The Latest Breaking News from Erving Goffman

Asking someone for their time, help, attention or a favor always leaves room for rejection, which can feel uncomfortable for everyone involved. To make the interaction feel less awkward, the person making the request may soften what they are asking before the other person has even had a chance to…

Waving goodbye after someone departs is a deeply ingrained social ritual. This automatic habit develops through years of repeated social interactions. Attachment theory explains how these rituals help regulate emotions during separation. Conversation analysis shows endings involve multiple closing signals for completion. Your brain ensures goodbyes feel complete, even when…

In the race to create the new Instagram, rivals morph into each other, losing what makes them special in the first place, says Ysabel Gerrard, a senior lecturer in digital communication

Our cultural touchstones series looks at books that have made an impact.

In his 1974 book Frame Analysis, Canadian sociologist Erving Goffman argues that the way information is framed tells us what to think of an issue as much as how to think about it. But what if the framing is a spin in a report on a marginalised community, in the…

Inspired by the book The Presentation Of Self In Everyday Life by Scottish author Erving Goffman, Thai surrealist photographer Namoh Kongdhana created two photos under the theme "Everyday, A Play In One Act". The first photo represents "front stage" and portrays a girl sitting in front of a red theatre…

A panel of experts on conservative fascination with bodily functions — it's vicious, illogical and also revealing