Embarrassment and the Analysis of Role Requirements Author(S): Edward Gross and Gregory P

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Embarrassment and the Analysis of Role Requirements Author(s): Edward Gross and Gregory P. Stone Source: American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 70, No. 1 (Jul., 1964), pp. 1-15 Published by: The University of Chicago Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2775007 . Accessed: 12/06/2014 11:12

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This content downloaded from 137.99.63.107 on Thu, 12 Jun 2014 11:13:00 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions the americanjournal of sociology

Volume LXX Number 1 July 1964

Embarrassmentand the Analysis of Role Requirements1

EdwardGross and Gregory P. Stone

ABSTRACT Since embarrassment incapacitates persons for continued role performance, it can provide an indicator of basic requirements of role performance. Study of one thousand instances of recalled embarrassment revealed three major requirements: identity, poise, and confidence in established identity and poise. The analysis of identity reveals the significance of adjunct roles and reserve and relict identities. Disturb- ances of poise revolve about the handling of spaces, props, equipment, clothing, and the body. Viola- tions of confidence are prevented by performance norms. Finally, deliberate embarrassment is shown to have major social functions. Attitudes, in the view of George Herbert other things and carry other futures away Mead, are incipient acts. Meaningful dis- to other circles. course requires that discussants take one Poise is not enough. The futures that are another's attitudes-incorporate one anoth- presented, imperfectly realized, and re-es- er's incipient activities-in their conversa- tablished must be relevant. Relevance is tion. Since all social transactions are achieved by establishing the identities of marked by meaningful communication,dis- those who are caught up in the transaction. cursive or not, whenever people come to- Futures or attitudes are anchored in identi- gether, they bring futures into one anoth- ties. We speak of role as consensual atti- er's presence. They are ready, balanced, tudes mobilized by an announced and rati- poised for the upcoming discussion. The fied identity. In social transactions, then, discussion, of course, remands futures to a persons must announce who they are to momentary present, where they are always enable each one to ready himself with ref- somewhat inexactly realized, and relegates erence to appropriate futures, providing them in their altered form to the collective attitudes which others may take or assume. past we call memory. New futures are con- Often announced identities are complemen- stantly built up in discussions. Indeed, they tary, establishing the transaction as a so- must be, else the discussion is over and the cial relationship, for many identities pre- transaction is ended. Without a future, suppose counteridentities. Whether or not there is nothing else to be done, nothing this is the case, the maintenance of one's left to say. Every social transaction, there- identity assists the maintenance of the fore, requires that the participants be other.2 poised at the outset and that poise be maintained as the transaction unfolds, until 2 Alfred R. Lindesmith and Anselm L. Strauss there is an accord that each can turn to assert that every role presupposes a counter-role. There is a sense in which the assertion is correct, 1 Revision of a paper read at the annual meeting as in Kenneth Burke's "paradox of substance," but of the Midwest Sociological Society, April, 1963. it may also be somewhat misleading in sociological

