacy and build a global organization for Black people. This is an open invitation to anyone.https://make-it-plain.org/convention-of-afrikan-people/ BUF - Black United Front Global directory of Black organizations. This will be hosted completely free of charge so if you run a Black organization please email the name, address, website, and contact info to mip@blackunity.org.uk to be listed. - SOCIALS Guests: (IG) @nelsabbey (T) @nelsabbey Host: (IG) @kehindeandrews  (X) @kehinde_andrews  Podcast team: @makeitplainorg @weylandmck @inhisownterms @farafinmuso Platform: www.make-it-plain.org (Blog) www.youtube.com/@MakeItPlain1964 (YT) - For any help with your audio visit: https://weylandmck.com/ - Make it Plain is the Editorial Wing of the Harambee Organisation of Black Unity

You Need to Find Your Authenticity to Find Purpose The famous sociologist Erving Goffman in his dramaturgical theory suggested that we are all actors on a stage, and we wear masks so people will perceive us the way we want them to perceive us. In today's world and the party that is social media we see more masks as people present themselves behind screens where we often will not see the truth of who they are. And if we cannot be true to who we are, that is, be authentic, then how can we truly live our purpose? The answer is we cannot. So many of us do not live a life with purpose, much less on purpose. We simply go through life as if it is purposely living from one vacation to the next. Isn't it time we lived a life of purpose on purpose? To help us understand how we might do that, we bring in best-selling author Randy Adkins Jr. on this episode of A New Direction. JOIN US Right HERE...and start living your life on purpose. Randy Adkins book, "Produce on Purpose: Experience Life Being the Real You" is a spiritual and deep look at how your authenticity leads to your purpose. At the end of each chapter Randy asks some deeper questions to help you along the journey to discover who you really are and what you are created to do. The big AHA moment is when you realize that you will have a difficulty discovering your purpose if you do not live authentically from your true self. The book uses the analogy of going to a masquerade party where we all where masks and Randy helps us to remove them and set us on the path. Like so many people in today's society we are not comfortable in our own skin.  And thanks to the like of social media, we feel pressure to be someone else than we truly are. Once we live authentically, then pursuing purpose becomes easier, as we are able to look at our God give natural talents, gifts, and abilities that lead to what our mission is and live it intentionally. Truly an inspiring book, and one that truly begs the questions, "what is life really about and what is my place in it"? Randy is offering 25% off his book and a signed copy of Produce on Purpose for anyone who puts in the code NEWDIRECTION at check out.  So get yours today!  Click Here Please say thank you to our sponsors!  It is there financial support that allows A New Direction to continue growing and getting great authors. Epic Physical Therapy these are the physical therapists that work with everyone from professional athletes to everyday people like you and me are just looking to recover from surgery or move a little better. They have the latest equipment and certified staff to provide you with the customized treatment plan so that you can do the things you really want to do. When you are looking for EPIC Relief, EPIC Recovery and EPIC Results head on over to EPIC PT  www.EPICpt.com Linda Craft Team, Realtors for more than 39 years the choice of people all over the world. They are not only experts in residential real estate, they understand that your home is more is a place where you created some of your fondest memories. When you want a real estate professional who not only will get you the best price, but will care about your home like you would care about your home start with the Legends of Customer Service start with Linda Craft & Team.  www.LindaCraft.com Hey…do me a favor and please tell your friends to subscribe to A New Direction on their favorite podcast platform and give us a 5 star rating we are so grateful when you do! Coach Jay here!  Thanks for listening to and reading about this episode of A New Direction. Maybe your wondering, “Why should I hire you as a coach”.  Well here are some things others have said about me as their coach. I address a variety of problems for both individuals and companies. Here are some of the key areas where he provides solutions: For Individuals: Personal Development: Motivation and Inspiration: Helps individuals f...

Brendon Clark is an American-Danish improvisor playing regularly on the Stockholm scene. He currently plays in DuoDuo and a new project iHINT. His seven years of improv began through International Theater Stockholm's expat community, playing in the IT'S house team Gaslit and later The Mighty Improv, as well as the Swedish group Måndagsbarn. Brendon also explores performance and improvisation in his work as a teacher and researcher in design. Me and Brendon are talking about design thinking and emerging opportunities, Erving Goffman and how everyday life can be seen as a stage. We are talking about to discover rather than invent, that ideas often are a reaction to the dominant and that you learn the way you are taught. We are also talking about improv at the university, how Brendon would have structured hos own improv school and that it is in the between that things happens.

En kvinna som begår brott är dubbelt avvikande. Maria Andersson Vogel funderar över vägen som lett till fängelset, och hur en person påverkas av att sitta inspärrad på en anstalt. Lyssna på alla avsnitt i Sveriges Radio Play. ESSÄ: Detta är en text där skribenten reflekterar över ett ämne eller ett verk. Åsikter som uttrycks är skribentens egna.Vad gör det med en människa att sitta i fängelse? När domen faller är den första reaktionen ofta rädsla och bestörtning. Att sedan möta fängelsemiljön är förknippat med oro – vilka är de andra man nu tvingas dela sitt liv med? Men man vänjer sig, som Kjell Höglund sjöng.Så berättar de intagna som dokumentärförfattaren Annica Carlsson Bergdahl samtalar med i ”Jag är en människa”, en intervjubok om vägen till fängelset. De intervjuade beskriver hur man saknar sin frihet, men också de enklaste saker som annars tas för givet. Som sitt favoritgodis eller ett bättre schampo.Att låsa in personer som bryter mot lagen, att som vedergällning placera dem bakom murar och stängsel, har förekommit genom hela mänsklighetens historia, men det moderna fängelset sägs ofta ha vuxit fram ur upplysningen. I takt med de medicinska vetenskapernas framväxt började de tidigare vanliga kroppsstraffen ifrågasättas. Filosofen Michel Foucault beskriver i sin bok Övervakning och straff hur man alltmer övergick till att rikta in straffåtgärderna mot själen. Och för det, fungerade fängelset utmärkt.Att dömas till fängelse är alltså, för att tala med Foucault, att underkastas en disciplinering av själen. I detta ryms också det som alltjämt är fängelsets motstridiga uppdrag. Att straffa individer och samtidigt rehabilitera dem så de inte begår fler brott.En annan ingång till frågan om vad fängelsetillvaron gör med en människa ger sociologen Erving Goffman med sin teori om totala institutioner. I slutna institutionsmiljöer, menar Goffman, övertrumfar den byråkratiska organiseringen av vardagen de intagnas individuella behov, vilket framkallar särskilda identiteter hos de intagna. Identiteter som inte nödvändigtvis främjar rehabilitering. När en av de intervjuade i Annica Carlsson Bergdahls bok beskriver sitt ”anstaltsjag”, att hon innanför murarna döljer vad hon egentligen tycker och tänker, är det ett typiskt exempel på vad Goffman menar händer med den människa som vistas i en total institution.Ytterligare en fråga att ställa är: vad gör det med en kvinna att sitta i fängelse?Carlsson Bergdahls bok har nämligen undertiteln ”kvinnor i fängelse” och bygger på djupintervjuer med kvinnor som avtjänar eller har avtjänat ett fängelsestraff. I fjorton kapitel får vi ta del av deras livsberättelser. Från barndomen, genom de begångna brotten till fängelsestraffet. Och sedan, hur det är att sitta inlåst, vad som kommer ikapp en och hur man hanterar det. Hur man föreställer sig framtiden. Intagna kvinnor hörs alltför sällan, säger en av kvinnorna som förklaring till varför hon velat bli intervjuad. Brottslingen är fortfarande man, enligt normen, konstaterar hon, och det har hon alldeles rätt i.Kvinnor som begår brottsliga handlingar är på många sätt dubbelt avvikande. Precis som de kriminella männen bryter de mot lagar och normer genom att begå brott, men de bryter också mot normer och idéer om hur en kvinna är och bör vara. Länge ignorerade kriminologin kvinnorna i försöken att förklara vad som får människor att begå brott. När kvinnor efterhand började uppmärksammas förklarade man deras brottslighet med samma teorier som männens. Men stämde förklaringarna?Kriminologen Kathleen Daly var en av pionjärerna i arbetet med att utveckla och nyansera en teoretisk förståelse av varför kvinnor börjar begå brott. Hon identifierade fem ”typiska” vägar in i kriminalitet för kvinnor. En sådan var den där kvinnan under barndomen kastats ut eller rymt hemifrån, ofta på grund av våld och övergrepp, hamnat på gatan och där försörjt sig genom drogförsäljning och prostitution. En annan grupp kvinnor stämplades tidigt som ”problembarn” och fortsatte i vuxen ålder att använda våld. Sedan fanns kvinnor vars brott var direkt relaterat till det våld de utsattes för av en manlig partner. Dessa kvinnor, menade Daly, hade sannolikt aldrig blivit föremål för rättssystemet om de inte levt i en våldsam relation. Ytterligare en grupp var de kvinnor som utvecklade ett kriminellt beteende genom relationer med pojkvänner och familjemedlemmar som använde eller sålde droger. En sista grupp var de som primärt drevs av ekonomiska begär.Det är nu många år sedan Daly genomförde sin studie, men läsaren känner igen alla de kvinnor hon identifierade i de intervjuer som Carlsson Bergdahl gjort. Här finns alkoholiserade fäder och mödrar med blicken bortvänd, här finns missriktade vårdinsatser, skolavhopp, rymningar och våldsamma pojkvänner följda av våldsamma makar. Här finns drogerna, både den egna konsumtionen och försäljningen, här finns det egna våldet, ilskan och rädslan. Allt som till sist leder fram till en fängelsedom. Många forskare har betonat den roll som våldsutsatthet, i synnerhet sexuellt våld, spelar för kvinnors vägar in i kriminalitet. Och de intervjuade kvinnornas livsberättelser är fullständigt marinerade i våld. Kanske är det därför många av dem inte enbart tycks uppleva fängelsetiden som negativ.Visst berättar de återkommande om svårigheterna med att sitta inlåst. Om ångesten, om rädslan, om saknaden efter familjen. Ingen tror heller att strängare straff är någon lösning. Men parallellt med dessa berättelser finns vittnesmål om att tiden i häkte och fängelse är något lärorikt. Många beskriver hur de sökt terapi och behandling, hur de arbetat med, och konfronterat, sig själva och sina handlingar. Att ett fängelsestraff har många negativa effekter har forskningen länge kunnat påvisa, men på individnivå är bilden alltid mer nyanserad – det går, för vissa, att nå insikt, hämta lärdom, förändras.Flera av kvinnorna säger att alla människor borde sitta häktade eller fängslade ett tag. De menar inte att fler behöver straffas, utan att de borde ges möjligheten att konfrontera sig själva och sina gärningar. I dagens kriminalvård tycks förutsättningarna för detta bli allt sämre, det som i själva verket borde vara grundläggande för fängelsernas existensberättigande. Inlåsning och avskiljning från samhället löser kanske frågan om vedergällning, men om fängelset också ska möjliggöra ånger, botfärdighet och rehabilitering krävs, om man får tro de intervjuade kvinnorna, behandlande insatser men också den intagnes egen vilja till självreflektion och förändring.Ett annat sätt att förstå kvinnornas upplevelser är genom det bistra faktum att de i fängelset slipper sina våldsamma män. Trots den omyndigförklaring, integritetskränkning och identitetsförlust de upplever tycks fängelsetillvaron för en del kvinnor innebära positiva saker. Helt enkelt därför att alternativet är värre. Det är en sorglig slutsats om alltför många kvinnors liv, men det är inte desto mindre ett svar på frågan om vad det innebär för en kvinna att sitta i fängelse.Maria Andersson Vogelskribent och doktor i socialt arbeteLitteraturAnnica Carlsson Bergdahl: Jag är en människa: kvinnor i fängelse. Carlsson, 2023.Kathleen Daly: Women's pathways to felony court: Feminist theories of lawbreaking and problems of representation. Southern California Review of Law and Women's studies, 2, 11–52, 1992.Michel Foucault: Övervakning och straff: Fängelsets födelse. Arkiv, 1987.Erving Goffman: Totala institutioner: Fyra essäer om anstaltslivets sociala villkor. Rabén & Sjögren, 1973.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit andrewsullivan.substack.comNate is a statistician and writer focused on American politics and sports, and a longtime friend from the blog days. He was the founder and editor-in-chief of FiveThirtyEight, and now he writes his own substack, Silver Bulletin. He's the author of The Signal and the Noise, and his forthcoming book is On the Edge: How Successful Gamblers and Risk-Takers Think (pre-order here).For two clips of our convo — on the pluralism of gay social networks, why poker is so male — pop over to our YouTube page. Other topics: Nate growing up in the Midwest obsessed with sports and the debate team; the Best Little Boy in the World syndrome; coming out while living abroad; how the LGBT Society in 1999 was apolitical; gays as heterodox thinkers in media; the joys of code-switching; the diversity of sports fans and poker players; the sexism in poker; Maria Konnikova and Maria Ho; how a poker player can benefit from discrimination by defying stereotypes; Erving Goffman and risk-taking; testosterone; Nate grossing $750,000 in poker; the flow state of gambling under extreme pressure; how Gen Z is more risk-averse than older generations; immigrants as risk-takers; the morality of gambling; addiction; people peeing at slot machines; Fauci's noble lie for masks; the Swedish model during Covid; effective altruism; Obama the poker player being cool under pressure vs. Trump's impulsivity; Truman's gambling mindset and Hiroshima; the online poker boom; how Nate doesn't want to be known as the political forecast guy; the misconception of him as a partisan Dem; Will Stancil; how the economic perceptions of the public are usually accurate; Biden's age; his people blaming the media for his problems; the convention option for switching nominees; the White House not boosting Kamala Harris; her flaming out before Iowa in 2020; Claudine Gay's plagiarism; Twitter under Musk; and, yes, Angry Birds!Browse the Dishcast archive for an episode you might enjoy (the first 102 are free in their entirety — subscribe to get everything else). Coming up: Jeffrey Rosen on the Stoics and happiness, Rob Henderson on class and “luxury beliefs,” Christian Wiman on resisting despair as a Christian, George Will on Trump and conservatism, and Abigail Shrier on why the cult of therapy harms children. Please send any guest recs, dissents, and other pod comments to dish@andrewsullivan.com.

