Goffman (1967) Interaction Ritual -
Embarrassment and social organisation p.97 “in our Anglo-American society at least, there seems to be no social encounter that cannot become embarrassing to one or more of its participants” p.99
Vocab of embarrassment p.99 Participants can feel embarrassment nor only for individuals, but for pairs of participants, or whole encounters. If individual is a representative of a faction, then whole faction can feel embarrassment.
“in these matters ego-boundaries seem especially weak. When an individual finds himself in a situation that ought to make him blush, others present usually will blush with or for him, though he may not have sufficient sense of shame or appreciation of circumstances to blush on his own account”
“abrupt embarrassment may often be intense, while sustained uneasiness is more commonly mild, involving barely apparent flusterings. An encounter which seems likely to occasion abrupt embarrassment may, because of this, cast a shadow of sustained uneasiness upon the participants, transforming the entire encounter into an incident itself.” P.100
Uses imagery of mechanics: when embarrassment happens, equilibrium or self-control can be lost, balance overthrown. The physical character of flustering evokes this imagery. “he and his flustered actions block the line of activity the others have been pursuing.” Flustering threatens the encounter by disrupting smooth transmission
lack of composure may not necessarily mean displeasure in interaction, and composure is not always pleasurable (e.g. heated argument) – compliments, sudden award may throw participants into a state of “joyful confusion” p.101
“there is a kind of comfort that seems a formal property of the situation and which has to do with the coherence and the decisiveness with which the individual assumes a well-integrated role and pursues momentary objectives having nothing to do with the content of the actions themselves”
“to appear flustered, in our society at least, is considered evidence of weakness, inferiority, low status, moral guilt, defeat and other unenviable attributes”
the flustered individual may attempt to conceal this by “screens”; “the fixed smile, the nervous hollow laugh, the downward glance that conceal the expression of the eyes” p.102
tactful people avoid putting others in this position and pretend not to notice when someone is embarrassed. Also called graciousness, social-skill; “in all this dance between the conceal and the concealed-from, embarrassment presents the same problem and is handled n the same ways as any other offense against propriety” p.103
there is a critical point where the flustered individual gives up concealing this – “after that it is very difficult for him to recover composure. He answers to a new set of rhythms, characteristic of deep emotional experience, and can hardly give even a faint impression that he is at one with the others in interaction. In short, he abdicates his role as someone who sustains encounters. The moment of crisis is of course socially determined: the individual’s breaking point is that of the group to whose affective standards he adheres. On rare occasions all of the participants in an encounter may pass this point and together fail to maintain even a semblance of ordinary interaction. The little social system they created in interaction collapses; they draw apart or hurriedly try to assume a new set of roles.”
People may go out of their way to avoid embarrassing situations and take part in those that won’t be p.104
Causes p.105 Unfulfilled expectations, of what sort of conduct ought to occur. These expectations are moral in kind.
Social function p.110 “by showing embarrassment when he can be neither of two people, the individual leaves open the possibility that in the future, he can be either” he gives the example of an apprentice and a specialist in the same factory (different status-hierarchy) becoming embarrassed about reaching the drinks machine at the same time, or sharing a lift (equality) – “the principles of any social organistaion are likely to come into conflict at certain points. Instead of permitting the conflict to be expressed in an encounter, the individual places himself between the opposing principles. He sacrifices his identity for a moment, and perhaps the encounter, but the principles are preserved. He may be ground between oppossing assumptions, thereby preventing direct friction between them, or he may be almost pulled apart, so that principles with little relation to one another may operate together. Social structure gains elasticity; the individual merely loses composure.”p.112
“embarrassment is not an irrational impulse breaking through socially-prescribed behaviour but part of this orderly behaviour itself” p.111
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