People, in all aspects are very different, especially in behavior. A person’s behavior determines the actions they perform, the people they’re surrounded by, and the way how they are classified among others. These are affected by Erving Goffman’s theories of impression management, dramaturgy and symbolic interaction. In sociology, impression management is a goal-directed conscious or unconscious process in which people attempt to influence the perceptions of other people about a person, object or event. People do this by regulating and controlling information in a social interaction. For example, a teenager may talk to his friends using swears, slang, and a dialect that only his friend’s understand. However, this same teenager may talk to his parents and grandparents in a totally different manner. Impression management also goes hand in hand with the theory of dramaturgy, which is a theory that states that people act a certain way dependant on time, place and audience. For example, a school principal may be a colleague, faculty member, advisor, and teacher in a high school, but when at home, he is a father, husband, neighbor, and friend. He dresses different in each scenario, as well as talk, act, and presents himself differently. He may use different symbols or terms as well, which is part of symbolic interaction. Symbolic interaction is the use of symbols, gestures, and language to interact with others.
A perfect example that uses all three of these theories is the movie “Europa Europa”. The film is based off of the autobiography written by Solomon Perel, which tells the story of the Jewish boy who survives World War II by posing as an Aryan German. Perel joins the German Army and is eventually accepted into the Hitler Youth. At the end of World War II, he is reunited with his brother. Throughout the film, Solomon creates and uses many identities to survive in Nazi Germany. He uses all three of the theories that Goffman created effectively, to fool those who...