Most governments around the world – whether democracies or autocracies – face at least some pressure to respond to citizen concerns on some social problems. But the issues that capture public attention — the ones on which states have incentives to be responsive – aren't always the issues on which bureaucracies, agents of the state, have the ability to solve problems. What do these public agencies do when citizens' demands don't line up with either the supply of state capacity or the incentives of the central state?Our guest, Dr. Iza Ding, an Associate Professor of Political Science at Northwestern University, examines one way in which bureaucrats try to square this circle. In her recent book The Performative State: Public Scrutiny and Environmental Governance in China, Iza argues that state actors who need to respond but lack substantive capacity can instead choose to perform governance for public audiences. Iza explores the puzzling case of China's Environmental Protection Bureau or the EPB, a bureaucratic agency set up to regulate polluting companies. This issue of polluted air became a national crisis during the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics when athletes were struggling to breathe let alone compete. Since then, Chinese citizens have been directing their pollution-related complaints to the EPB, which Iza found, has been given little power by the state to impose fines or shut down polluting factories. But that doesn't mean the civil servants working in this agency do nothing. Instead, Iza documents how and why they routinely deploy symbols, language, and theatrical gestures of good governance to give the appearance of dynamic action – all while leaving many environmental problems utterly unaddressed. We talk with Iza about how she uncovered these performative dynamics through months of ethnographic research in which she was embedded within a Chinese environmental protection agency. She also tells us about how she tested her claims using original media and public opinion data. Finally, we talk about how her findings about performative governance in the environmental space translates to China's COVID-19 response.Works cited in this episode:Beraja, Martin, et al. "AI-Tocracy." The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. 138, No. 3, 2023, pp. 1349-1402.Dimitrov, Martin K. Dictatorship and Information: Authoritarian Regime Resilience in Communist Europe and China. Oxford University Press, 2023.Fukuyama, Francis. State Building: Governance and World Order in the 21st Century. London: Profile Books, 2017.Goffman, Erving. “On Face-Work.” In Interaction Ritual: Essays in Face-to-Face Behav­ior, edited by Erving Goffman, pp. 5–45. Chicago: Aldine Transaction, 1967.Marx, Karl and Friedrich Engels. The Communist Manifesto. Edited by Jeffrey C. Isaac. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2012.Smith, Adam. The Wealth of Nations [Book IV-V]. New York: Penguin Books, 2000.Smith, Adam. The Theory of Moral Sentiments. New York: Penguin 2010.Walder, Andrew G. Communist Neo-Traditionalism: Work and Authority in Chinese Industry.  Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988.Weber, Max. “The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism.” In The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism and Other Writings, edited by Peter Baehr and Gordon C. Wells. New York: Penguin Books, 2002.Weber, Max. “Politics as a Vocation.” In From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology , edited and translated by H. H. Gerth and C. Wright Mills, 77–128. New York: Oxford University Press, 1946.

Of the many invitations for mindful self-improvement that landed in my inbox at the turn of the year, one piqued my interest — a daily sensory incantation from . The instructions are simple: set a timer for five minutes and record, without interruption and preferably with pen and paper, “close, meticulous, external” notes on your immediate surroundings. No interpretations, no personal commentary, no embellishments allowed.Now here's the twist —Once the timer goes off, look over your fragments and find the five that are the most interesting, the most unique, the most jagged, the strangest. Imagine the paper is on fire and you can save only five fragments before it burns. Put a star by those. Now, read them out loud with the words “I am” in front of them (I am the morning light on the carpet, I am footsteps on the porch, I am rain splattering on the window, I am a baby crying).The primary aim of this practice is to translate sensory impressions of the particular onto the page. But it also points to a deeper incantation of ourselves as dynamic, mosaic creatures. It's a nod to the irreducible reality of who we are.Authenticity is a worthwhile study in this strange new world. Consumer research points to a longing for sincere human connection. Skepticism of the public arena is at an all-time high while our private lives have frayed from isolation and siloing, resulting in a degrading mistrust of those we identify as other.We are a culture sick of being sold and challenged to assess what's vital and honest behind everything and everyone we encounter. But what exactly is authenticity? Among researchers, it's a debated concept. Back in 2000, psychologists Michael Kernis and Brian Goldman distilled decades of scholarly work into a roadmap Authenticity Inventory. Their research landed on authenticity as “the unimpeded operation of one's core or true self in one's daily enterprise” as operationalized by four contributing factors: awareness, distortion-free (or unbiased) mental processing, ways of behaving, and relational orientation.  Despite the bumper sticker platitudes of pseudo-spirituality — follow your bliss! Speak your truth! You do you! — an important caveat about “relational orientation” must be made: authenticity is not an unalloyed good. If the goal were for everyone to express absolute congruence between their outer behavior and whatever developmental, psychological, and circumstantial access they might have to their “core or true self” at the current moment — well, God help us. Let's keep our most primal, unfiltered instincts and perspectives to ourselves, thank you very much.In my clinical training as a therapist, I often turned to the research of Brene Brown, who famously explores the emotions that make us human. Brown speaks here about authenticity as radical participation in our felt experience of life.“Authenticity is the daily practice of letting go of who we think we're supposed to be and embracing who we are. Choosing authenticity means cultivating the courage to be imperfect, to set boundaries, and to allow ourselves to be vulnerable; exercising the compassion that comes from knowing that we are all made of strength and struggle; and nurturing the connection and sense of belonging that can only happen when we believe that we are enough. Authenticity demands Wholehearted living and loving—even when it's hard, even when we're wrestling with the shame and fear of not being good enough, and especially when the joy is so intense that we're afraid to let ourselves feel it. Mindfully practicing authenticity during our most soul-searching struggles is how we invite grace, joy, and gratitude into our lives.”― Brené Brown, The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You're Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You AreBrene's words feel germane to the creative frontier on which many of us stand. Perhaps this is because being ourselves is an antidote to the erosive superficiality of our times; sorely, obviously needed, and yet too often relegated only to the safest harbors of our emotional lives. We feel orphaned from a sense of moral and social belonging. Yet authenticity remains among our most formidable teachers, demanding steadfast discipline, the maturation of vulnerability, courage, and forgiveness, and the grace of our mutual wholeheartedness. Many years ago, in the first season of our relationship, in an outstretched moment of indecision on my part, my now-husband, exasperated, exclaimed: “Will you please just say what you want to do?” I was startled by his question, even agitated. After a relatively successful launch into adulthood (I had a real job, after all), the truth was I had no idea what to do with an un-pressured Sunday afternoon and a considerate man asking about my desires. Knowing ourselves, much less being and expressing ourselves, is not our default. It hasn't been since we were very young. To study the origins of our estrangement, we begin with a tender revisit to that young part within us for whom the existence of magic was disproven. We review how our innate experience of wonder was truncated by loss, trauma, or neglect — or simply by the systematic message of our too-muchness. In a gradual and largely subconscious process, we learn to prune the unique signature of ourselves. First, we sense our social context. Then, we compartmentalize and subjugate the parts of ourselves we internalize as undesirable. We become adept at making bids for approval (a process of influencing others' perceptions that sociologist Erving Goffman aptly coined “impression management”). Over time, the Edenic qualities that might otherwise have ushered us into authentic expression dry up on the stalk, and we abandon the luminous wholeness with which we arrived.In other words, we adapt. It seems a matter of survival. A pleased teacher or parent, a nod from a boss, a compliment from a new acquaintance – any small gesture of allegiance can make us feel secure and optimal. Our nervous systems seem to approve of preserving and promoting only those parts that the world deems worthy of praise. Perfectionist values become our unacknowledged norm, subtly affirmed by those who groom us into adulthood.Underground go the needier parts, the messier parts — the brilliant, irreducible parts. “The only antidote to perfectionism is to turn away from every whiff of plastic and gloss and follow our grief, pursue our imperfections, and exaggerate our eccentricities until the things we once sought to hide reveal themselves as our majesty.”― Toko-pa Turner, Belonging: Remembering Ourselves HomeSelf-exile serves us for a while. We become palatable and productive and we reap the benefits. Eventually, though, those long-forgotten, chthonic parts begin to emerge. By some subconscious hand, they are unearthed and delivered like a pile of soiled bones to the back porch in early Spring.[I recently spoke with poet about revelation through a geologic lens.]We begin to test and taste the tin of our words and all we've left unspoken and feel the fatigue of triangulating around our native energies and desires. We realize the irony of shaping ourselves around implicit expectations only to earn enough caché to be ourselves. We recognize the limits of pleasing others as a currency of well-being, suffer the grief of inner scarcity, and feel the shame of chronic self-abandonment — and, ultimately, we feel our hunger for the true and holy gravity of belonging. “…The budstands for all things,even for those things that don't flower,for everything flowers, from within, of self-blessing;though sometimes it is necessaryto reteach a thing its loveliness,to put a hand on its browof the flowerand retell it in words and in touchit is lovelyuntil it flowers again from within, of self-blessing.”― Galway Kinnell, “Saint Francis and the Sow”Sometimes it's necessary to re-teach a thing its loveliness. It took years for my nervous system to relax enough to perceive my instincts for a Sunday afternoon. A slow cup of tea, a hike with my family, a cooking project, listening to Nina Simone while organizing a pantry… It took a gradual incantation of myself to myself and to those who cared enough to keep asking, season after season.Coming home to ourselves is a dedicated practice with the promise of profound alignment and personal agency. Classical yoga philosophy offers svādhyāya (a compound Sanskrit word composed of sva (स्व) "own, one's own, self, the human soul" + adhyāya (अध्याय) "a lesson, lecture, chapter; reading") as the fundamental study of our unmasking. It's a gradual process of yoking back to our most integrated, dynamic whole.“You see, I want a lot.Perhaps I want everythingthe darkness that comes with every infinite falland the shivering blaze of every step up.So many live on and want nothingAnd are raised to the rank of princeBy the slippery ease of their light judgmentsBut what you love to see are facesthat do work and feel thirst.You love most of all those who need youas they need a crowbar or a hoe.You have not grown old, and it is not too lateTo dive into your increasing depthswhere life calmly gives out its own secret.”― Rainer Maria Rilke, Rilke's Book of Hours: Love Poems to GodAuthenticity is an essential kind of remembering. It's the art of coiling our attention inwardly, through layers of anxiety, fear, and shame, to the shelter of our original ownership. To author our way home, to make a song of this being human, first, we get in touch with our want to be ourselves – “to dive into [our] increasing depths.” Then, we commit our oar to the waters of radical self-honesty and become an authority on the subject of rowing against the current of our conditioning. We nurture ourselves courageously through the many mistakes and missteps along the way, making regular visits to the dirt altar of a forgiving heart. “Anyhow, the older I get, the less impressed I become with originality. These days, I'm far more moved by authenticity. Attempts at originality can often feel forced and precious, but authenticity has quiet resonance that never fails to stir me.”― Elizabeth Gilbert, Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond FearAuthenticity has a quiet resonance that never fails. We feel safest with those who are themselves in our company. Those rare friends who “need [us] as they need a crowbar or a hoe,” who reflect to us our worthiness to be beholden, become our particular kin. Gradually, like St. Francis' sow, we relearn the distinct manner of our loveliness. And thus, the life that's here can once again become a refuge of belonging.Today —[I am] freckles sprayed across an aging hand.[I am] the long-bodied breath of a sleeping dog.[I am] the small animal rustling in the arroyo.[I am] steam rising from a mug.[I am] the thick leaves of a fig in a clay pot. Get full access to The Guest House at shawnparell.substack.com/subscribe