This content downloaded from 137.99.63.107 on Thu, 12 Jun 2014 11:13:00 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 2 THEAMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY Furthermore, all transactions are trans- 800 students enrolled in introductory soci- actions through time. It is not enough that ology courses; and (2) about 80 students identity and poise be established. They enrolled in an evening extension class. Not must be continuously reaffirmed, main- solicited, but gratefully received, were tained, and provisions made for their repair many examples volunteered by colleagues in case of breakdown. Role performers and friends who had heard of our interest count on this. We attempt here to limn in the subject. Finally we drew upon many the structure of transactions by examining recollections of embarrassmentwe had ex- instances where identities have been mis- perienced ourselves. Through these means placed or forgotten, where poise has been at least one thousand specimens of embar- lost or destroyed, or where, for any reason, rassment were secured. confidence that identities and poise will be We found that embarrassments fre- maintained has been undermined.We have quently occurred in situations requiring in mind instances of embarrassment,wheth- continuous and co-ordinated role performer or not deliberately perpetrated. ance-speeches, ceremonies, processions, or working concerts. In such situations em- EMBARRASSMENT AND THE ANALYSIS barrassment is particularly noticeable be- OF ROLE REQUIREMENTS cause it is so devastating. Forgetting one's Embarrassment exaggerates the core di- lines, forgetting the wedding ring, stum- mensions of social transactions, bringing bling in a cafeteria line, or handing a col- them to the eye of the observerin an almost league the wrong tool, when these things naked state. Embarrassment occurs when- occur without qualification, bring the per- ever some central assumption in a transac- formance to an obviously premature and tion has been unexpectedly and unquali- unexpected halt. At the same time, mani- fiedly discredited for at least one partici- festations of the embarrassment-blushing, pant. The result is that he is incapacitated fumbling, stuttering, sweating4-coerce for continued role performance.3Moreover, awareness of the social damage and the embarrassmentis infectious. It may spread need for immediate repair. In some in- out, incapacitating others not previously stances, the damage may be potentially so incapacitated. It is destructive dis-ease. In great that embarrassment cannot be al- the wreckage left by embarrasmentlie the lowed to spread among the role performers. broken foundations of social transactions. The incapacity may be qualified, totally By examining such ruins, the investigator ignored, or pretended out of existence.5 For can reconstruct the architecture they rep- example, a minister, noting the best man's resent. frantic search for an absent wedding ring, To explore this idea, recollections of em- whispers to him to ignore it, and all con- barrassment were expressly solicited from spire to continue the drama with an im- two groups of subjects: (1) approximately aginary ring. Such rescues are not always 'Not all incapacitated persons are always em- analysis. Specifically, there is a role of cigarette barrassed or embarrassing, because others have smoker, but the role is not really dependent for its come to expect their incapacities and are conse- establishment on the counter-role of non-smoker quently prepared for them. in the sense that the parental role is dependent upon child roles and vice versa. Thus, in some 4 Erving Goffman, in "Embarrassment and Social social transactions the establishment and mainte- Organization," American Journal of Sociology, nance of one identity may be very helpful for the LXII (November, 1956), 264-71, describes these establishment and maintenance of a counter-iden- manifestations vividly. tity; in other transactions, this may not be the case 'A more general discussion of this phenomenon, at all (see Lindesmith and Strauss, Social Psy- under the rubric civil inattention is provided in chology [New York: Dryden Press, 1956], pp. 379- Erving Goffman, Behavior in Public Places (New 80; and Kenneth Burke, A Grammar of Motives York: Free Press of Glencoe, 1963), pp. 83-88 and [New York: Prentice-Hall, 1945], pp. 21-58). passim.

This content downloaded from 137.99.63.107 on Thu, 12 Jun 2014 11:13:00 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions EMBARRASSMENTAND THEANALYSIS OF ROLEREQUIREMENTS 3 possible. Hence we suggest that every en- others also presumably best fitted to the during social relation will provide means of occasion. When one is "not himself" in the preventing embarrassment,so that the en- presence of others who expect him to be tire transaction will not collapse when em- just that, as in cases where his mood car- barrassment occurs. A second general ob- ries him away either by spontaneous seizure servation would take into account that (uncontrollable laughter or tears) or by some stages in the life cycle, for example, induced seizure (drunkenness), embarrass- adolescence in our society, generate more ment ensues. Similarly, when one is "shown frequent embarrassmentsthan others. These up" to other parties to the transaction by are points to which we shall return. the exposure of unacceptable moral quali- To get at the content of embarrassment, fications or inappropriate motives, embar- we classified the instances in categories that rassment sets in all around. However, the remained as close to the specimens as pos- concept, self, is a rather gross concept, and sible. A total of seventy-four such catego- we wish to single out two phases that fre- ries were developed, some of which were quently provided focal points for embar- forced choices between friends, public mis- rassment-identity and poise.6 takes, exposure of false front, being caught Identity.-Identity is the substantive di- in a cover story, misnaming, forgetting mension of the self. names, slips of the tongue, body exposure, Almost all writersusing the term imply that invasions of others' back regions, uncon- identity establisheswhat and wherethe person trollable laughter, drunkennessin the pres- is in social terms. It is not a substituteword ence of sobriety (or vice versa), loss of for "self." Instead, when one has identity, he visceral control, and the sudden recogni- is situated-that is, cast in the shape of a so- tion of wounds or other stigmata. Further cial object by the acknowledgementof his par- inspection of these categories disclosed that ticipation or membershipin social relations. most could be included in three general One'sidentity is establishedwhen othersplace areas: (1) inappropriateidentity; (2) loss him as a social object by assigningthe same of poise; (3) disturbance of the assump- wordsof identitythat he appropriatesfor himself or announces.It is in the coincidenceof tions persons make about one another in placementsand announcementsthat identity social transactions. becomes a meaning of the self.7 Since embarrassment always incapacitates persons for role performance (to em- Moreover, as we have already pointed out, barrass is, literally, to bar or stop), a close identity stands at the base of role. When analysis of the conditions under which it inappropriate identities are established or occurs is especially fruitful in the revela- appropriate identities are lost, role per- tion of the requirementsnecessary for role- formance is impossible. playing, role-taking, role-making, and role If identity locates the person in social performancein general. These role require- terms, it follows that locations or spaces ments are thus seen to include the estab- emerge as symbols of identity, since social lishment of identity, poise, and valid as- relations are spatially distributed. More- sumptions about one another among all the over, as Goffmanhas remarked,8there must parties of a social transaction. We turn now be a certain coherence between one's per- to the analysis of those role requirements. 6 Other dimensions of the self-value and mood -will be taken up in subsequent publications. IDENTITY AND POISE I Gregory P. Stone, "Appearance and the Self," In every social transaction, selves must in Arnold Rose (ed.), Human Behavior and Social be established, defined, and accepted by Processes (Boston: Houghton-Mifflin, 1962), p. 93. in the the parties. Every person company 8Erving Goffman, The Presentation of Self in of others is, in a sense, obligated to bring Everyday Life (New York: Doubleday Anchor his best self forward to meet the selves of Books, 1959), p. 25.

