ALBEL, Rasheed A.

SocSc11

1 BS AMDSc – M DSc PAPER: Dramaturgy

Main character dilemma: Will every mask fit me?

You wake up in the exact body you had yesterday, you then proceed with your
routines, you interact with people, and you encounter different directions. Sounds like a
story? Well, life is more than that — it’s a theater. American sociologist Erving Goffman
(1959), in his book The Presentation of Self in Everyday life, introduced the concept of
dramaturgy in the field of social science. Here, he bore life’s resemblance to a theater to
explain human behavior. According to him, we always live life on stage, performing our
respective roles. Furthermore, Goffman suggests that our encounters may be considered
scripts, including not only our words but also our gestures and actions (Behrndt & Turner,
2016). As actors, we always cover our faces with masks and change our roles, each of which
changes from time to time, according to our audience — the society. One’s claim that no
dynamic things are happening in their life is therefore ironic, as we always find the need to
portray different characters with our existence, no matter how routinary it sounds.

Biologically speaking, the very first role I took in this world would have to be being
my parents’ [eldest] child. At home, I can say that my parents and my siblings consider me
as “seryosong panganay” and the third parent of the family. Be that as it may, I see to it
that I do not impose my siblings’ respect on me, but earn it. I naturally speak direct to the
point especially when a thing is considered to be a family matter in the same way I have to
weigh every factor every time I get to be consulted before coming up with a certain
decision, a thing they consider they ought me. Word-thrifty responses, little to no gestures
of showing my affection, spending the whole day facing my laptop and being studious in
their eyes, I have to say that the sign vehicles I used to express in promoting my serious self
to them are effective. As Herrera et al. (2003) cited, Sulloway (1996) offered novel
hypotheses about birth rank differences. Using the Big Five personality dimensions (Costa &
McCrae, 1985), he claimed that firstborns are more achievement-oriented, antagonistic,
anxious, assertive, conforming, extraverted, fearful, identified with parents, jealous,
neurotic, organized, planful, responsible, self-confident, and traditional. In a more social
context, I am often labeled by my relatives, family friends, and other people as introverted
whenever I am with my family. They see me as the most academically-inclined and
responsible eldest child, then my parents will affirm it, saying I’m always busy studying all
day at home: perhaps an innuendo that I did well portraying my role, and showing my mask
to the family.

The antagonism of these, on the other hand, will come when I play my role as a
friend. In this one, I am more animated. With my excessive gestures and loud voice, I am
that “go-to joker friend” that will often initiate catch-up talks and not run out of topics. My
social circle though is not your stigmatized Uniqlo and other premium brands-fan Ateneans,
instead, those who do not care if they just wear thrift and stocked clothes on almost every
occasion, no matter how casual or formal it may be. We, sometimes, will also be that loud
group of teenagers at the back, while you eat in your favorite fast-food chain (yes, not
glamour restaurants). All of these sign vehicles I also consider effective as I find it an easy
task to socialize with my friends, despite being labeled as that math person who computes
every single cent of the bill, something I cannot deny. Despite all these traits I attributed to
this role, I am also considered by many as, still, a serious person who can shift his mood
anytime once faced a pressing circumstance. Hence, I sometimes subconsciously wear that
eldest child mask again, even if I am supposed to perform my role as a friend, which leads
me to my assumption of what is my authentic self: engaging and responsive yet pensive.

However, I have to admit that I encounter different problems as I shift from one
mask to another. I would want to consider it a natural thing though because I am fully aware
that not everyone can recognize all your personalities. The thing is, it is during times when I
perform as my authentic self — being impassive — that everyone encouraged me to play my
performing role, specifically that of a friend. Albeit they do not say it directly, I feel like my
family labels me a cold person, inexpressive of his affection and appreciation. I assume they
see me enjoying my friends’ company more than them, which is the total opposite of what I
want to do because it frequently tires me sustaining the energy and carrying the burden of
being that zested companion. I know showing my affection shouldn’t be that hard, I am not
trying to do any harm to anyone after all. But I think I have to do it by other means such as
excelling in my studies and hopefully giving them the future, they want to have, rather than
expressing it physically and verbally — both of which I am not fond of. Nonetheless, it
definitely makes sense that I am more comfortable expressing my authentic self to my
family. After all, they shall be the people who know me the best after me.

Our identities vary depending on the set of people we are exposed to, i.e., our
audience; an actor on the performance stage might be a different person behind the scenes.
We invest in portraying our roles front stage since we are aware that our audience is
watching, and then go backstage, expressing ourselves with no one around. We frequently
adjust these roles according to what society expects us to be. We feel the urge to meet
everyone’s expectations alongside the way we wanted to be viewed. We, in return, depend
on our interpretation of one’s personality on the sign vehicles they express to us and figure
out the role they are trying to play depending solely on our perceptions. People regularly
monitor their impact on others and try to gauge the impressions other people form of them.
Often, they do this without any attempt to create a particular impression, but simply to
ensure that their public persona is intact. Under certain circumstances, however, people
become motivated to control how others see them (Leary & Kowalsky, 1990). These
concepts are referred to in LibreTexts™ as “The Two-Way Street” and “Impression
Management” respectively.

With Goffman pointing out human interaction as the process of gathering and
sending information, one can conclude that this world is therefore relational. Everything is a
relationship; but unlike in mathematics, we do not need any line tests to see if it functions
or not, rather it is in your capability of building a healthy one, and aptness of fitting in every
mask life requires you to wear. As we show our different personas in society and perform on
everyone's frontstage, it is of utmost importance that we do it consciously and that at the
end of the day, we can still go back to that authentic self we are at our backstage. To sum
up, people are not just the main characters of their narratives, they are the protagonist of
their show; as life itself is more than just a story, but a theater we invariably “perform” in.
References

Behrndt, S. & Turner, C. (2016). Dramaturgy and Performance. Bloomsbury Publishing.

https://books.google.com.ph/books?
id=ERxHEAAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=dramaturgy+and+performance&hl=en&sa=X&
ved=2ahUKEwjT7Pehx9X5AhVn1XMBHRTgB-kQ6AF6BAgFEAI#v=onepage&q=dramaturgy
%20and%20performance&f=false

Goffman, E. (1959). The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. Doubleday.

https://monoskop.org/images/1/19/Goffman_Erving_The_Presentation_of_Self_in_Everyda
y_Life.pdf

Herrera, N., Zajonc, R.B., Wieczorkowska, G. & Cichomski, B. (2003). Beliefs About Birth
Rank and Their Reflection in Reality. Journal of personality and social psychology. 85. 142-
50. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.85.1.142.

Leary, M. R., & Kowalski, R. M. (1990). Impression management: A literature review and
two-component model. Psychological Bulletin, 107(1), 34–47. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-
2909.107.1.34.