Irving Goffman, a sociologist, means something special for me. If I had not had met him, I wouldn't have studied what I have. In other words, I may not have even become a scholar. He meant that much to me.
Goffman limited his theme of 'communication among people' to 'the interaction when people meet in face to face relation.' He described in details every day scenes -What is actually being done to each other when they are encountering? - in the unique terms: 'Putting on airs', 'being humble', 'telling lies', 'making jokes', and 'saving or losing face'. He says our daily life is full of performative actions, which people even try to put a lid on them. This attitude of his was very persuasive to me, who was critical to hypocritical attitudes seen among adult people. "See? Am I right!" I felt.
Goffman helped me visualize Peter Burgers' words, 'Sociology debunks a social construction of reality.'
I thought about two themes in my thirties. One was 'direct relationships; 'men and women(couples)', 'parents and children', 'friends', 'acquaintances', and 'workmates', which was worked up into "My Simpe Life." (Chikuma-shobo,1988) The other was personal relationships through some media, which was into "Micro-Sociology of Media.(Chikuma-shobo, 1989)"
These two works are based on Goffman's theory. However he gradually went out of my sight and people around me came to talk about him less and less. This may be because he died and we 've got no more chances to read his new works, or because people in our society act performatively so often that his theory might not be applicable any more.
I also have come to be interested in 'personal computers' and 'popular music' since the beginning of my forties.
Recently when I found this book, however, I felt I want to read it, not only because I felt like "Hi, Goffman, long time no see." but because I remembered a vague feeling deep in my mind of 'why I gave up Goffman.'
I came across a sentence 'Goffman's works are his autobiography,' in the first couple of pages. I've never thought we may find what he really was like in his works, of which I put together my experiences and wrote 'My Simple Life' on the basis. I've even never expected that we might. I just felt that he wrote about 'me' and 'people around me.'
Winkin explains why he believes that Goffman wrote about himself: We can assume that in his works Goffman 'reproduces so many scenes where he himself appeared as a member of the social structure.' I've come to know that Goffman tried to pull off masks with which people work hard to perform 'ourselves to be' in everyday life and also he had himself play a role in all of his plays or works. I got so much impressed by this viewpoint of Winkin's that I kept reading it through to the end. I found myself agreeing with his opinion referring to Woody Allen.
The latter half of this book is Winkin's interview with Goffman, which was made two years before Goffman died. Goffman speaks very honestly and sincerely, which I felt is quite different from the way he writes. This, however, didn't surprise me at all because I beleive that an attitude of being honest in looking at our everyday life and describes it as it is is what lies in the Goffmans' world.
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