Sociologist Comparison Essay

Submitted By bonjourmadame

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I found when looking at different sociologists from different time periods, it was amazing to see the similarities as well as differences between them with their perspectives and methods. I decided to compare Erving Goffman who is considered to be “the most influential american sociologist of the twentieth century” and Peter Hall who is a more current sociologist and professor. Both of their primary focuses were on symbolic interactionism.

Erving Goffman was a sociologist and writer born in Canada in 1922 and died in 1982. He started the study of face-to-face interaction which is known as micro-sociology. He was most famous for The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life where he studied the way roles played a part in every day life. He developed the dramaturgical perspective where he believed that peoples every day lives were parallel to performers interacting on a theatre stage. He used the metaphor of theatre to explain human behaviour and interaction. Thinking that individuals perform actions in their everyday lives as if they were performers on stage. The dramaturgical theory suggests that each persons identity is being constantly remade when the they interact with others. Individuals are just like actors in which the goal is to be accepted from the audience and viewed in a certain way. Erving Goffman was a major figure when it came to symbolic interactionism. Many people often refer to him to this day, including Peter Hall.

Peter Hall is a professor of sociology and

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