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INDIVIDUAL SOCIETY

SYMBOLIC BOUDARIES. According to Erving Goffman, every social situation calls for deliberate presentation of self. When in public, we engage in active identity maintenance which requires self projection and role playing something that takes place on various levels of consciousness but can never

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INDIVIDUAL SOCIETY

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    1. INDIVIDUAL & SOCIETY 10.20 www.rci.rutgers.edu/~mvm32

    2. SYMBOLIC BOUDARIES According to Erving Goffman, every social situation calls for deliberate presentation of self. When in public, we engage in active identity maintenance which requires self projection and role playing – something that takes place on various levels of consciousness but can never be assumed to just “naturally be there.”

    3. BEHAVIOR IN PRIVATE PLACES: SUSTAINING DEFINITIONS OF REALITY IN GYNECOLOGICAL EXAMINATIONS To take this a step further, Joan P. Emerson suggests that reality maintenance requires role playing as well – within society-set boundaries. But what happens when the realities within the same setting are at odds with each other – what Emerson terms as precarious situations?

    4. BEHAVIOR IN PRIVATE PLACES… The stability of such precarious situations, depends on three types of potential disruptions of the fragile reality: “Intrusions on the scene may threaten definitions of reality, as when people smell smoke in a theater…” “Participants may deliberately decline to validate the current reality, like Quakers who refused to take off their hats to the king.” Or a person, understanding how he should behave, may have limited social skills so that he cannot carry off the performance he would like to. (p. 266)

    5. BEHAVIOR IN PRIVATE PLACES… Emerson chose gynecological examinations as a subject study because she felt that it is a setting that exemplified multiple contradictory definitions of realities and its stability was threatened by certain participants’ inability to stick to prescribed role scripts (#3 on the above mentioned list of the things that threaten reality of precarious settings…)

    6. BEHAVIOR IN PRIVATE PLACES… Gynecological examinations are extremely intrusive procedures – both, physically and psychologically. At any other time, when a person’s body is being handled in this kind of physical way is in sexually intimate setting behind closed doors. This is why the gynecological examination setting presents a dilemma in reality maintenance – the means and the ends do not seem compatible.

    7. BEHAVIOR IN PRIVATE PLACES… This is why, it appears, most of the effort at a gynecological clinic is channeled towards creating and sustaining a medical definition of the situation. Everything here is supposed to scream professionalism, neutrality and sterility – from the white and pastel colors of the office décor to the glare of the bright lights, the standardized uniforms donned by the staff and doctors, the elaborate display of medical tools and technology, the use of medical terminology – all this contributes to the desexualzation of the setting.

    8. BEHAVIOR IN PRIVATE PLACES… The medical definition calls for a matter-of-factness – as in: “of course, this is normal and you (the patient) should consider this normal too.” The patient is meant to be perceived as a technical object to the doctor and staff (as a part on an assembly line.) “The staff disattend the connection between a part of the body and some intangible self that is supposed to inhabit the body.” (p. 267) (Think – the “disembodied” self.)

    9. BEHAVIOR IN PRIVATE PLACES… Most of the enforcing of these boundaries is done on the medical side of the line. “The staff take part in gynecological examinations may times a day, while the patient is a fleeting visitor. More deeply convinced of the reality themselves, the staff are willing to convince the skeptical patients.” (p. 267)

    10. BEHAVIOR IN PRIVATE PLACES… “The scene is credible precisely because the staff act as if they have every right to do what they are doing. Any hint of doubt from the staff would compromise the medical definition.” (p. 267) And so, we see that this is very much a reality hinged on convincing theatrical performance on behalf of the hospital staff for the benefit of the patient (and themselves and the institution in general.)