The 1959 book The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life by Erving Goffman became a seminal text for several emergent subfields such as impression management and symbolic interactionism, while also greatly influences studies of organizational behavior. But it was also a product of its time, with its many examples and explanations rooted in societal norms or behaviors that have long since changed or dissipated. How well does the original text truly stand up to today's post-pandemic environment?

Guest Bios Show Transcript https://youtu.be/QiNJvzlFadwWhen faced with a scandal, organizations have a choice. They can engage in impression management strategies, designed to obscure the truth, and save their image. Or, they can take the road less traveled. They can humble themselves. They can listen. And they can admit the truth—to themselves and to others.In this edition of The Roys Report, researcher, author, and abuse survivor advocate, Wade Mullen, speaks on how to manage a crisis in a session from the recent Restore Conference. This is a topic Wade knows well. For his doctoral dissertation, Wade studied the responses of 50 evangelical organizations when faced with a crisis. Sadly, what he found is they all do basically the same thing! They engage in impression management and hire spin doctors. They strategically omit key information. They make ambiguous statements, tell half-truths, evade questions—and do whatever it takes to try to control the narrative. What's tragic is that victims then get re-victimized. The public is deceived. And if the group gets away with it, they become emboldened and skilled manipulators. Prior to this week, our plan had been to release Wade's compelling, in-depth talk in February. But, in light of what's happening at the International House of Prayer in Kansas City (IHOPKC), now seemed the right time. IHOPKC is facing allegations that its founder, Mike Bickle, sexually abused multiple women over several decades. And just this weekend, IHOPKC platformed Eric Volz of The David House Agency to manage its crisis. Sometimes, it's hard to put your finger on what's happening in these situations. But some light bulbs will likely go on as you listen to this talk. Guests Wade Mullen Wade Mullen, PhD, is a professor, researcher, and advocate working to help those trapped in the confusion and captivity that mark abusive situations. He is the author of Something's Not Right: Decoding the Hidden Tactics of Abuse and Freeing Yourself from Its Power (Tyndale House). He serves as an institutional response specialist with Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment, a leading nonprofit group. His website is WadeTMullen.com. Show Transcript SPEAKERSJulie Roys, WADE MULLEN Julie Roys  00:00When faced with a scandal, organizations have a choice. They can engage in impression management strategies designed to obscure the truth and save their image. Or they can take the road less traveled. They can humble themselves, they can listen, and they can admit the truth to themselves and to others. Welcome to The Roys Report, a podcast dedicated to reporting the truth and restoring the church. I’m Julie Roys. And what you’re about to hear is a talk from our recent RESTORE conference by researcher, author and advocate, Wade Mullen, on how to manage a crisis. This is a topic Wade knows well. For his doctoral dissertation, Wade studied the responses of 50 evangelical organizations when faced with a crisis. And sadly, what he found is that they all do basically the same thing. They engage in impression management. They strategically omit key information. They make ambiguous statements, tell half-truths, evade questions, and do whatever it takes to control the narrative and control how others think of them. And what’s tragic is that victims get re-victimized, the public is deceived. And if the group gets away with it, they become emboldened and skilled manipulators. I had planned to release Wade’s talk in a couple of months. But in light of what’s happening right now, at the International House of Prayer in Kansas City, or IHOP, I thought now was the right time. If you’re not aware, IHOP is facing allegations that its founder, Mike Bickle, sexually abused multiple women over several decades. And just this weekend, IHOP brought in Eric Volz at the David House Agency to manage its crisis. Sometimes it’s hard to put your finger on what’s happening in these situations. But I think as you listen to Wade’s talk, some light bulbs will go on. And so, I’m very excited to share this talk with you.   Julie Roys  01:53 But first, I’d like to thank the sponsors of this podcast, Judson University, and Marquardt of Barrington if you’re looking for a top ranked Christian University, providing a caring community and an excellent college experience. Judson University is for you. Judson is located on 90 acres just 40 miles west of Chicago in Elgin, Illinois. The school offers more than 60 majors, great leadership opportunities, and strong financial aid. Plus, you can take classes online as well as in person. Judson University is shaping lives that shaped the world. For more information, just go to JUDSONU.EDU. Also, if you’re looking for a quality new or used car, I highly recommend my friends at Marquardt of Barrington. Marquardt is a Buick GMC dealership where you can expect honesty, integrity, and transparency. That’s because the owners there Dan and Curt Marquardt, are men of integrity. To check them out, just go toBUYACAR123.COM. Now, here’s Wade Mullins, speaking at RESTORE 2023 on how to handle a crisis.   WADE MULLEN  03:04 It’s an honor to be here again, and to be a compassionate witness to one another’s stories and to stand in solidarity against abuse. I’m grateful to be here. Throughout college, I worked as a server, a waiter at an upscale restaurant, which, given how accident prone and clumsy I can be, probably wasn’t the best idea. But they hired me. And as a result, I created a number of crises for management to have to respond to. There was the time when I was carrying a tray full of drinks in one hand, which was always a risky kind of circus act for me. And I approached the table in the corner of the restaurant, and a man was sitting at the table with his back towards me. And I approached the table and one of those trays started wobbling, and a glass of cold ice water tipped over. And the way the tray was, it caused the water to go right down the back of his shirt. And to this day, I can picture him going, whew, that’s cold. He didn’t know what happened. So, I had to apologize. Management had to come out and figure out what to do. I believe the man went home to get changed. It was it was bad. Then there was the time I was walking to the dining room with another tray full of dishes and a ramekin just like a small cup of yellow mustard, fell off of the tray and landed on the floor at such an angle that the yellow mustard flung into the air and my eye is going toward what spilling, but I hear a woman say what the? And I look up and she had all that yellow mustard in the back of her hair. And she’s trying to figure out what just happened. But perhaps the worst, and there was many. But perhaps the worst was when I was trying to keep one of those trays full of drinks straight again. You see, I should have learned my lesson, and just avoided that altogether. When I got to the table, and a glass full of coke, dropped off the tray and entirely into a woman’s purse. She gasped. And to this day, I remember her saying, looking in her purse and saying my purse is flooded. So again, I had to apologize, management had to come out, offer to pay what was ruined. comp the meal in all these cases. It wasn’t good.   WADE MULLEN  06:00 A crisis is when the unexpected happens, usually at a speed you can’t keep up with, and results in some kind of undesirable negative impact. And there are often four components of a crisis. The first is an event that’s unexpected, which can make it difficult to prepare for, so nobody brings an extra shirt with them to a restaurant in case the server drops a glass of water on them. Second, there’s a high impact on numerous people, which usually cannot be easily assessed. So, when I spill a drink on someone as a server, there’s the direct impact on the person who got something spilled on them. There’s the impact on those who are trying to share a peaceful meal together. There’s the impact on me the server, perhaps on my trustworthiness as a server. There’s the impact on management and perhaps on the restaurant. Third, there’s a loss of control as events happen too fast to manage. So, there’s initial reactions, which might be shock or confusion. There’s a time in which people are trying to figure out what is happening and how do we respond. So, it can all seem like a blur. And then lastly, fourthly, if not handled well, and I know  many of us have experienced this. When not handled well, the response to the crisis can generate additional losses, additional pain, additional conflict, potential abuses. So, what if after I dropped the Coke into the woman’s purse, I became upset and blamed the woman for having her purse on the table? I did not do that. But had I or if management didn’t offer to pay what was damaged, a wrong response can add insult to injury and create additional crises. And there are different types of crises. So, these are examples of accidents that I’ve provided, but there are crises that are a result of natural disasters or emergencies. There are crises that companies face when technology or product fails like a like a data breach. Then there are crises that are commonly referred to as scandals because they involve typically reports of some kind of leadership failure, misconduct or abuse that undermines public trust. And this is what I want to focus on.   WADE MULLEN  06:02 In 2015, I set out to complete a PhD dissertation on how evangelical organizations use what are called impression management strategies to respond to a crisis. Or to be more precise, a particular type of crisis called an image threatening event. And at this point, I don’t need to convince you that the evangelical landscape is filled with these types of crises. I want to talk about how leadership can respond well in the midst of a crisis of this nature. And I’m going to begin with some common responses to crisis that should be avoided, then give some principles for responding well, and end with an encouragement to engage in healing and restorative work. Every situation is different. Your response to let’s say, a suspected crime, like child abuse, is going to start or should start with a report to authorities who have the responsibility and resources to investigate that. But your response to let’s say, a non-criminal offense, maybe spiritual abuse, is going to be different. So rather than providing guidance for specific scenarios, I’m going to give you principles and tools that I believe can be applied to most any situation. And I’ll start with this observation. And I always hesitate to create two paths, two options, but I think there’s truth to this one, based on my research and experience. When there’s a crisis, decision makers must choose one of two paths; to adopt truth telling and transparency, regardless of the impact on one’s legitimacy, status, or image, and I would say that is in this field, the narrow path, or second, use impression management and public relations strategies intended to portray and protect legitimacy and status and a positive image. And that first thing, legitimacy is often what’s being protected most of all. It’s this fear that people have, leadership has, that if this is going to become known, then that will threaten our appearance of legitimacy. And if we lose that, then we’ll lose following and if we lose following, then we’ll lose power and we’ll lose money and all the things that they might be grasping.   WADE MULLEN  08:33 Now, you may be wondering what’s impression management? In some of my prior talks, I went into detail describing various impression management tactics, but if you’re new to the term, or need a refresher, impression management is the process by which individuals or organizations attempt to control the image others form of them, usually in order to be seen in a positive light, especially when a reputation or legitimacy is threatened. And research studies indicate that impression management is the predominant focus of organizations and their leaders in the wake of a crisis. Strategic omissions, non-disclosures, ambiguous statements, half-truths, preventing discovery, not allowing people to ask questions, not cooperating with an assessment or an investigation, making misrepresentations, and a host of other communication techniques, are often difficult to identify, because they tend to be just shy of outright lies. And because the audience typically doesn’t have access to all of the information to be able to test what’s being said. And over time, these techniques of deception of impression management are learned. And thus, individuals or leadership teams can become very adept at creating false impressions, without placing themselves in the very difficult position of being caught in a lie or having lost control of the narrative. The objective of impression management is to control the behavior of others by defining a situation in the way that leadership wishes others to define it, knowing that it’s easier to control people when you can define reality for them, or keep them confused.   WADE MULLEN  13:00 And when leadership has successfully managed crises in the past, by using impression management tactics, they feel less threatened by future crises, because they know they can draw upon their past arsenal of impression management strategies to respond defensively to any future threats. So, the organization has created what’s called a buffer between its image and any future threats to its image. One of the tools that some evangelical organizations have sadly employed to manage a crisis, are non-disclosure agreements or similar clauses that can appear in all kinds of legal documents that are used to secure silence, to keep someone from being able to share their story. And you can imagine how, when and if that works the first time an organization decides to employ that, how that then can become a standard practice. And numerous crises are discovered to have been partially managed through the use of those kinds of agreements. But these kind of strategies can be used to create this buffer between an image that needs protecting and any future threats to that image. Now, that approach, that image-centered approach, can become a framework, a grid, through which all crises are viewed and through which all decisions are made. And over time, an organization a community, a culture, can become increasingly concerned with covering up abuses, injustices and all kinds of unethical behavior, for the sake of preserving that positive appearance. To be seen as a place free of those kinds of dark secrets. And it’s as if there’s this line, and everything above the line, what the organization wants to present to others and everything below the line is what they want to keep hidden from others. And when a crisis hits, the organization gets to work, managing this split between what has been presented to the public, and what is actually happening behind the  scenes that might threaten the public image if it were to become known. That’s why wherever you have successful cover ups of wrongs, you have two types of dark secrets that that organization now must maintain; the secret of the wrong itself, and then the bigger secret, that such kinds of secrets even exist. And that’s why so often we find that when there’s finally exposure, the exposure, the initial exposure, then might open the door to all kinds of things that have been hidden over time. Over time, they not only learn what strategies to use to maintain the split, but they also tend to become more insular, and fortressed. By only giving power to those with close relational ties, those who will remain loyal, and keep those secrets.   WADE MULLEN  16:15 Another typical response to a crisis is to centralize power so that decision making is done within the higher levels of an organization’s hierarchy. Sometimes that’s necessary in an emergency when decisions need to be made quickly. But it’s a problem if that then isn’t brought back into balance. But it can also be a response designed to protect the more powerful members of the organization. And sometimes a crisis becomes a convenient excuse for leadership to grab more power. And even when the crisis is over, the power remains centralized. So, a crisis tends to strengthen the hierarchical structure of an organization and increase the power differential between leaders and followers. And that’s always hard to assess. But it’s a reality that is so often true in every situation where you have cover ups of wrongs, and you have abuses, and you have traumatized individuals. So, you have this huge gap in power. Followers typically become less powerful, and the leaders become more powerful. Then as power is pulled more and more into the higher levels of the organization, and never shared, then that amplifies the desire leadership has to protect its own image when a crisis hits, because a threat to their legitimacy is a threat to their power. So, an image is threatened, power is concentrated within a single person or a few people who will remain loyal to each other, to protect that shared image, and keep all the secrets below that line. And this continues. So, what I’m trying to emphasize is that this becomes a pattern, it becomes a cycle. And it gets amplified up with each crisis, widening that gap between what is presented to an audience and what is actually true. But managing that gap, what I have found, becomes more and more difficult over time in some sense, because in order to hide what is below the line, people tend to feel as if they must volunteer information about themselves that is the opposite of what they’re hiding. So, showing off becomes a way of hiding secrets. And another common response to a crisis is when the priority is managing an image through self-promotion to boast and make overly optimistic statements and grandiose claims. The late sociologist, Erving Goffman, wrote this  the more there is about the individual that deviates in an undesirable direction from what might have been expected to be true of him, the more he is obliged to volunteer information about himself, even though the cost to him of candor of that honesty may have increased proportionally. So, honesty is not the right synonym here for candor, but that willingness, that volunteering of information becomes a risky thing when there’s that split between what is actually being said, and what’s true.   WADE MULLEN  19:37 So, for instance, an organization a university could claim to be one of the safest campuses in the country while actually failing to meet the demands of safety. This is what hypocrisy is and this is the risk. This is what’s happening in this cycle, in this pattern. Hypocrisy is wanting to be seen as good without meeting the demands of goodness. It’s asking for trust without working to earn trust, it’s wanting to be seen as a healer, without touching any wounds, it’s gathering a following without serving, it’s always taking, never giving. And that gap widens and widens and widens. And then managing that image becomes the predominant goal, when everything above the line is what gets presented to others, and everything below the line is what remains hidden. All of that energy goes into maintaining this divide.   WADE MULLEN  20:35 Another factor that drives leadership toward image management is the reality that for some leaders, their identity and sense of self-worth is intertwined with the success of the organization they lead. And so, a threat to the image of the organization is a threat to the identity of the leader. The organization can’t be seen as a failure, because then that leader will be seen as a failure. And I believe this is a significant problem. And I’m grateful for those who are writing books and helping us understand more and more about the problem of narcissism within the church. But we need to be willing to name the truth and acknowledge our own limitations and failures when faced with a crisis. Even if it means being seen by others as weak or as inadequate. When leadership tries to cling to their image, then they use power in ways that are careless in ways that might be callous in ways that harm people already negatively impacted by the crisis, and in ways that undermine public trust.   