Individuals can be involved in two types of activity: social interaction and individual action. These are not mutually exclusive activities, and Goffman points out that someone fully engaged in a conversation can simultaneously chew gum, adjust his or her posture, and perform simple repetitive tasks. Most well-adjusted adults strike a balance between personal and social action during casual interactions; however doing so in a formal setting often breaks with ceremonial order.
Every social interaction creates certain expectations for participants in that interaction. When involved in spontaneous conversation, each person is expected to pay attention, respond to direct questions, and not break off the interaction without formally withdrawing.
In addition to these basic requirements, Goffman theorizes that each participant is responsible for providing other participants with an opportunity to sustain the interaction, who in turn must sustain the interaction for another. In two person interactions this process is clear. Interactions between larger groups involve more complex procedures for sustaining the interaction. Thus classroom teachers interacting with students must make it clear who is the next participant in the interaction. Some teachers accomplish this by calling on students individually to respond to questions. Students are expected to answer correctly or incorrectly, or at very least express an inability or unwillingness to answer.
|
|
|
|
| External Preoccupation | Occuring in many forms, this form of alienation results when one or more participants are distracted from the interaction by serious or trifling issues unrelated to the interaction. In some cases, it could be a lingering thought about a previous interaction or activity. In other cases it might be preoccupation with something about to occur. Some preoccupation is entirely voluntary, and indicates boredom or frustration with the current interactions. Other preoccupations are involuntary, and result when the seriousness of other considerations outweighs the value of the present interaction. One apocryphal example of the latter sort is Sir Francis Drake calmly completing a chess game while anticipating a confrontation with the Spanish Armada. |
 |
| Self-Consciousness | The first form of internal preoccupation, alienation from self-consciousness occurs because "the individual may focus more of his attention than he ought upon himself" (p. 118). This might result in the individual partially withdrawing from the interaction; alternately it might result in an individual unduly focusing the conversation on himself or herself. The most common form of self-conscious alienation is withdrawing from an interaction because of a loss of face or other lowering of ritual standing. |
 |
| Interaction Consciousness | The second form of internal preoccupation, Interaction Consciousness results when a participant is overly concerned with the interaction itself, and is not spontaneously engaged in the topic of conversation. One common source of this form of alienation is when one or more individuals is responsible for the "success" of an event or interaction; Goffman supplies the example of the hostess at a party. Another common situation resulting in Interaction Consciousness is the "awkward silence" that occurs when interactants have run out of material to discuss but have not properly resolved the interaction. |
 |
| Other Consciousness | The third form of internal preoccupation results when a participant is unduly distracted by other participants, or their views of the first participant. On one hand, the alienated participant might be preoccupied with finding faults and shortcomings in other participants, or evaluating the worth of others as interactants. This results in affectation and insincerity, which disrupts the interaction for other participants. On the other hand, a participant may be preoccupied by how other interactants view him or her. Quoting Cooley, "there are persons who in the simplest conversation do not seem to forget themselves ... but are felt to always be preoccupied with the thought of the impression they are making, imagining praise or depreciation, and usually posing a little to avoid the one and gain the other." (p. 121) |
 |
"When an individual senses that he or other participants are failing to allocate their involvement according to standards that he approves, and in consequence that they are conveying an improper attitude towards the interaction and the participants, then his sentiments are likely to be roused by the impropriety - much as they would be were any other obligations of the social order broken. But matters do not stop here. The witnessing of an offense against involvement obligations...causes the witness to turn his attention from the conversation at hand to the offense that has occured during it." (p.125)
In a classroom setting, one or more forms of alienation from interaction will result in a student losing focus on the task at hand. If a student's attention is distracted by external or internal preoccupations, learning is much less likely to occur.
Website by John Cochener, © 2010