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♪ (light jazz music) ♪
(chattering)

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"All the world's a stage


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and all the men 
and women merely players;

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they have their exits
(knife slicing)

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and their entrances,
(baby crying)

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and one man in his time
plays many parts..."

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The sociologist Erving Goffman 
took these lines 


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from <i>As You Like It</i>
very seriously.

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In his dramaturgical account 
of human interaction,

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he argued that we display 
a series of masks to others,

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enacting roles,

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controlling and staging 
how we appear,

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ever concerned 
with how we are coming across,

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constantly trying to set ourselves
in the best light.

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According to Goffman, 
(page turns)

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we play a range of different parts
(speaking angrily)

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determined by the situations 
we take ourselves to be in

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and how we think 
we are coming across.

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We adapt what we are depending 
on who we are interacting with.

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This is most apparent

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in awkward situations
(cheering)

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where we suddenly find ourselves 
trying to play two inconsistent roles.

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As for example, when 
we accidentally encounter friends

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from very different social groups
and have to juggle masks.

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The analogy with acting only goes 
so far for Goffman, though,

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because in his view, 
there is no true self,

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no identifiable performer 
behind the roles.

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The roles just are the performer.

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He challenged the idea
that each of us has

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a more or less fixed character, 
a psychological identity.

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At least in the role 
of author 


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of <i>The Presentation of Self 
in Everyday Life</i>, he did.

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♪ (light jazz music) ♪

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♪ (light jazz music) ♪