WADE MULLEN  21:46 And then lastly, an organization can believe it has become too big to fail. Research suggests organizations that enjoy a higher position in their field have more to lose when that position is threatened. Therefore, they’re more likely to use impression management because they believe the risk to all they’ve built is too great. And I’ve heard leaders who say, well, if we were to get in front of the congregation and make an apology, and admit this, you know, just realize just what that would do to all that we’ve built, or that might work in a small church, but you’re talking doing this in front of thousands of people. That just will cause such a mess, you know. So, their  sense of we’re too big to fail.   WADE MULLEN  22:40 Organizations can quickly get caught up in a cycle of managing images and reputations. And on too many occasions, I’ve heard from groups of people who have experienced the pain of seeing their church community or an organization they love, slowly become a place characterized by fear and confusion brought on by dominating leaders who manipulate for their own gain and for the protection of their own image. Now, why does all this matter? Because the most profound impact become the most easily forgotten when leadership turns their attention away from the needs of victim survivors and toward the work of protecting their own image.   WADE MULLEN  23:28 So, the first principle I want to offer for responding well, other than avoiding all of those things, is to surrender the desire to manage impressions and defend your image. And when you do that, it frees you to center the needs of victim survivors, and it frees you from this prison of deception that we can so easily get ourselves into when we start prioritizing our image and our reputation. An important question to ask and to keep asking, when responding to a crisis is, who is impacted and how? You need to assess the losses people have experienced, and that response must be governed by love for those entrusted to your care. Years ago, I was in the car, and I heard a man on the radio define love in a way that has stuck with me. He said love is willing self-sacrifice for the good of another, that does not require being loved in return or that the other person is demanding of that love. That is sacrificial Christian love. And when you think of love in that way, you also might think of Jesus Himself and His death on the cross. I John 4:10 says this is love. Not that we loved God, but he loved us and gave His Son as a propitiation, as a satisfactory payment, for  our sins. Love requires sacrifice. And if you are going to respond well to a crisis, understand it is going to cost you something. One of the saddest statements I hear sometimes from church leaders is, I didn’t sign up for this. Well, that’s exactly what you signed up for, to serve people in the midst of their suffering. And not only is that for their good, but it’s ultimately what is character forming and joy producing in your life. No one who experiences meaningful and faithful service to others looks back on that and says, I’m so glad of the self-serving self-protective role I had. So out of this love for others, you ask who is impacted? And how are they impacted? And you have to keep asking that.   WADE MULLEN  25:53 The next question we must ask is, what do we have to do to alleviate the suffering and promote healing? How do we enter into that suffering in a way that is trauma informed, ethical, and redemptive? But the answer to that question gets disrupted by a self-serving question that goes something like, if we enter into their suffering, what will happen to us? And this isn’t just theoretical. I’ve been in these situations and have heard from leaders who are wrestling with among themselves, there are some who say, this is the right thing to do. And we need to admit this, and we need to get in front of the people we’ve harmed, and we need to confess our sins to them. But then you have those who are in that meeting, who say, Oh, but if we do that, what will happen to us? In Martin Luther King Junior’s last speech titled, I’ve been to the mountaintop, given a day before his tragic assassination, he called people to support black sanitation workers in Memphis, Tennessee, who are on strike over poor work conditions and unfair pay, and challenged his audience to develop a “dangerous unselfishness” in their fight for justice through peaceful means. And in that speech, he recounted Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan. And he suggested that the priest and the Levite, who chose not to help the wounded man who was robbed and left on the side of the road, that they might have been afraid of what would happen to them if they stopped to cross this dangerous road and help the man. And because he was conducive to  ambushes, Martin Luther King, Jr. speculated that this fear may have gripped them. So, he said, the first question that the priest asked, the first question that the Levite asked was, if I stop to help this man, what will happen to me? But then the Good Samaritan came by, and he reversed the question. If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him? King concluded his speech, that’s the question before you tonight, not if I stop to help the sanitation workers, what will happen to all the hours that I usually spend in my office every day and every week as a pastor? The question is not if I stop to help this man in need, what will happen to me? Its if I do not stop to help the sanitation workers, what will happen to them? That’s the question. And I think one of the reasons leaders fail to respond well in crisis is because they say things like, if we stop to address these concerns, we’ll be distracted from our mission. Or if we get involved, and we don’t get it right, then we might get sued. So, leaders might say, what will happen to us if we get involved? What if things go wrong, and then we’re implicated? So, let’s keep our distance and not have our responsibility descend to them. Let’s not enter into it, let’s just hope it goes away. Or when the right thing is to confess and publicly apologize, leadership might ask what will happen to us if we confess? So, they remain silent, or they give a statement that falls just short of accepting responsibility by saying something like well if mistakes were made, or if anyone was hurt. In addition to assessing the impact on individuals, you also have to make sense of what is happening and apply the right definitions to the situation.   WADE MULLEN  29:44 One of the most harmful failures is when a situation is wrongly defined. Sometimes that’s intentional and done deceptively to control the narrative and protect powerful people. So, for example, the pastor verbally abused his staff and It’s called miscommunication. A leader repeatedly acts in spiritually abusive ways toward those under their care, and when it finally comes to the surface, it’s attributed to interpersonal conflict. A pastor commits adult clergy sexual abuse, and it’s called an affair. When you attribute the wrong terms, categories, and descriptions to a situation, you lead people down a path that ends up causing more harm. Sometimes there’s confusion around these definitions, because there has not been adequate attention paid to policies and procedures, or to training or to the fostering of an ongoing learning environment. So then when leadership is faced with a crisis, they’re left unprepared. And that lack of preparation opens the door to confusion. And in worst case scenarios opens the door to the bad actor, the deceptive person, to drive the narrative and the response. So, I want to emphasize the need for robust policies that are kept current and accessible. In many situations where there’s a failure to respond well, I hear leadership acknowledge that they either don’t have policies in place, or that they haven’t been updated in years. Or if they have policies, they don’t know what they are or where they are. Policies and Procedures are critical.   WADE MULLEN  31:29 Now, sometimes when I recommend this, I get pushback, and I hear leadership say, well, we don’t want to policy ourselves to death. And I want to speak to that because I’ve heard it too many times. I’ve only ever heard that view expressed by those who don’t have any. And in my opinion, it’s a potentially dangerous view that puts at risk the safety and fair treatment of those who are most impacted when a crisis hits. I’ve never heard someone say, well, maybe we would have responded better if our policies weren’t so robust. There is a need for there to be clarity and cohesion. But they but they need to be there. Regular trainings and fostering a culture of ongoing learning is also important. Trainings on abuse, prevention, and response on trauma-informed practice, on facing the ethical dilemmas of leadership can all help you to respond well when the need arises. I’m grateful in my work with GRACE that through GRACE, I’m able to sit through training in each of these areas once a year.   WADE MULLEN  32:38 Establishing access to resources and experts is also important so that when you need to get expert external advice, you know where to turn. I also recommend if it’s possible that organizations have an interdisciplinary response team, a diverse team of individuals with backgrounds and relevant fields, perhaps social work, or mental health, that can help with auditing policies, making sure they’re up to date with recommending trainings with assisting when there’s a crisis. These things can help prepare you. And it’s critical that there’s work done in this area of preparation because what you take into a crisis is what you will have with you during that crisis. In too many situations, I’ve seen people try to scramble and try to put something together after they’ve already been faced with something that they need to respond to. But even well-meaning response efforts can be harmful, when they are not supported by policies, education, and resources, because that confusion, that uncertainty about what to do can worsen the crisis.   WADE MULLEN  33:48 Now, perhaps you have clear policies, and you have ongoing training, you have access to resources, there’s still often a need for wisdom. Because there’s sometimes dilemmas, there’s nuances that need to be carefully worked through. There are two behaviors that are important for maintaining wisdom and an ability to make sense of what’s happening when you’re navigating a crisis. The first is what might be referred to as updating. Updating invites, welcomes, and provides safe mechanisms for new information to come to light. And that process is going to look different depending on the situation. Another term for updating might be openness. You remain open to new information and perspectives. You’re willing to hear from people, you’re willing to allow people to ask questions to bring concerns. You’re willing, if needed to,  to submit to an external investigation or assessment in order to understand what’s true.   WADE MULLEN  35:03 A second behavior that goes along with updating is flexibility. You have to be willing to continually test and revise interpretations and conclusions and decisions on the basis of information, and as new information comes to light. So, you hold these things with an open hand. And when both updating or openness and flexibility are working in tandem, wisdom and discernment are more readily practiced. And when you don’t practice wisdom, then you risk falling into one of two extremes. So, imagine a spectrum with wisdom in the middle. You don’t have to imagine it because I put a slide up there. And on the one end of the spectrum is overconfidence, in which leadership shuts down feedback, isn’t open to changing course, because they think they know what they need to know. They don’t acknowledge their limitations; they don’t turn to outside help. And as a result, this kind of response tends to result in dangerous action. This overconfidence can look like minimizing the scope and severity of a situation or making overly optimistic statements that everything is under control, or things will resolve themselves. Again, research has shown that this response is driven often by individual identities that are threatened during a crisis. So, you might have an overconfident individual, let’s say the founder of the organization, that responds in this way out of a threat to that identity. On the other side of the spectrum, are the overcautious. The overcautious are fearful of what feedback will reveal, and they take more of a passive, let’s just ignore it kind of approach. And they tend to take dangerous inaction.   WADE MULLEN  37:04 Both the overconfident and the overcautious shun wisdom. They shun curiosity, they shut down feedback, they shut down information. And as a result, they end up making poor decisions. One of the most common regrets I hear from leaders is that they wish they would have gotten help sooner, or they wish they would have taken time to listen to people. Not only does this application of wisdom benefit victim survivors and others who are most impacted by a crisis, but it also allows for a more sustainable and supportive environment for leaders. I often hear leaders go through a crisis and get to a point where they want to give up. They despair, maybe of the role they find themselves in. And I think part of that might come not just from lacking the capacity or resources to be able to give what’s required to meet the needs at the moment. But that inadequacy, those limitations, they go unacknowledged, perhaps out of a desire to be seen as in control, or perhaps out of a fear of being seen as weak or as a failure. So, they insist on leading. And then when the crisis is abated, maybe things calmed down, that leader in my experience, then takes a sabbatical, they go on vacation, thinking they’ll return then and be a different person. But then there’s another crisis and the pattern repeats itself because the leader hasn’t been honest about his or her limitations and gifts and abilities. So, they still cling to what they know and what they think they can do well, which then worsens the crisis for everyone involved. But when you’re able to say, here are my limitations, here are my weaknesses. When you’re able to move into this area of wisdom, and invite other people into a process, turn to outside experts. You embrace this model and you become a gift to others, and to those impacted by the crisis. I also recommend that when there’s a crisis, there’s often a need to speak truth in love. Sometimes speaking, truth and love means helping people process the crisis. So, it isn’t always the case that leadership needs to confess something, but they might need to provide answers. When giving accounts, explanations and answering questions, you should seek to do so in a way that helps people make sense of what has happened in a way that honors the dignity of those involved.   WADE MULLEN  39:46 When there is a time to confess, so this is another area of speaking the truth and love, is confessing. Then that ought to include this surrendering of defenses. So sometimes in that moment of confessing, that’s when we feel the most desire and the temptation to then protect our image. So, you have to surrender that, you have to take ownership. You have to take responsibility, and you have to demonstrate empathy. Sometimes speaking the truth in love looks like confronting wrongdoing. And when this happens, and of course, this isn’t something where you have external authorities involved who are investigating. But let’s say there are deceptions that you’re hearing in a board meeting regarding the what happened, or regarding the motives of other people. And there’s just a need to confront some of that misrepresentation. How do you do that? Well, this should be done with gentleness, it should be specific about the offense, about the wrong about any consequences, and it should invite that person into a redemptive process of accountability and repair. Then there’s a need to engage often in a work of repair in allowing for an environment of renewal. If needed, there ought to be an offer of generous restitution, and support for those who have experienced losses, those who have been victimized. This is, in my experience, sometimes where organizations stop, and I encourage them and invite them then to continue on this path. And to perhaps if it’s safe, ask people, What is it that you need? And the general principle that I give to leaders, if they find themselves in that position, is to do whatever the other person asks. I’ve never been involved in a situation where that request wasn’t a reasonable one. And sometimes it looks different. It’s not always I could use some help with paying for medical bills or counseling bills. That should be considered. But sometimes it’s, well, we really would like everyone on the leadership team to go through this training. Or we really would like maybe you could build some kind of memorial in honor of those who have been traumatized here and victimized. So there needs to be this restitution. And it ought to be generous, and it ought to be willing. When Zacchaeus made restitution, it was four times the amount, it was generous. But it was also something that Jesus didn’t twist his arm to do. It was something he was willing to do. And when he did that, Jesus said, today, salvation has come to this house. This is a critical step that is often missed.   WADE MULLEN  42:48 There needs to be a time where people are allowed to lament their losses. And I think it’s a beautiful thing when a church moves through a crisis well, and leadership shepherd people well, and after that, together, they hold a service of lament, and they name what has been lost. There ought to be some process in which the organization, leaders involved, submit to some kind of change, and that usually then involves some outside input to. There ought to be an honoring of truth tellers. That is another step that is too often missed. The only reason you’re here and experiencing this reform in many cases is because somebody had the courage to speak up. Are you honoring that? And then value the sources of resilience. And this is what I mean by that, just as a choice to prioritize managing images can quickly become a cycle of cover up and harm, a choice to embrace truth and transparency can become a cycle, it can become a way of living, that strengthens trust, strengthens safety, and creates resiliency. Thank you for the honor of being able to share with you again.   Julie Roys  44:15 Well, again, that’s researcher and author Wade Mullen speaking at RESTORE 2023. And as I’m sure you’re aware, many groups charge for conference talks like these, but we’ve decided to make them available free of charge, because we believe this content is so necessary for the restoration and health of the church, that we really could use your financial help. We need to raise $70,000 before the end of this year to end 2023 in the black. So, if you believe in our mission of reporting the truth and restoring the church, would you please consider giving to this ministry? It would mean a ton to all of us here at The Roys Report and it will help us start 2024 on strong financial footing. To donate just go to JULIEROYS.COM/DONATE. And this month if you give a gift of $50 or more, we’ll send you a copy of Tim Alberta’s book, The Kingdom, The Power, and The Glory. This is an awesome book exposing the idol of politics in the evangelical church and calling her to more biblical and faithful witness. So again, to donate just go to JULIEROYS.COM/DONATE. Also, just a quick reminder to subscribe to The Roys Report on Apple podcast, Google podcasts or Spotify. That way you won’t miss any of these episodes. And while you’re at it, I’d really appreciate it if you’d help us spread the word about the podcast by leaving a review. And then please share the podcast on social media so more people can hear about this great content. Again, thanks so much for joining me today. Hope you were blessed and encouraged. Read more

