Dmitri N. Shalin, a Sociology professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and director of the Centre for Democratic Culture, delves into the life of Erving Goffman, a pivotal sociologist. Shalin discusses the challenges of writing Goffman's biography due to restricted access to his papers. He unpacks how Goffman's immigrant background and personal tragedies shaped his groundbreaking theories on identity and mental health. The conversation also explores Goffman's legacy in sociology and its relevance to contemporary democratic politics.
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insights INSIGHT
Face Work and Social Identity
Goffman's concept of "face work" reflects how society grants and withdraws social identity and esteem.
Soviet citizens' experience of projecting false images amplified this understanding of social performance and stigma.
insights INSIGHT
Goffman's Upbringing and Stigma
Goffman's childhood in a Russian Jewish immigrant family exposed him to social division and class tensions that influenced his theories.
His sensitivity to stigma grew partly from his small stature and minority identity.
question_answer ANECDOTE
From Class Symbols to Interaction
Goffman's early work shifted from studying class status symbols to exploring how society manages individuals with diminished status.
His dissertation fieldwork underscored communication efforts to minimize class differences and maintain harmony.
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We have long lacked a biography of Erving Goffman. Partly this can be explained by Goffman’s direction for his papers not to be opened to researchers after his death. This meant those who may wish to write Goffman’s biography had a lack of material to draw upon. Dmirti Shalin, author of Erving Manuel Goffman: Biographical Sources of Sociological Imagination (2025, Routledge), has overcome this by developing the Erving Goffman Archives, a collection of correspondence, family histories, syllabi and reminisces which allows for this book to exist as the first true biography of the great scholar. In providing the details of Goffman’s life, Shalin has provided new ways of looking at Goffman, showing how factors like his upbringing in a family of Russian Jewish immigrants, his relationship with, and the sad suicide of, his wife, his interactions with colleagues and his everyday interactions shaped his sociology. Along the way we are encouraged to look anew at Goffman’s work on topics such as the presentation of self, mental health, gambling and gender. In doing so, we learn much about Goffman not just as a scholar, but as a man.
In our conversation we cover the whole of Goffman’s life, moving from his youth and onto the significant points in his career and their impact upon his sociology. We also discuss the archive and how it came to be and discuss what Goffman’s legacy maybe for the future of democratic politics.
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