 Reverend Dr. William J. Barber Tags: crime/law/deviance, discourse/language, goffman, government/the state, inequality, knowledge, lgbtq, prejudice/discrimination, social mvmts/social change/resistance, theory, civil unions, collective action frames, marriage equality, same-sex marriage, 00 to 05 minsYear: 2011 Length: 4:24 Access: YouTubeSummary: In previous posts on The Sociological Cinema, we have explored Erving Goffman's concept of framing ( here, here, and here). To recap, the concept has been useful for scholars of social movements, who have rebranded the term collective action framing. The concept denotes the active and processual sense-making and signification of phenomena done by social actors. In other words, the realization that a conflict with police is evidence of a repressive state and that the passage of a new law is an effort to codify division and discrimination are socially "made" interpretations or meanings. They are the social achievements sociologists refer to as frames . The success then of passing a new law or amending an old one often hinges on how the proposed change is framed for the public and how influential that particular frame is in shaping the terms of the debate. The above clip is a speech from Reverend Dr. William J. Barber. who rebukes the media for using the "wrong" frame to report on the recent amendment to North Carolina's state constitution, which passed on May 8, 2012 and defines marriage as between one man and one woman. The amendment also bans any other type of "domestic legal union," such as civil unions and domestic partnerships. Barber asserts that the media frequently polled the public asking, "How do you feel about same-sex marriage?" but a better question—a better frame—would have been whether a majority should be able to decide on the rights of a minority, or should discrimination should be written into the constitution? Here Barber is clearly attempting to key the struggle against Amendment One to the protests of the Civil Rights Era, and he even mentions the Voting Rights Act of 1965 by name. In Part II, we'll move beyond framing and explore how this video can be used to illustrate insights from intersectionality theory, a theory that offers promise in overcoming the divisions of identity politics. Submitted By: Lester Andrist
 Tags: goffman, psychology/social psychology, social construction, theory, face, impression management, interaction order, self, 00 to 05 minsYear: 2004Length: 2:16Access: Comedy CentralSummary: One of the most difficult aspects of Ervin Goffman’s face to understand is the concept’s multifaceted nature. Face is both ‘something we are in’ during social interactions as we conform to social roles, identities and practices; but simultaneously face is also ‘something that can be gained and lost’ through our impression management. To overcome this difficulty, Dave Chappelle’s ‘When Keeping it Real Goes Wrong’ can be used to highlight the multifaceted nature of Goffman’s concept. In this video, Vernon Franklin feels a colleague violated the rules of the interaction order by being insensitive, thus creating a social situation where the two facets of face conflict with each other. Vernon is forced to choose between ignoring an insensitive comment and maintaining face as afforded to him by his colleagues because he abides by the rules of the interaction order; or challenging his offensive colleague and save the face he claims for himself through his personal pride and dignity. Vernon chose the former by leaving face and “keeping it real;” or he abandons the line others expect him to play to maintain a positive self-perception of his own self. Because of his own violation of interaction order, he ends up first losing face as afforded to him by others when he is fired from his high paying job and then the face he is able to claim for himself as he is relegated to the occupational role of a poorly paid car wash employee. Submitted By: Jason T. Eastman
 Violinist Joshua Bell performing in a subway station. Tags: art/music, class, goffman, methodology/statistics, theory, defining the situation, pierre bourdieu, social experiment, taste, subtitles/CC, 00 to 05 minsYear: 2007 Length: 2:52 Access: YouTubeSummary: This video footage depicts a young man playing a violin in a Washington, DC Metro station during the heart of the morning rush hour. Unbeknownst to passersby, the musician is the world renowned Joshua Bell, playing one of the most difficult pieces ever written, on a violin worth $3.5 million dollars. In total, Bell played for about 45 minutes to about 1,100 people moving through the station. During this time, only a handful stopped to listen; he collected $32. Organized by the Washington Post, this social experiment was designed to broach questions around