Chapter 1 What's The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life Book by Erving GoffmanErving Goffman's book "The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life" is a sociological text that explores how individuals present themselves to others in social interactions and the way they manage their impressions. Published in 1959, the book examines social interactions as a form of theatrical performance, wherein individuals act like performers on a stage, adopting various roles and employing specific "props" like clothing, gestures, and language to shape how others perceive them.Goffman argues that individuals engage in a process called "impression management" to control the image they portray to others. According to him, people aim to create a favorable impression, maintaining a desired "front stage" presentation while concealing aspects of their true selves in the "backstage" area. This front-stage performance aims to maintain the desired self-image and conform to societal expectations.The book delves into various concepts related to impression management, such as face-to-face interactions, body language, the use of props and setting, the role of context, and the distinction between front stage and back stage behavior. It also discusses social scripts, or the predetermined societal norms and expectations that guide how individuals should behave in specific situations.Overall, "The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life" offers a unique perspective on human social interactions, emphasizing the performative nature of these encounters and the effort individuals put into managing their public image.Chapter 2 Is The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life Book A Good BookYes, The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life by Erving Goffman is widely considered to be a classic and influential work in sociology. Goffman explores the ways in which individuals actively create and manage their social identities through various interactions in everyday life. The book offers valuable insights into human behavior and the construction of social reality.Chapter 3 The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life Book by Erving Goffman SummaryErving Goffman's book "The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life" explores the ways in which individuals actively construct and manage their social identities in various everyday situations. Goffman argues that human behavior can be understood as a series of performances, where individuals engage in impression management to control how others perceive them.The book begins by introducing the concept of impression management, which refers to the strategies individuals use to portray a desired image to others. Goffman emphasizes that individuals constantly monitor and adjust their behavior based on social context and the audience they are interacting with.Goffman then delves into the idea of the "front stage" and the "backstage" of social interactions. The front stage refers to the settings in which individuals present themselves to others, such as workplaces or social gatherings. In these settings, individuals carefully construct their image through clothing, demeanor, and interaction style. The back stage, on the other hand, represents the private spaces where individuals can relax and drop their performance. Goffman suggests that individuals strategically manage the transition between front and back stage to maintain the desired impression.Furthermore, Goffman explores the importance of symbols and props in impression management. He argues that individuals use various props, such as clothing, accessories, and personal possessions, to communicate messages about their social status, interests, and identities. These symbolic cues help individuals shape others' perceptions

Erving Goffman's 1959 book The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life was an important attempt at explaining both apparent and hidden human behaviors across social and organizational settings. Through a comprehensive framework employing theater as a metaphor, he describes the roles of people as performers and members of an audience who try to shape the unfolding situation in ways suitable to their aims. Meanwhile, there is a backstage where people return to being themselves and proceed to set conditions for the next performance, and rules and protocols seek to protect such backstage behaviors from unwanted observation or disclosure. The aim for each person is to be seen in the best or most purposeful light.

