(Goffman) The Interaction Order

Erving Goffman’s posthumously published essay, ‘The interaction order’,  which was to have been presented as a presidential address at an annual  meeting of the American Sociological Association, is usually taken to be  an attempt at a systematic summary by Goffman of his key ideas. (This) address can also be understood as a profoundly  personal and deeply scornful critique by Goffman of the varieties of  mainstream sociology and the pretensions of its practitioners.  Incorporated into that critique is a simulacrum in which Goffman  demonstrated what a systematic treatment of his work might look like had  he actually been inclined to generate one. In that respect, ‘The  interaction order’ transcends the boundaries of what we ordinarily  expect to find in an academic address: it is simultaneously an artful  display of Goffman’s real vocational commitment to sociology, a  contribution to the rhetorical debate in which he engaged with the  practitioners of orthodox versions of sociology and a brief but  significant demonstration of some aspects he considered distinctive  about his own form of sociology. - Michael Rosenberg (2019)