perception, beauty, and priorities; however, it can also be used to teach sociological concepts, such as Erving Goffman's theory of defining the situation and Pierre Bourdieu's theory of taste. Goffman argues that when individuals encounter one another, they (consciously or not) seek out information about the other so as to define the nature of the interaction. Morning commuters use the information around them to define the interaction between themselves and the violinist, including the fact that the musician is playing in a subway station, wearing everyday street clothes, standing beside an open violin case occupied by loose bills and change. Despite Bell's talent and professional status, given this information, the majority of commuters define the situation as an amateur musician playing for money, and they ignore him. Had the situation been defined with a sign that identified the world famous violinist playing an impromptu public concert, presumably more commuters would have stopped to listen. This latter point also speaks to Bourdieu's theory of taste, in which Bourdieu rejects a pure or genuine conception of aesthetics and instead argues that "good taste" is simply a reflection of the taste of the ruling class, demarcated by ruling class signifiers. Given that Bell is in a non-elite space, wearing non-elite clothing, playing for a non-elite audience, commuters are unable to recognize the highly skilled nature of the art. This demonstrates how good taste can be understood as a social (and Bourdieu would say classed) phenomenon, rather than an objective truth. This clip is one of several featured on The Sociological Cinema that illustrates social experiments, including experiments on racial bias, the Milgram experiment, and breaching experiments at Grand Central Station and on a college campus. Submitted By: Valerie Chepp
 Tags: goffman, psychology/social psychology, theory, backstage, corrective practice, defensive practice, definition of the situation, dramaturgical discipline, front stage, impression management, interaction repair, protective practice, roles, symbolic interactionism, working consensus, 00 to 05 minsYear: 1993 Length: 4:51 Access: YouTubeSummary: Clips from Seinfeld seem to be full of interesting insights about human interaction. Economists have been using Seinfeld clips to illustrate insights from rational choice theory, and here at last is a clip that demonstrates concepts from the symbolic interactionist perspective in sociology. In this clip from season 5, episode 10, "The Cigar Store Indian," Elaine and some other women are playing poker when Jerry shows up. He enters from the "outside," and it quickly becomes apparent he does not completely share the women's definition of the situation. The role he tries to enact (i.e., friend, comedian, potential lover) is completely bungled once he unwraps his gift of a cigar store Indian for Winona, who is Native American. Elaine tries to protect Jerry to no avail and attempts an interaction repair with her friend, Winona, but Jerry's errors are too great to overcome. The scene is a vivid illustration of what Goffman called a break down in his essay, " Embarrassment and Social Organization." Other useful scenes come from the episodes, " The Barber," " The Raincoats," and " The Lip Reader," all of which feature examples of disruption, embarrassment, and break down. Submitted By: Caitlin Cross-Barnet
 _Tags: commodification, emotion/desire, goffman, theory, arlie hochschild, back stage, dramaturgy, emotional labor, front stage, impression management, presentation of self, 00 to 05 minsYear: 2005 Length: 2:03 Access: YouTubeSummary: [Trigger warning: this clip includes explicit language] Waiting is a movie about a day in the life of workers at a casual dining restaurant. These clips can be used to highlight a number of concepts related to Erving Goffman's dramaturgical perspective. For example, in order to avoid disruption and with hopes of getting a bigger tip, the wait staff go to great lengths to manage the impressions that customers have of them. These "front stage" performances are, however, quite different from the "back stage" interactions between the wait staff and cooks. In a separate vein, the clip also highlights Arlie Hochschild's concept of "emotional labor," a concept which she develops in her book The Managed Heart: Commercialization of Feeling. One can see in the clip how the wait staff must go to great lengths to maintain pleasant appearances in the face of rude and unruly customers. Submitted By: Derek Evans (@Dee_Wreck)
