Life as a Stage: Berger and Goffman’s Social Construction of Reality

Emily Alavian, Olivia Catic, Magwyer Cowan, Joscelyn Deauv, Maham Sheikh

From everyday interactions to celebrity culture, our roles are not fixed but constantly shifting by the world around us. Together, the Berger and Goffman videos give a comprehensive view of how society is constructed by explaining both macro and micro levels of social reality. Berger’s macro-level view offers a broad social context for Goffman’s micro-level. The videos complement each other because they both suggest that reality is socially constructed, that interactions shape roles, and that those roles are constantly changing. These ideas help explain contemporary phenomena like celebrity culture.

The Berger and Goffman videos give a perspective on how reality is socially constructed. This is done through Berger’s macro-level reality explanation and Goffman’s micro-level one. Together, the two theorists help us understand how society is institutionalized. Berger starts this perspective through the view that everything is done collectively. The video reinforces the collective understanding that the world is shaped by how people interact and includes everyone’s experiences, not just experts like “philosophers” but everyday people like the “taxi driver.” So, because everyone’s experiences shape our group understanding, these behaviours become routine, normalized and then institutionalized over time. Goffman’s micro explanation furthers Berger’s macro view by adding an individualized aspect. He explores how people adapt their behaviour in different situations, performing various roles to shape how others perceive them. This is his idea of impression management. Goffman believed that reality is socially constructed because people can act in a different, influential way, depending on their situation and who they are with.

Both Berger and Goffman’s videos focus on the collective understanding of the roles shaped by interactions. It suggests that society’s ideas about roles and expectations do not come from the individual but from the combined knowledge of culture. As society changes, how we define and view different roles also changes. Shifting to the individual level, Goffman’s ideas complete Berger’s by showing that roles are not just shaped by group beliefs but also by interactions with others. People change their behaviour by acting and performing in different situations to make a specific impression and presenting a different image (face) based on how others react, so they constantly shift roles.

The Berger and Goffman videos show that roles are not fixed but constantly evolve based on social interactions and cultural shifts. Berger’s macro perspective suggests that societal institutions help shape roles over time, meaning that as social structures change, so do the societal expectations attached to each role. Goffman’s micro-level view complements this by showing how people adjust their behaviour depending on their social setting, using impression management to adapt to new environments. People constantly present their “frontstage” self in public and “backstage” self in private to manage how people see them. The two videos demonstrate that people continuously adapt their identities in response to shifting societal norms.

Celebrity culture or the public fascination with fame, image, and influence can be explained by Berger and Goffman’s ideas. First, as Berger suggests, reality is socially constructed, and celebrities’ public images are not based on absolute truth but are shaped by how the media, fans, and society perceive them. Like Goffman’s impression management, celebrities change their roles based on interactions with their fans, the media, and the press. Finally, celebrities’ roles constantly change to keep up with new trends and changing public opinions to stay relevant and mainstream. This shows Berger’s idea that collective knowledge changes over time and Goffman’s lens that people change their performance based on interactions.

Ultimately, our reality shapes itself by the social structures and interactions we engage with. We adjust our behaviours, roles, and identities as we navigate different social situations. We continuously evolve our societal roles in response to cultural shifts, societal expectations, and human interactions. Berger and Goffman help us understand that our identities are constructed individually and deeply interconnected with the world around us.