Dramaturgical Theory or dramaturgy is mostly associated with the work of Erving Goffman. It represents a combination of symbolic interactionism and dramatism approach pioneered by American literary critic Kenneth Burke.  Burke stated that there are five key dramatist terms: the act, scene, agent, agency, and purpose. By combining them, in different ways, with different emphases, and in different empirical settings, we can form a “grammar of motives.” He wanted to apply this model to understand a wide variety of social situations, and to understand the motives people had for their actions.

Canadian-American sociologist Erving Goffman (1922-1982) presents his dramaturgical approach in the book The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life (1956). He believes that face-to-face interpersonal relationships should be the focus of research and that any such relationship can be viewed as a theatrical role. This dramaturgical approach studies interpersonal relationships through six basic concepts: 1) performance, 2) the team, 3) the region, 4) discrepant roles, 5) communication out of character, and 6) impression management.

He views all people as performers who, consciously or unconsciously, perform rehearsed speeches and roles, to maximize the potential to deceive other people. On the other hand, people as observers also observe all aspects of other people's performances, to expose potential deception. Our performances will be more credible if we are "sincere", rather than „cynical“ that is, if we really believe in the role we play. Goffman believes that every person is, in fact, a mask, so theatricality is necessary for us to maintain that mask.

The performances are supported by "fronts" of which the most important are „settings“, "expressive equipment" (clothes, manner of speech), and "manner“ (personal style of performance“. This kind of front is part of the performing „routine“. Performances are often deliberately filled with a dose of "mystification". People often act as part of a "team", and such teams are often coordinated, and members have additional information about the performances of people who are not available to other observers. Goffman distinguishes between a performance that takes place consciously and publicly, and background performances in which the secrets that the team wants to hide can be revealed. "Impression Management" refers to everything that performers do to better play a role, deceive and hide secrets.

Goffman calls all these aspects of complex interpersonal communication an "interactional order." For Goffman, the interaction order serves as a conceptual scheme for understanding everyday interpersonal communication, and he further developed this concept in his book Behavior in Public Places (1963a). In this book, he studies communication in various public places, such as restaurants, elevators, stadiums, and formal events. He distinguishes between three types of personal interaction: "gathering", "situation" and "social occasion". Each of these types of communication can be "focused" - when people consciously participate in a specific type of mutual communication, and "unfocused" - when such a specific relationship does not exist. Gatherings are the type of communication meetings that are the least focused, situations are meetings with higher focus, while social gatherings are organized so that they are limited in time and space and include the highest degree of ritualization, preparation, and focused communication.

In his book Strategic Interaction (1969), Goffman further developed a dramaturgical approach, focusing on the aspect of communication as an instrumental, goal-oriented, activity. He distinguishes between „strategic interaction“, which is aimed at achieving a specific goal, and normative behavior, which does not strive to achieve some external goal but is a goal in itself.

In the book Frame Analysis (1974), Goffman partially changed his former perspective and introduced the concept of "organized frames", thus introducing a distinction between the theatrical situation and everyday activities that do not require a role. Role-playing takes place only when there is specific permission from the audience to show the drama. Such permission provides a framework that determines performance characteristics. People use these organized frameworks, which they have imposed on themselves, to keep the group together. Frames serve to organize our experience by determining exactly which form of communication takes place. "Primary frameworks" are those that relate to the real reality of communication. Primary frameworks can be " keyed " when the meaning of the primary frame is misinterpreted. "Fabrications" are frameworks designed to deceive other interlocutors. To prevent misinterpretation of the frames, and for the audience to accept them as real, people implant the frames in the current reality.

In his book Forms of Talk (1981), Goffman explores different forms of speech and pays special attention to the "footing of talk". This term refers to the projection of the selves that the interlocutors have during the conversation. He views society as loosely integrated through everyday conversation, which is based on the ritual affirmation of a shared reality. Conversation plays a key symbolic role here, helping to define, strengthen, and maintain the structure of social groups and patterns of interaction. Everyday communication is maintained through symbolic and routine elements of decency. Institutional and interactive order are loosely connected through a common ground in symbolic and ritual forms that connect the individual with ingrained sacred and moral values. The social structure does not define cultural practices or rituals but helps individuals to choose from an already available repertoire.

In his book Asylums (1961), Goffman explores „total institutions“ and how the interactional order develops within them. Total institutions are those in which a person spends all his time, such as prisons, monasteries, boarding schools, etc. In a concrete empirical study for the book, Goffman explored life within a mental hospital. He divided the so-called "moral career" of the patient into three phases: before, during, and after the hospital stay. The period before going to the hospital was marked by a "betrayal funnel" by people close to the patient who reported his behavior. After entering the institution, the patient experiences a "civil death", because he loses most of his human and civil liberties. In addition, patients experience "mortification of self" through the standardization of clothing, as well as many other inconveniences. Patients who do not cooperate with the hospital staff are punished, and those who cooperate, which is perceived as a sign of improving mental health, receive certain benefits. Patients are constantly forced to choose between a reduced sense of self, if they follow all the instructions, or, otherwise, to create strategies to restore self-autonomy, however, such strategies carry with them the risk of causing punishment, or being interpreted as a worsening of the mental state. Goffman came to the controversial conclusion that psychiatrists lack real knowledge about mental illness and that they instead apply common sense criteria when interpreting patient behavior.

Goffman continues to explore similar themes in his book Stigma (1963b) in which he studies how stigmatization relationships arise in interpersonal communication. His focus is on how a stigmatized person performs "information control" to keep private information that could be harmful if found out. This control of information is essential for three aspects of our identity: personal, social, and ego. Personal identity contains our life history and makes us unique; social identity is a perception that others have of us through the groups to which we belong; the ego is that aspect of personality that relates to what we think of ourselves. Goffman introduces the term "identity politics" to explain the relationship between the stigmatized and those who are not. However, he also believes that all people are stigmatized in some way and that we can talk about the continuum rather than clear boundaries between the stigmatized and those who are not. Stigmatized people can accept the values ​​of normal people and then belong to "normal deviants" or reject social norms when they belong to "social deviants".

Authors: Goffman, Erving. Burke, Kenneth; Duncan, Hugh Dalziel; Gusfield, Joseph; Edelman, B. Lauren; Perinbanayagam, Robert; Stone, Gregory. 

Books:

Burke, Kenneth. A Grammar of Motives (1969);

Cochran, L. and Claspell, E. The Meaning of Grief: A Dramaturgical Approach to Understanding Emotion (1987);

Duncan, H. D. Communication and Social Order (1962);

Goffman. The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life (1956);

     -     Asylums (1961);

     -     Behavior in Public Places: Notes on the Social Organization of Gatherings (1963a);

     -     Stigma (1963b);

     -     Interaction Ritual (1967);

     -     Strategic Interaction (1969);

     -     Relations in Public: Microstudies of the Public Order (1971);

     -     Frame Analysis (1974); 

     -     Gender Advertisements (1979);

     -     Forms of Talk (1981).