Presentation covering some suggested details and potential theoretical anlyses pertinent to DD101 TMA03 (2013). Produced by Dr Craig A Hammond - Preston Cluster

1. DD101 – TMA03
(2013)
TMA Question:
Examine the argument that
‘Good fences make good
neighbours’.
Dr Craig A. Hammond (DD101 Preston Cluster)

2. Considering the Question …
• Looking at …

3. Erving Goffman
„The Presentation of Self In
Everyday Life‟ (1959)
(see pages 172-173 of „Making Social Lives‟ Chapter 4)

4. Dramaturgy
 What is Dramaturgy
 Dramaturgy is Impression Management
 According to this approach Social Interaction is akin to a stage – it
involves „performances‟
 Each individual performs to „scripts‟
 Behaviour codes and expectations that have been learned through
previous experiences & encounters
 For Goffman, performance is divided into two regions, Front-‟Stage‟
and Back-‟Stage‟:

5. Front Stage
 Front-Stage refers to the places where our performances are
expected (and given)
 As actors we perform our roles (and characters) for each audience
 As performing individuals we conform to certain standards, codes
and social expectations associated with…
Matters of Politeness
 This relates to the ways in which performers communicate with their
audience (whilst engaged in talk, involving gestural interactions)
Decorum
 Refers to sets of behaviors involving the conduct of the performer
within the visual or audio range of the audience

6. Back Stage
 Back-Stage is where „the hidden parts of our personality‟ can make
an appearance
 Here the performer can relax; s/he can drop the staged /
performance „front‟; break free from the „script‟, and step out of
character
 This is a place where the performer is liberated from the audience
expectations (and can reliably expect that no external/social
audience will intrude)
 The back-stage is meant to be „hidden‟ from the audience (and so
therefore remain free from judgment)
Question: Think about and offer a few examples of your own Front &
Back stage aspects of your identity/personality (performances):

7. Transition
 In between the Front and Back Region, there is a phenomenon
called the “Zone of Transition”
 Goffman argues that this is one of the most interesting areas of
impression management
 During these „in between‟ moments, we experience the confusion,
discomfort and awkwardness of having to negotiate between the
two regions…

8. What happens when an actor makes a
mistake and reveals the „hidden aspects‟
of their Back-Stage performance?
Read the following excerpt (taken from pages 264 & 265 of
DD101 Chapter 6 – „Making Social Lives‟)
Highlight examples of what you see to be:
 Front-Stage
 Back-Stage
 Zone of Transition

10. Questioning the notion of ‘private property’
• In September 1869, anarchist Mikhail Bakunin
delivered his Report on the question of
Inheritance in this, he addresses the problem
of ‘private property’:
• “We intend that both capital and land … should cease
being transferable through the right of inheritance,
[instead] becoming forever the collective property of all
… Equality, and hence the emancipation of labour and of
the workers, can be obtained only at this price.”

11. Private Property = Theft?
• Marxists define private
property as the right of
an individual, or group
of individuals, to
exclude others from the
use of an object.

12. Selling off the Family Silver?

13. • Russell Brand – The Guardian: Tuesday 9th April 2013 –
notes that:
• “When all the public amenities were flogged (during the
1980s), the adverts made it seem to my childish eyes fun
and positive, jaunty slogans and affable British
stereotypes jostling about in villages, selling people
companies that they'd already paid for through tax. I just
now watched the British Gas one again. It's like a
whimsical live-action episode of Postman Pat where his
cat is craftily carved up and sold back to him.”

14. DD101 – TMA03
(2013)
So, to re-cap on the TMA Question:
“Examine the argument that ‘Good
fences make good neighbours’.”
The Anarchist / Marxist approach raises some
different issues … it questions the necessity of
Private Property in the first place …

16. • ‘Fences’ are produced through private
Property
• Private Property is based upon (and
perpetuates) ‘alienation’ = competition &
exclusion / winners & losers
• Greed, selfish-individualism and ‘ownership’
become the generic principles of society
• Private Property operates against the virtues
of community, sharing, co-operation …

17. • To what extent do you think that housing,
neighbourhoods, neighbours, communities
could be different (to what they have
become)?