Dramaturgy

Conceptual Overview

The dramaturgical approach to the study of social life has a long history. The past 50 years or so, in particular, have seen numerous references to social performance and its dramatic interpretation. Kenneth Burke's work in the 1940s is an important contribution here. Burke put forward the view that dramatism helps to explain observed behavior by ascribing motives for that behavior. Dramatism, he argues, proposes five terms necessary for a complete analysis of motive. These constitute his Pentad: act, which describes what was done; scene—when or where it was done; agent—who did it; agency—how the agent did it; and purpose—why something was done. When only one or two of these five elements are presented as the explanation of a piece of behavior, mystification occurs and observers try to reach a coherent account that offers complementary accounts consistent with the known elements. Burke is interesting because of his critical perspective. His contribution to the development of dramaturgical approaches rests on his analysis of life as theater, and, by implication, organization as theater.

However, perhaps the most important contribution to the dramaturgical analysis of social life comes from Canadian sociologist Erving Goffman working in the 1950s. His highly influential The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life, in which he presents the extended metaphor of life as theater, first introduced the term dramaturgy to social psychology. Goffman analyzed social interaction as dramatic performance and gave particular attention to the staging, setting, props, and costume, which together constitute a successful performance. He also made the distinction between front stage and backstage behavior noting how this differed when the actor was off stage. He also pointed out that behavior was likely to vary according to the audience to which it was directed. In the same decade, British anthropologist Victor Turner was working to bring fresh insights into anthropology. His analysis of social drama, introduced in the late 1950s, enlivened functionalist British social anthropology by offering a processual analysis of social behavior and ritual. Both Goffman and Turner, from their different perspectives, placed a specific emphasis on observation of behavior and context. This was to influence a generation of organization studies researchers and contribute to what, in the 1960s, was the emerging field of organizational behavior. The 1970s saw the publication of Dennis Brissett and Charles Edgeley's edited volume, Life as Theater: A Dramaturgical Source Book. This [Page 407]contributed to a body of work on dramaturgy and social life. In the 1980s, Iain Mangham and Michael Overington made a significant contribution to the development of dramaturgical approaches to organizations with Organizations as Theatre, published in 1987. This book brought the application of the theatrical analysis of organizations to a wider audience. They concentrated on such aspects of dramaturgy as character, plot line, direction, and motivation. With his passion for theater as a master metaphor for organization studies, Mangham brought together a formidable experience of theater with a love of practice and applied his knowledge in a range of empirical settings. Thus, Mangham's work acts as a bridge from theater as organization rooted in observation and description, to theater in organization as a means of active intervention.

...