 Tags: goffman, theory, dramaturgy, facework, impression management, performance, self-presentation, social interaction, 00 to 05 minsYear: 2006 Length: 1:42 Access: YouTubeSummary: The intended content from this BBC video is not nearly as interesting as the social interaction that takes place during the segment. The anchor and the audience believed the interviewee was Guy Kewney, the editor of a technology website News Wireless; however, due to a mix up back stage, a man named Guy Goma was rushed onto the set for the interview (Goma was in fact in the BBC studios awaiting an interview with the accounting department). The video shows Goma's look of surprise when he realizes he is not the person that is supposed to be interviewed. The clip addresses several features of Goffman’s (1973) The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life with a focus on impression management. During this formal television interview, Goffman’s notion of the ‘front’ is seen here as ‘institutionalised’ and with ‘stereotyped expectations’ (Goffman 1973). In this 'scene,' the anchor and interviewee face each other to ensure they are seen as engaging with each other, but also in order to present themselves to the television audience. The backdrop features several computers and people working to put forward an image of the busy newsroom. Goffman would refer to Goma's shocked facial expression as an example of being ‘out of face.’ Goma does not know how to act, given that he does not have the appropriate knowledge and is not the person he is taken to be; however, to prevent disruption during this live broadcast, the respondent and anchor ‘maintain face,’ by attempting to carry on with their respective roles as interviewer and interviewee, as if nothing disruptive has happened ( Goffman 1967). The rest of the interview illustrates what Goffman refers to as ‘the arts of impression management,’ (Goffman 1973) where both the anchor and interviewee take on ‘dramaturgical loyalty.’ They take it as their ‘moral obligation’ to continue in a formal manner. They can both be described as deploying ‘dramaturgical discipline’ by ‘maintaining face’ and managing their ‘fronts,’ so that they are both seen to be as professional characters their audience expects them to be. Submitted By: Jessica Lee and Michelle MacDonagh
 Tags: gender, goffman, marriage/family, theory, motherhood, role expectations, role conflict, social status, subtitles/CC, 00 to 05 minsYear: 2009 Length: 3:16 Access: YouTubeSummary: Anita Renfroe uses music and comedy to present a day in the life of a mom. “Momsense” (also called “Momisms”), set to the William Tell Overture, is her rendition of the many conversations between mothers and their children. This short clip works well as an introduction to social status, social roles, and role expectations. It also illustrates the scripts of mothers (Goffman’s dramaturgy). Before the clip is shown, ask students to identify the role expectations of mothers. After the clip, discuss which phrases (or scripts) were familiar to them and illustrated various role expectations. Here, instructors can move to a discussion about such things as: 1) role strain, or the difficulty of competing demands of motherhood; 2) role conflict, or the difficulty that mothers face in balancing work and family; and 3) status, including privileges extended to mothers because of their position in society. Another interesting discussion could focus on gender role expectations of fathers (Renfroe created a similar rendition called “Dadsense”, with the only words being “go ask your mom”). Students can explore Kimmel’s idea of multiple masculinities and a broadening idea of gender roles. An instructor might even pose the question, do students think that their generation will become more accepting of the nurturing and caregiving role of fathers? Submitted By: Cindy Wasberg
 Tags: goffman, theory, comedy, impression management, self-presentation, social interaction, 00 to 05 minsYear: 1990 Length: 5:56 Access: YouTubeSummary: In this clip from the popular British comedy television series of the same name, Mr. Bean attempts to cheat off a fellow student during an exam. So as to appear inconspicuous, Mr. Bean engages in impression management, a process in which social actors---either consciously or not---seek to influence the perceptions of other people by controlling information exchanged and exhibited during the social interaction. Erving Goffman emphasized that the process of impression management (and the closely related concept of self-presentation) is specific to a situational context. In this case, Mr. Bean attempts to regulate the social interaction in such a way that his classmates and professor do not suspect him of cheating; he does so by drawing upon behavior that we, as a society, have collectively deemed "test-taking behavior," appropriate for the situational context of a classroom exam. Such behavior deployed by Mr. Bean includes pretending to have a sudden epiphany of a correct