Chapter 1: The reception of Goffman’s work in media and communication

Erving Goffman's much-loved works are still widely cited in the field of media and communication. His work has stimulated research on news framing, mass media and social media, inviting new insights about how communication, self, audiences and public life are mediated by, but also transcend, particular technological forms. What explains the continuing relevance of this highly original theorist?

In this important new book, Peter Lunt critically reconstructs Goffman's analysis of language and the 'interaction order'. He examines how and why the concepts developed by Goffman – face-work and the mediated self, front and back stage, impression management, media frames and logics, footing and interaction rituals – still resonate across the field. Ultimately, Goffman's work emerges not only as an enduring influence, but as a source of new inspiration in our ever more interactive world.

Original and incisive, Goffman and the Media is crucial reading for students and scholars encountering this fascinating thinker from a media studies perspective.