    11. BEHAVIOR IN PRIVATE PLACES… So far, we have seen that the medical definition is detrimental in this setting: “Topics of talk, particularly inquiries about bodily functioning, sexual experience, and death of relatives might be taken as offenses against propriety. As for exposure and manipulation of the patient’s body, it would be shocking and degrading invasion of privacy were the patient not defined as a technical object.” (p. 268)

    12. BEHAVIOR IN PRIVATE PLACES… And yet… “definitions that appear to contradict the medical definition are routinely expressed in the course of gynecological examinations.” (p. 268) Q: How can this be? A: “Although defining a person as a technical object is necessary in order for medical activities to proceed, it constitutes an indignity in itself. This indignity can be canceled or at least qualified by simultaneously acknowledging the patient as a person.” (p. 268)

    13. BEHAVIOR IN PRIVATE PLACES… Let us, for a moment, turn out attention to the gender aspect of this issue. While this is not addressed in Emerson’s treatise, it may be of value to question whether gender expectations play any role in the boundaries set in place by the gynecological examination setting. Are male patients handled in similar ways by urologists, for instance? Let’s take a look at a couple of examples.

    14. BEHAVIOR IN PRIVATE PLACES… On p. 270, there is an interesting description of what an ideal female patient demeanor should be – according to the staff at a gynecological clinic. Would men be expected to act this demure? On p. 271, there is a description of what doctors or staff members do to soothe frightened patients. Would the same technique be applied to men?

    15. THE BOTTOM LINE Emerson concludes that, in order to create that taken-for-granted experience “that reality seems to be out there before we arrive on the scene” (p. 265) is to, in the case of the gynecological examination, sustain a shifting balance between medical definition and counter-themes. (p. 268)

    16. THE BOTTOM LINE – CONT’D “The technique of constructing reality depends on good judgment about when to make things explicit and when to leave them implicit…” (p. 276) This budgeting of levels of implicitness and explicitness is done through the drawing and redrawing of boundaries.

    17. ‘PRECARIOUS SITUATIONS’ IN A STRIP CLUB: EXOTIC DANERS AND THE PROBLEM OF REALITY MAINTENANCE Note to self – take attendance Drawing on Emerson’s work, Kari Lerum did a participant observation study to investigate reality maintenance in strip clubs.

    18. PRECARIOUS SITUATIONS… In the case of the strip club setting, Lerum found out, the question was not: “Is this truly just a professional routine, or is it asexual and / or intimate act?” – as was the case with the gynecological examinations, but rather: “Is this truly a sexual and / or intimate act, or is it just a professional routine?” (p. 279)

    19. PRECARIOUS SITUATIONS… The strip club situation is, of course, different in several ways from the gynecological examination setting. One is the power dynamic: “The situation is precarious because the pendulum of meaning could easily swing either way; if it swings in favor of the worker’s definition, the worker succeeds in performing her or his transaction with professional and personal integrity intact. If, however, the pendulum swings in favor of any contradictory definition, the routine is disrupted and the worker’s grip on the situation is loosened.” (p. 280)

    20. PRECARIOUS SITUATIONS… The reason for this, it seems, is because the striptease business lacks institutional legitimacy: “Unlike the gynecological business, whose legitimacy is protected by massive institutions like the American Medical Association and the U.S. government, the social and legal legitimacy of exotic dancing is far shakier and subject to regional, state and local variation.” (p. 281) Lack of institutional and social legitimacy spell stigmatization and lack of respect towards the profession of the exotic dancer.

    21. PRECARIOUS SITUATIONS… It is also because of this stigma, that the “classier” places (self-proclaimed ‘gentlemen’s clubs) make sure to distance themselves from anything ‘seedy’ and the exotic dancers make it a point not to be mistaken for prostitutes. All this requires painstaking arrangement of space, décor, lingo, dress-code, music and clientele -- i.e.: reality management.

    22. THE BOTTOM LINE Because of this “edgy” side to it, exotic dancers cannot rely on implicit hints (like gynecological staff members) to convey their messages to their clients. Explicit meaning is the way to go in this business – spelling things out is the only way to ensure everyone is on the same page

    23. THE BOTTOM LINE – CONT’D There are two contradictory themes at a strip club – one of work and one of play. The dancer’s work is to maintain the illusion of play. The client’s role is to play along without disrupting the dancer’s work. Both must be complicit for this to culminate in a satisfactory outcome.

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