answer, and feigning intense concentration by wrinkling his brow and sticking out the tip of his tongue. However, as time passes and Mr. Bean gets more desperate, his attempts to cheat become more extreme; as such, his ability to manage his fellow student's and professor's impressions of the situation become more tenuous, bordering on failure. Goffman says that when a social actor's attempts to present a desired impression is inconsistent with an audience's perception---that is, when the impression management process breaks down---embarrassment occurs. Instructors can encourage students to think about the great lengths we all go, like Mr. Bean, to manage people's impressions of ourselves in our everyday lives. Can students think of embarrassing moments in their own lives and apply theories of impression management and self-presentation to make sense of these awkward social interactions? Submitted By: Stephanie K. Decker
 Darcus Howe Tags: class, crime/law/deviance, discourse/language, goffman, government/the state, inequality, knowledge, media, race/ethnicity, social mvmts/social change/resistance, theory, violence, collective action frames, politics of signification, 00 to 05 minsYear: 2011 Length: 4:24 Access: YouTubeSummary: What shall we name what is happening in London? While investigating gun crimes, police shot and killed Mark Duggan, a 29 year-old Black man who was carrying a loaded gun (though it should be said, he never fired the weapon on police). Catalyzed by Duggan's death, protests, looting, and destruction of public and private property have rapidly spread across London. Is it a riot, an uprising, a rebellion, a social movement, or is it an insurrection? Whatever frame we choose has important consequences for the shape of things to come. For instance, the word riot suggests disorganized destruction, whereas an insurrection suggests an organized effort against oppression. One frame will likely garner more support for this social upheaval than the other. In this clip, the BBC interviews Darcus Howe, a television journalist and long time grass-roots activist. At the 3:08 mark, Howe keys the current turmoil, which is spread throughout London, to that which took place in 1981 in Brixton. He then insists that what is happening in London is an "insurrection of the people." At 3:40, the BBC reporter appears to challenge Howe's credibility by naming him a rioter. "Mr. Howe," she interrupts, "if I could just ask you, you are not a stranger to riots yourself, I understand, are you?" Howe refuses this frame in his reply: "I have never taken part in a single riot. I've been on demonstrations that ended up in a conflict." The clip would work well with a class grappling with social movements and the importance of collective action frames. To quote Benford and Snow ( 2000, p. 613), the confrontation between Howe and the reporter is a rather vivid example of two signifying agents "actively engaged in the production and maintenance of meaning for constituents, antagonists, and bystanders or observers. [Signifying agents] are deeply embroiled, along with..local governments, and the state, in what has been referred to as a 'politics of signification' ( Hall 1982)." Submitted By: Lester Andrist
 Anthony Robles wrestles for the 2011 NCAA Championship Tags: bodies, disability, goffman, sports, theory, master status, stereotypes, stigma, subtitles/CC, 06 to 10 minsYear: 2011 Length: 9:43 Access: YouTubeSummary: Anthony Robles is an Arizona State University student who won the 2011 NCAA Wrestling Championship, despite having only one leg. His case is an interesting example of stigma (i.e. a social or individual attribute that is devalued and discredited in a particular social context). When looking at him, people are likely to place an immediate stigma on him (note that many videos and headlines refer to him as a "one-legged wrestler" rather than "wrestler"), discrediting his physical abilities and perhaps assuming a poor performance in competitive sports. As noted by Goffman, this link is done through stereotypes, rather than objective attributes, which becomes clear in this video showing his 7-1 victory in the championship match. The tendency to qualify him as a one-legged wrestler and continually comment on his disability, as these announcers do, suggests the way a disability is used to form one's master status. In other words, Robles' missing leg becomes his primary identifying characteristic, overshadowing all other markers of status. This clip can be used in class to discuss disability, stereotypes, and master status, but it would also be useful to use the clip as a means of discussing how people often resist the stigmas assigned to them. Submitted By: Lia Karvounis
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