Our next episode features Erving Goffman's 1959 book The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life that presents a comprehensive framework for understanding human interactions and impression management. Through numerous examples, he explains how humans in social settings try to read and shape the environment so they can act accordingly within it and generate the desired reactions of others present. This is accomplished through the metaphor of theater and dramaturgical analysis.

From Shakespeare to RuPaul, we all love a performance. But what exactly is it? What are its boundaries, its powers, its potential, its stakes? Kareem Khubchandani, who also performs as LaWhore Vagistan – “everyone's favourite desi drag queen aunty” – joins Uncommon Sense to unpack the latest thinking on refusal, repetition and more. And to discuss “Ishtyle”, Kareem's ethnography of gay Indian nightlife in Chicago and Bangalore, which attends to desire and fun in the lives of global Indian workers too often stereotyped as cogs in the wheels of globalisation.Kareem also reflects on the particular value of queer nightlife, and celebrates how drag kings skilfully unmask what might be the ultimate performance: heteromasculinity. We also ask: what do thinkers like Bourdieu and Foucault reveal about performance? Why is there still a way to go in our understanding of drag and how might decolonising it serve us all? Plus: why calling something “performative” is actually not about calling things “fake”? In fact, performance can make things “real”…With reflection on Judith Butler, “Paris is Burning”, “RuPaul's Drag Race” and clubbing in Sydney and Tokyo.Guest: Kareem KhubchandaniHosts: Rosie Hancock, Alexis Hieu TruongExecutive Producer: Alice BlochSound Engineer: David CracklesMusic: Joe GardnerArtwork: Erin AnikerFind more about Uncommon Sense at The Sociological Review.Episode ResourcesFrom The Sociological ReviewAdvantages of upper-class backgrounds: Forms of capital, school cultures and educational performance – Vegard Jarness, Thea Bertnes Strømme‘You've Gotta Learn how to Play the Game': Homeless Women's Use of Gender Performance as a Tool for Preventing Victimization – Laura Huey, Eric BerndtPerforming the Disabled Body in Academia – Luke WalkerBy Kareem KhubchandaniIshtyleDecolonize DragQueer Nightlife (co-edited with Kemi Adeyemi and Ramón Rivera-Servera)Dance Floor DivasKareem's website, including more about LaWhore VagistanFurther reading and viewing“Introduction to Performing Refusal/Refusing to Perform” – Lilian G. Mengesha, Lakshmi Padmanabhan“Everynight Life” – Celeste Fraser Delgado, José Esteban Muñoz (editors)“Cruising Utopia” – José Esteban Muñoz“Gender Trouble” – Judith Butler“Camera Lucida” – Roland Barthes“Paris is Burning” (film) – Jennie LivingstoneRead more about the work of Dhiren Borisa, Saidiya V Hartman, D. Soyini Madison and Joshua Chambers-Letson; as well as Pierre Bourdieu, Erving Goffman, Mikhail Bakhtin and Michel Foucault.

Sosyal yaşamda herkesin farklı bir var olma yöntemi var. Kimisi olduğu gibi görünürken, kimisi de yeni rollere bürünüyor. Bu bölümde günlük hayatta kendine farklı roller biçen bireylerin üzerine düşünüyoruz. Erving Goffman'ın kuramları üzerinden benlik kavramına farklı bir bakış atıyoruz.Sunan: Barış ÖzcanHazırlayan: Özgür YılgürSes Tasarımı: Batuhan KösegilYapımcı: Podbee Media------- Podbee Sunar -------Bu podcast Salus hakkında reklam içerir.Sağlığınıza gereken önemi Salus'la verin. Psikolog, fizyoterapist ve diyetisyenlerle görüşüp, içerik dünyasını keşfetmek için buradan Salus'un websitesini ziyaret edebilirsin. TERAPI10 koduyla %10 indirimden hemen faydalanmak için şimdi buradan app'i indirebilirsin.Bu podcast TAKK hakkında reklam içerir.Günlük kişisel bakımını TAKK'a bırak. Çünkü TAKK, senin için gerçekten önemli olan şeylere odaklanırken hayatındaki seçenek karmaşasını filtrelemene yardımcı olur. Buradan TAKK'ı keşfedebilirsin.Bu podcast techcareer.net hakkında reklam içerir. Ücretsiz bootcamplere katılmak, eğitimlerle seviye atlamak veya teknoloji alanında iş bulmak istiyorsan, hemen şimdi buradan techcareer.net'e üye ol, kariyerini yükselt.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

We humans are social animals—and that takes work. As we move through the world, we have to navigate around other people's desires, needs, and beliefs. Much of this work happens in conversation—through our words, our glances, our gestures. It happens in countless different situations, according to different norms and systems. Human social interaction is, in short, a multi-layered, delicate dance. But it's also not the only kind of social interaction out there. Apes, dogs, and other social species also have to negotiate with others and sometimes with humans. There's not just one species of conversation, in other words—there are many.  My guest today is Dr. Federico Rossano, Associate Professor of Cognitive Science and Director of the Comparative Cognition Lab at the University of California, San Diego. Throughout his career, Federico has studied social interaction from a number of different angles, in a range of different settings, and across different species—including humans, bonobos, orangutans, and most recently dogs.   Here, we discuss the field of conversation analysis and how Federico got started in it. We talk about his early work on how people use gaze in conversation, and how the use of gaze differs across cultures. We discuss how Federico ported some of the tools of conversation analysis over to study social interaction in apes. We also talk about his new line of research on how dogs use soundboards to communicate with their human caretakers. This work has been attracting a lot of buzz and also a bit of pushback, so we dig into the controversy. Along the way, we touch on: Umberto Eco; platypuses; how much work it takes to simply come across as ordinary; the concept of the human interaction engine; the Clever Hans effect; the impossible task; and why many scientists are so skittish about animal language research. This episode is not just about different forms of conversation. It is itself a different form of conversation—at least for us. This was our first ever in-person interview, something we expect to do a bit more of going forward. Alright friends, on to my real-life, 3d, face-to-face chat with Dr. Federico Rossano. Enjoy!   A transcript of this episode will be available soon.   Notes and links  4:00 – The classic 1964 paper, ‘The Neglected Situation,' by Erving Goffman. 6:00 – An obituary for the novelist and semiotician, Umberto Eco, who died in 2016. His best-loved novel, perhaps, is The Name of the Rose. He's also the author of a book of essays called, Kant and the Platypus: Essays on Language and Cognition. 17:30 – The classic paper, ‘On doing “being ordinary”', by Harvey Sacks.   20:00 – A brief introduction to Conversation Analysis.  32:00 – Dr. Rossano's work on gaze is summarized in his 2012 chapter, ‘Gaze in Conversation.' His work on questions in Italian is here.  35:30 – The quote from Georg Simmel is as follows: “[T]he totality of social relations of human beings, their self-assertions and self-abnegation, their intimacies and estrangements, would be changed in unpredictable ways if there occurred no glance of eye to eye.”  39:50 – Dr. Rossano's work on gaze across cultures is described here.  43:00 – Dr. Rossano did his postdoctoral work with Michael Tomasello, who joined us for a previous episode.  47:00 – Dr. Rossano's work on bonobo interaction is here and here.  56:00 – Dr. Rossano's original work on food sharing in orangutans is here. A more recent paper on food sharing is here. 1:05:00 – The idea of the “human interaction engine” was first proposed by Stephen Levinson in 2006.  1:10:30 – See the recent theme issue on ‘Revisiting the human “interaction engine”'. Dr. Rossano's contributions to the issue are here and here. 1:18:00 – Dr. Rossano's work on dogs has been done in coordination with the company FluentPet. FluentPet makes the pet-friendly buttons (aka soundboards) made famous by Bunny, the “talking dog of TikTok.” 1:23:30 – For an insider's view of what happened in the original “animal language” studies, see a paper by Irene Pepperberg here.  1:27:30 – A recent review by Dr. Rossano and colleagues about the use of “augmented interspecies communication devices” like the soundboards he and colleagues are currently studying.  1:38:30 – The “impossible task,” a widely used task in comparative psychology, was first described in 2009. 1:44:45 – A recent podcast discussed the “animal language” debates in detail. Dr. Rossano was featured on the show.    1:57:30 – A paper in which Charles Goodwin discussed the case of his father, Chil, is here.   Dr. Rossano recommends:  Sequence Organization in Interaction, by Emanuel Schegloff Lectures on Conversation, by Harvey Sacks Roots of Human Sociality, edited by Stephen Levison and Nick Enfield Origins of Human Communication, by Michael Tomasello   Many Minds is a project of the Diverse Intelligences Summer Institute, which is made possible by a generous grant from the Templeton World Charity Foundation to UCLA. It is hosted and produced by Kensy Cooperrider, with help from Assistant Producer Urte Laukaityte and with creative support from DISI Directors Erica Cartmill and Jacob Foster. Our artwork is by Ben Oldroyd. Our transcripts are created by Sarah Dopierala. Subscribe to Many Minds on Apple, Stitcher, Spotify, Pocket Casts, Google Play, or wherever you listen to podcasts. You can also now subscribe to the Many Minds newsletter here! We welcome your comments, questions, and suggestions. Feel free to email us at: manymindspodcast@gmail.com.  For updates about the show, visit our website or follow us on Twitter: @ManyMindsPod.

This week we're thinking about what makes something funny, and what could be more amusing than some theories from classic comedy icon, social psychologist, Erving Goffman? We'll be talking about interpretations and formations of funny moments as well as rummaging in a big old tombola full of terminology. Chuckles ahoy!Follow the pod and say hello here: https://twitter.com/writing_podMixing by Peter ThompsonMusic by Chris Stamper Illustration by Matt Miles https://www.instagram.com/datmattmiles/Design by Adam SmithFind out more about Robin and get in touch at robinleetaylor.com

durée : 00:05:22 - La chronique langue de Laélia Véron - par : Laéila Véron - Vous allez chez quelqu'un qui vous dit « pardon pour le désordre ! » alors que tout est parfaitement rangé. C'est une posture de fausse modestie ou chleuasme. Mais pour qu'elle fonctionne, il faut être dans un cadre conversationnel coopératif. Référence : Erving Goffman

Buckle up folks, this is a long one! It's been a big couple of weeks since Jason and Inger caught up.  Inger went to Tassie and experienced crossing bass strait in gale force winds on the way back while Jason got rained on while camping and discovered 'Truckie Twitter' on the UHF band radio during an unexpected 2.5 hour journey home from work.... Oh, and Thesiswhisperer Jnr is now being paid to play with puppies at a pet store, which Inger and Jason agree is a great career choice and maybe one they should consider.There's a very full mailbag (17:23), with lots of nice feedback on our Obsidian episode and a speak pipe by friend of the Pod, Shainal - who is going to be car pooling with Jase now he's working at Latrobe too.Our work problem segment (26.37) is the big story of the week: The Big Twitter Meltdown. Inger and Jason dig in for more than an hour on the topic of tweeting/tooting while academic and it goes to a surprisingly reflective place. There's a discussion guide that will be helpful we think and talk of algorithmically shaped behaviours, soft power, vitality and server architectures constructing realists - even Erving Goffman gets a mention. Even if you don't Tweet or Toot, there's stuff to think about in here because online life is still real life and this Twitter ruckus has real world consequences, but if you are looking to make the jump of Twitter, Inger has lots of Thoughts and a few suggestions for getting started.Inger has been doing nothing but attending to the Great Twitter Migration, so Jason is left to do the honours with the reading section (1:52:06)  and the 2 minute tip section, which features a bit of 'is this book bullshit' talk and the problem of too much WIP. Look, this is a long one, so get down to some cleaning and gardening or a long walk!Things we mentioned:The discussion guide for this episode (which has links to all the services and articles mentioned).Book: coach to coachAtul GawandeLeave us a message on www.speakpipe.com/thesiswhisperer. Email Inger, she's easy to find. You will not be able to find Jason's email (he likes it that way).Talk to us on BlueSky by following @thesiswhisperer and @drjd. Inger is sadly addicted to Threads, but cannot convince JD to join. You can find her there, and on all the Socials actually, as @thesiswhisperer. You can read her stuff on www.thesiswhisperer.com. You can support the pod by buying our Text Expander guide for academics from the Thesis Whisperer website.

Professor Kathryn Lofton, Lex Hixon Professor of Religious Studies and American studies, Professor of History and Divinity, and Dean of Humanities at Yale University, joins me to discuss her Smith-Pettit Lecture delivered at the Mormon History Association Conference in June 2022, entitled "A Brief History of the Mormon Smile." We discuss Erving Goffman, affective performativity, American consumer capitalism, and the "missionary grin."

Machine learning (ML) has reached an exciting phase of development, a phase that Vicki Boykis, Senior ML Engineer at Duo Security* has characterized as the “steam-powered days.” In this episode of Numerically Speaking: The Anaconda Podcast, Vicki talks about the state of the industry and where she sees things heading.   Vicki's discussion with host Peter Wang covers:   The interplay between software engineering and ML, the human element of the development lifecycle (and the lack thereof in social media) and the operationalization and the rise of microservices.   Resources:   Click https://vickiboykis.com to visit Vicki's blog.   Click https://www.amazon.com/Presentation-Self-Everyday-Life/dp/0385094027  to purchase The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life by Erving Goffman, referenced by Vicki.   Click https://www.amazon.com/Broad-Band-Untold-Story-Internet/dp/0735211752  to purchase Broad Band: The Untold Story of the Women Who Made the Internet, also referenced by Vicki.   Click https://jimruttshow.blubrry.net/currents-rob-malda/  to listen to the Jim Rutt/Rob Malda (Slashdot) podcast episode referenced by Peter.   Check out the P2 website https://wordpress.com/p2/   You can find a human-verified transcript of this episode here -  https://know.anaconda.com/rs/387-XNW-688/images/ANACON_Vicki%20Boykis_V2%20%281%29.docx.pdf.    If you enjoyed today's show, please leave a 5-star review. For more information, visit anaconda.com/podcast.   *At the time of the interview, Vicki Boykis was an ML Engineer working on Tumblr at Automattic.  

" Vælg dine personlige præsentationer omhyggeligt, for det, der begynder som en maske, kan ende med at blive dit ansigt." siger den canadisk-amerikanske filosof og sociolog Erving Goffman. Og man kan supplere med filosoffen, Hannah Arendt, som siger "Ingenting og ingen eksisterer i denne verden, hvis væren ikke forudsætter en beskuer". Vi lever i stadigt stigende grad vores liv gennem skærme; online møder og smartphones med diverse platforme, som vi ses og kommunikerer på. Men hvor meget lever vi reelt på den måde, og hvor autentisk er vi sammen? Medvirkende: Naiha Khiljee forfatter/digter og psykolog. Camilla Mehlsen Digital Medieekspert i Børns Vilkår, forfatter. Imran Rashid speciallæge i almen medicin og forfatter til flere bøger om teknologi og mennesker. Carsten Ortmann: tilrettelægger og vært.

En el audio de hoy discutiremos aspectos históricos del movimiento de psiquiatría y critica así como las consecuencias que ha acarreado en la manera de ejercer la psiquiatría en tiempos presentes.  Música: Don't look up! soundtrack Imagen: Asylums, Portada del Libro de Erving Goffman. Autor de la foto del libro: Fernando Espí Forcén :) 

Tom Hood, Ph.D., University of Tennessee, Professor Emeritus of Sociology and Executive Officer of the Society for the Study of Social Problems (1990-2009), received his university education at Michigan State and Duke Universities. The Bachelor of Arts degree with high honors was awarded at M.S.U. in June 1960, Duke University awarded the A.M. degree in Sociology in 1964 and the Ph.D. degree in 1969. Professor Hood is a member of Phi Kappa Phi, Pi Gamma Mu, Phi Eta Sigma, and Alpha Kappa Delta and Alpha Zeta honor societies. An active researcher, Dr. Hood's funded research projects and activities in the areas of transportation and the environment have brought over $3 million dollars in external funding to the University since 1974. Currently his research and writing interests include social suffering and collective distress, the social psychology of appearance and the attribution of character, the work of Erving Goffman, environmental movements in America. His published research on the Billy Graham crusade in Knoxville and his work on the social psychology of experiments has been reprinted and widely cited. Professor Hood has taught courses primarily in collective behavior and social movements, research methods, social psychology and environmental sociology. In addition to teaching at all undergraduate levels and graduate levels he has directed or served on more than 100 masters and doctoral committees. A committed Christian, Hood is a life-long member of the United Methodist Church having served on local, district and conference committees. He has been an active 4-H Leader for over 30 years in Knox County and has received the College of Arts and Sciences and National Alumni Association Awards for Public Service. Hood enjoys writing poetry as T.C. Hood and amateur photography.

With conspiracy theories and disinformation on the rise in both media and politics, is our democracy at risk? We may lose trust in society, in the institutions that inform us, and, ultimately, in the democratic process. Our sense of responsibility for the everyday information we share may diminish. Deceitful politicians may escape scrutiny by claiming that truths are false, falsehoods are true, and in any case nothing can be proved. How should we respond to these challenges?A lecture by Andrew ChadwickThe transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website:https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/breaking-democracyGresham College has been giving free public lectures since 1597. This tradition continues today with all of our five or so public lectures a week being made available for free download from our website. There are currently over 2,000 lectures free to access or download from the website.Website: http://www.gresham.ac.ukTwitter: http://twitter.com/GreshamCollegeFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/greshamcollegeInstagram: http://www.instagram.com/greshamcollege

Michael's new book How to Begin: Start Doing Something that Matters is now available at www.HowToBegin.com.   With so much of the world struggling, it's deeply tempting to throw up my hands and say, ‘It's too hard! If someone else could sort this out for me, that would be great.' Just the other day, I heard on the radio that it is the deepest form of privilege to say, ‘This is not my problem.' But what can one person do to change the world? How do we find the courage to do something? Todd Kashdan's books have always intrigued me; they intertwine academic rigor with human insight. His latest is called The Art of Insubordination. To me insubordination brings to mind rule-breakers or rebels. Todd doesn't see it as simplistically as that; to him, there's a proper, principled way to be insubordinate. Get‌ ‌book‌ ‌links‌ ‌and‌ ‌resources‌ ‌at‌ https://www.mbs.works/2-pages-podcast/  Todd reads two pages from ‘The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life' by Erving Goffman. [reading begins at 19:13] Hear us discuss:  Principled versus unprincipled insubordination. [8:18] | The different forms of self-presentation. [23:55] | When does efficiency take primacy over authenticity? [27:31] | Avoiding psychological exhaustion. [30:30] | Understanding your ‘dark side': “It's perfectly fine to experience anger and righteous indignation when we are concerned that perceived flaws in our character are the reason we're being judged and rejected.” [33:25] | How to be a good audience member. [36:44] | Having the courage to do something: “In the long term, the suffering that accompanies the regret of inaction is so much greater than short-term moments of embarrassment and rejection.” [39:38] | “The singular acts of singular people are the cornerstones of creating large bands of people that stand up against tyranny and oppression.” [43:46]

Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 249, in which I review Severance episodes 1.1-1.2 on Apple TV+. Written blog post review of Severance 1.1-1.2 

Media technologies today seem to be everywhere. Assisting us in – or invading – each and every corner of our daily existence. We have already discussed how this ubiquity is embedded into a huge range of physical infrastructures; environments where media technologies surround us. And yet, we also increasingly carry media around with us, in our pockets, hands, ears, across our eyes, around our wrists. We wear media like clothes – and we may soon implant media within our bodies. This need not be seen in the guise of science fiction. It is more interesting to see it as really quite ordinary. For a long time, we humans have shared an intimacy with media technologies. They not only affect how we see ourselves, but modulate and help produce who and what we are. In this episode, we will begin our exploration of media as embodied technologies with the humble mobile phone. Through their aestheticisation, practical uses and technological development, mobile phones were an important precursor to the myriad mobile devices we know today. Contemporary embodied technologies however go beyond being portable, or affording wireless access to online content. They are increasingly built into our bodies, and modulate our interactions with environments: automatically detecting one's geographic location and orientation, or one's bodily temperature and heartrate, or the ambient sound and lighting in a room. This leads to a range of issues warranting critique, which we explore with reference to increasingly popular 'self-tracking' apps and wearables. Should the significant bodily data sets generated by such apps and devices concern us? Might we need new ways to think about digital literacy, medical efficacy, privacy, and surveillance? And how might these mobile technologies be developed and applied in the future? Thinkers Discussed: Sarah Kember and Joanna Zylinska (Life After New Media); Adriana de Souza e Silva and Jordon Frith (Mobile Interfaces in Public Spaces); Erving Goffman (briefly); Sherry Turkle (The Second Self / Evocative Objects); Lisa Gitelman (Always Already New); Harvey May and Greg Hearn (The Mobile Phone as Media); James Miller (The Fourth Screen: Mediatization and the Smartphone); Mark Weiser (The Computer for the 21st Century); Ian Bogost (Apple's Airpods Are an Omen); Judith Butler (briefly); Zygmunt Bauman (Liquid Modernity); Daniel Palmer (iPhone Photography: Mediating Visions of Social Space); James Gilmore (Everywear: The Quantified Self and Wearable Fitness Technologies); Adam Greenfield (Everyware: The Dawning Age of Ubiquitous Computing); Kate Crawford, Jessa Lingel and Tero Karppi (Our Metrics, Ourselves: A Hundred Years of Self-Tracking from the Weight Scale to the Wrist Wearable Device); Hillel Schwartz (Never Satisfied: Social History of Diets, Fantasies and Fat); Michel Foucault (Technologies of the Self).

Erving Goffman would say we're always wearing a costume. 1) Limp-wristed twisting. 2) A man-eating striptease. 3) Sister Act good vibes. 4) Yes, Therese! 5) Mental health matters

In episode 9, Henry Holtzman interviews Alex Feerst, who served as head of trust and safety at Medium and general counsel at Neuralink.  Currently, he  is the  CEO of Murmuration Labs and also sits on the board of the MobileCoin Foundation.  Alex shares why the backstage should be front and center, explaining Erving Goffman's fantastic "backstage" metaphor for privacy.  Henry asks what it's like to work in the evolving field of trust and safety, and Alex tells us about the human experience behind content moderation.  Alex also explains the distributed web and weighs in on Facebook's latest scandal over harm caused by Instagram, pondering whether it's even possible for companies to act "ethically" in a late capitalist world. 

In Episode 10, Clio is joined by fellow English Literature PhD Maggie Deli to discuss celebrity studies. What would Erving Goffman say about the feud between Taylor Swift and Katy Perry? What happens when Swift's art becomes political? And is Swift trying to become less of a celebrity? Mentioned briefly are the article "To See and Be Seen: Celebrity Practice on Twitter" by Alice Marwick and danah boyd and Heavenly Bodies: Film Stars and Society by Richard Dyer. Get in touch with comments, questions, or just to say hi at studiesintaylorswift@gmail.com. Music: "Happy Strummin" by Audionautix. Cover art by Finley Doyle. 

Authenticity is key to having an inclusive work environment. But studies show that upwards of 60% of your workforce is likely covering some aspect of themselves.What is covering? Coined in 1963 by Erving Goffman, the use of the term covering is increasingly used today for when individuals manage or downplay their differences and aspects of their true identity in order to “fit in.”Examples of covering can include everything from hiding one's sexual orientation or group affiliations to altering their appearance and grooming habits.On this episode of HR Power Hour join Tawny as she talks to Verrill Labor and Employment lawyer Liz Johnston as they talk about what covering in the workplace looks like, how it is sabotaging DEI plans, and the legal implications of covering in the workplace.

Who are you at work? What persona do you adopt? Is it even fair to assume, or to realise, a separate self to the one that you ordinarily call you? More importantly, perhaps, how does taking on that identity make you feel? It is the you that “feels” to which I refer rather than the name tag and photo on your ID card. Do you know the difference? Often we don’t, and we find ourselves at odds with our daily work. It becomes an exhausting means to an end existence where we run the daily gauntlet of managing our emotions and demands of the job. It takes many of us to the emotional and physical edge.Youthful, we leave the relative safety of home wide-eyed and full of beans, naive and enthusiastic for our emerging working life. We enter the workplace expecting it to fulfil our material, emotional, psychological, and creative needs. Assuming, that is, we’ve followed our curiosity and interest rather than the broadly accepted imperative to make money for money’s sake. Should the latter be the case, we might be happier in our work knowing that it is a bastard expecting nothing less than what it has to offer. I’ve met and worked with people that hold this idea. They say, “so what, it’s just a job,” or “nothing personal, it’s only business.” For these actors, the workplace is a volatile, ambiguous, and antagonistic arrangement between parties that are out for gain at others’ expense and indeed their own. And it takes its toll because, in such arrangements, we are compelled to forgo our sense of humanity.Under the cosh of daily work, something tells you this or that task you’ve been given feels good or not. You get a sense that this thing might have a negative impact on someone else, so do you convince yourself it’s for their own good, or that maybe after a few hours, days, or weeks they’ll get over it? Maybe the adverse effect is yours. Ok, put on a smile, subvert your instinct, act to the contrary; the job needs to be done. Despite positive workplace relations, moments of enjoyment and fulfilment, wages to buy nice things and maintain a home, I’ve no doubt that many reading today’s Sunday Letters can relate to this. It is an aspect of the job they don’t tell you about. They don’t tell you in the job offer that should you accept, you may need to overthrow that aspect of you that seeks not to harm another human being.Do I present a one-sided view of the workplace? Surely there are positive aspects? I would say there are, but just like the CEO that subverts his values and moral judgement for the benefit of shareholders, employees do it too, for the sake of their income. Only the employees are further down the food chain and occupy arguably a more dangerous role, that is, of the one who must pull the trigger. Quoting C. Wright Mills, Arlie Hochschild, in her book The Managed Heart, says that when we sell our personality in the course of selling goods or services, we engage in a seriously self-estranging process, one that is increasingly common amongst workers in advanced capitalist systems. Hochschild says that in this selling of goods and services, we must apply effort, or “emotional labour,” involving “feeling rules” and “emotion work.” Like airline staff and restaurant waiters who always wear a smile, we manage our emotions to serve the corporate demand.Her ideas are aligned with Erving Goffman’s work, on which I have written before, who in his 1956 book, The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life, suggested that one-to-one everyday human interaction was in its essence theatrical. Goffman believed we always attempt to guide how others perceive us. In parallel, the other obtains information about us and forms a view of us. As such, there is a mutual exchange, a theatrical performance between parties. However, rather than being staged in a manipulative or phoney way, Goffman says the adoption of social roles is a natural occurrence in human behaviour. But working life is different, especially where we are required to adopt a prescriptive performance that aligns with corporate objectives.In her study of the daily work of flight attendants and bill collectors, both male and female, Hochschild came to understand the phenomenon of emotional labour at a deeper level. She realised that workers try to preserve their sense of self by circumventing the “feeling rules” of work. The “feeling rules” tell workers how to respond to difficult circumstances, to “smile like you really mean it” as one flight attendant trainer insisted. Workers respond as prescribed, displaying the “right” feeling, but suffer anyway from a sense of being “false” or robotic. The more both givers and receivers engage in the fake exchange; it seems the more we are willing to accept the mechanical impersonal responses that seem to permeate contemporary life.A couple of years ago, my work was keeping me mostly on the Southside of the city. A new coffee shop opened near where I worked, and parched of good quality coffee; I decided to give it a go. Maybe the area finally has a coffee shop I could keep coming back to, I thought. The owner worked behind the counter, getting his hands dirty as new small business owners must do. His place was clean and organised, and most importantly, it served good coffee. But something turned me off–his pleasantness. It was completely over the top, almost sickeningly so. He was smiling like he really meant it, and it turned me off.In this case, and I’d hazard to guess many commercial engagements like it, there is a sense that if we present what we believe people expect, then they’ll buy more stuff from us. So it’s a big fat fake relationship, and I don’t believe there’s anything more damaging to our sense of self than this horrible game of pretend. We take living breathing organisms, place them in a fake plastic environment we call the workplace, tell them how to perform, bury their true feelings, and we expect them to remain healthy. It’s simply not going to happen. Work psychology tries to correct these discrepancies through research and intervention, but it’s a band-aid on an open wound. Measures to improve workplace conditions are welcome, but they are largely ineffective. Besides, corporations will only agree to workplace improvements where their bottom line is increased, or at worst, not impacted at all.The world of people and commercial enterprise won’t stop today or tomorrow. But if you feel the disconnect between how they say you should feel in your work and how you really feel, then you should work to close the gap. You can compartmentalise your feelings for only too long before it catches up. If we want to be happy and fulfilled in our work, I don’t believe we have any other option other than to remove ourselves from that arrangement.Thanks for taking the time to read my stuff. If you enjoy Sunday Letters, consider supporting my work. I’m on Twitter if you’d like to follow me there. Oh, and there’s the Sunday Letters Podcast. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit sundayletters.larrygmaguire.com/subscribe

1. Actuaciones (primera parte): Confianza en el papel que desempeña el individuo, Fachada, Realización dramática, idealización --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/anarkademia/message

Introducción --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/anarkademia/message

Media technologies today seem to be everywhere. Assisting us in – or invading – each and every corner of our daily existence. We have already discussed how this ubiquity is embedded into a huge range of physical infrastructures; environments where media technologies surround us. And yet, we also increasingly carry media around with us, in our pockets, hands, ears, across our eyes, around our wrists. We wear media like clothes – and we may soon implant media within our bodies. This need not be seen in the guise of science fiction. It is more interesting to see it as really quite ordinary. For a long time, we humans have shared an intimacy with media technologies. They not only affect how we see ourselves, but modulate and help produce who and what we are. In this episode, we will begin our exploration of media as embodied technologies with the humble mobile phone. Through their aestheticisation, practical uses and technological development, mobile phones were an important precursor to the myriad mobile devices we know today. Contemporary embodied technologies however go beyond being portable, or affording wireless access to online content. They are increasingly built into our bodies, and modulate our interactions with environments: automatically detecting one's geographic location and orientation, or one's bodily temperature and heartrate, or the ambient sound and lighting in a room. This leads to a range of issues warranting critique, which we explore with reference to increasingly popular 'self-tracking' apps and wearables. Should the significant bodily data sets generated by such apps and devices concern us? Might we need new ways to think about digital literacy, medical efficacy, privacy, and surveillance? And how might these mobile technologies be developed and applied in the future? Thinkers Discussed: Sarah Kember and Joanna Zylinska (Life After New Media); Adriana de Souza e Silva and Jordon Frith (Mobile Interfaces in Public Spaces); Erving Goffman (briefly); Sherry Turkle (The Second Self / Evocative Objects); Lisa Gitelman (Always Already New); James Katz and Mark Aakus (Perpetual Contact: Mobile Communication, Private Talk, Public Performance); Harvey May and Greg Hearn (The Mobile Phone as Media); James Miller (The Fourth Screen: Mediatization and the Smartphone); Ian Bogost (Apple's Airpods Are an Omen); Judith Butler (briefly); Zygmunt Bauman (Liquid Modernity); Daniel Palmer (iPhone Photography: Mediating Visions of Social Space); James Gilmore (Everywear: The Quantified Self and Wearable Fitness Technologies); Adam Greenfield (Everyware: The Dawning Age of Ubiquitous Computing); Kate Crawford, Jessa Lingel and Tero Karppi (Our Metrics, Ourselves: A Hundred Years of Self-Tracking from the Weight Scale to the Wrist Wearable Device); Hillel Schwartz (Never Satisfied: Social History of Diets, Fantasies and Fat).

Sean Rife and I discuss the idea of the Total Institution, as originally described by sociologist Erving Goffman. We examine several Total Institutions in detail, and touch on the connection these have with religion and purity cults. We also discuss Thomas Szasz and his ideas about mental illness and the ways in which entire societies can come to resemble a total institution. Related links: Sean Rife's homepage Erving Goffman's book Asylums. Thomas Szasz: The Myth of Mental Illness. Statistics Blog: Dumb Arguments by Smart People. Jonathan Haidt's Moral Foundations. Scite.ai citation analysis.

This episode of The Garden School features a discussion on Identity. What does it mean to be a Self in the world? How should an Individual act? Miles and I will be looking at Erving Goffman and the concept of Dramaturgy -- that life is a Drama. 

“I'm giving mundane examples here, but it can be a matter of life or death in a sense. Whether people are believed or not, it changes their destiny” In this episode, we bring you an interview with Dr Baptiste Brossard. Dr Brossard is a sociologist and lecturer currently based at Australian National University. He has an interest in mental health, sociological theory, qualitative methods and utopias. He has authored two books:Why Do We Hurt Ourselves?: Understanding Self-Harm in Social Life; and Forgetting Items: The Social Experience of Alzheimer's Disease, which is the focus of our interview today. This interview was captured during last year's AAS conference held in Canberra, at the ANU. Dr Brossard spoke with our own Julia Brown about what sociology and anthropology can bring to the study of Alzheimer's Disease, and how ethnographic practice informed his time spent with French and Quebecois Alzheimer's patients. He discusses how he applied some key theories from philosophy and sociology such as Erving Goffman's Interaction Order, Deference and Ian Hacking's Looping Effect to his ethnographic observations. He also reflects on narratives of loss, selfhood and social inequity in the context of being diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease. Quotes, Links and Citations can be found on our website thefamiliarstrange.com Don't forget to head over to our Facebook group The Familiar Strange Chats. Let's keep talking strange, together! If you like what we do and are in a position to do so, you can help us to keep making content by supporting us through Patreon. Our Patreon can be found at https://www.patreon.com/thefamiliarstrange This anthropology podcast is supported by the Australian Anthropological Society, the ANU's College of Asia and the Pacific and College of Arts and Social Sciences, and the Australian Centre for the Public Awareness of Science, and is produced in collaboration with the American Anthropological Association. Music by Pete Dabro: dabro1.bandcamp.com Shownotes by Matthew Phung and Julia Brown Podcast edited by Julia Brown and Matthew Phung

What price the self in the 21st century? We may be living in the age of the "selfie" and of social media narcissism but is there anything fixed about the self? Philip Dodd and his guests, the novelist, Tom McCarthy, the sociologist, Susie Scott, the neuroscientist, Daniel Glaser and the painter, Dexter Dalwood explore the notion of identity today taking in the major Rauschenberg retrospective at Tate Modern, Erving Goffman's seminal work of sociology, The Presentation of the Self in Everyday Life and the way we all use words to constantly make and remake our selves. Robert Rauschenberg runs at Tate Modern from December 1st until April 2nd 2017. Dexter Dalwood's art is on show at the Saatchi Gallery in an exhibition called Painters' Painters which runs from 30 Nov 2016 - 28 Feb 2017. Tom McCarthy's novels include C and Satin Island Producer: Zahid Warley.