This content downloaded from 137.99.63.107 on Thu, 12 Jun 2014 11:13:00 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 4 THEAMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY sonal appearance and the setting in which Embarrassment often resulted when our he appears. Otherwise embarrassmentmay subjects made personal appearances with ensue with the resulting incapacitation for either invalid or incomplete identity docu- role performance. Sexual identity is per- ments. It was embarrassing for many, for vasively established by personal appear- example, to announce their identities as ance, and a frequent source of embarrass- customers at restaurants or stores, perform ment among our subjects was the presence the customer role and then, when the cru- of one sex in a setting reserved for the oth- cial validation of this identity was re- er. Both men and women reported inad- quested-the payoff-to discover that the vertent invasions of spaces set aside for the wallet had been left at home. other sex with consequent embarrassment Because the social participation of men and humiliation. The implication of such in American society is relatively more fre- inadvertent invasions is, of course, that one quently caught up in the central structures, literally does not know where one is, that for example, the structure of work, than is one literally has no identity in the situa- the social participation of women who are tion, or that the identity one is putting for- relatively more immersed in interpersonal ward is so absurd as to render the proposed relations, the identities put forward by role performance totally irrelevant. Every- men are often titles; by women, often one is embarrassed, and such manifesta- names. Except for very unusual titles,1' tions as, for example, cries and screams, such identities are shared, and their pres- heighten the dis-ease. In such situations, entation has the consequence of bringing laughter cannot be enjoined to reduce the people together. Names, on the other hand, seriousness of the unexpected collapse of mark people off from one another. So it is the encounter, and only flight can insure that a frequent source of embarrassment that one will not be buried in the wreckage. for women in our society occurs when they To establish what he is in social terms, appear together in precisely the same dress. each person assembles a set of apparent9 Their identity documents are invalidated. symbols which he carries about as he moves The embarrassment may be minimized, from transaction to transaction. Such sym- however, if the space in which they make bols include the shaping of the hair, paint- their personal appearance is large enough. ing of the face, clothing, cards of identity, In one instance, both women met the situ- other contents of wallets and purses, and ation by spending an entire evening on dif- sundry additional marks and ornaments. ferent sides of the ballroom in which their The items in the set must cohere, and the embarrassing confrontation occurred, at- set must be complete. Taken together, tempting to secure validation from social these apparent symbols have been called circles with minimal intersection, or, at identity documents,10in that they enable least, where intersection was temporally at- others to validate announced identities. tenuated. Men, on the other hand, will be embarrassed if their clothing does not re- that 9 We use the term "appearance" to designate semble the dress of the other men present dimension of a social transaction given over to identifications of the participants. Apparent sym- in public and official encounters. Except for bols are those symbols used to communicate such "the old school tie," their neckties seem to identifications. They are often non-verbal. Appear- serve as numbers on a uniform, marking ance seems, to us, a more useful term than Goff- man's "front" (ibid.), which in everyday speech each man off from every other. Out of uni- connotes misrepresentation. 11For example, the title, "honorary citizen of the 10 Erving Goffman, Stigma (Englewood Cliffs, United States," which was conferred on Winston N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1963), pp. 59-62. Goffman Churchill, serves the function of a name, since confines the concept to personal identity, but his Churchill is the only living recipient of the title. own discussion extends it to include matters of Compare the titles, "professor," "manager," "punch- social identity. press operator," and the like.

This content downloaded from 137.99.63.107 on Thu, 12 Jun 2014 11:13:00 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions EMBARRASSMENTAND THEANALYSIS OF ROLEREQUIREMENTS 5 form, their structural membership cannot or better, a type of side activity-are usu- be visibly established, and role perform- ally performed in parallel with dominant ance is rendered extremely difficult, if not role performance. Specifically, a lecturer impossible.12 may smoke cigarettes or a pipe while carry- Not only are identities undocumented, ing out the dominant performance, or one they are also misplaced, as in misnaming or may carry on a heated conversation with a forgetting, or other incomplete placements. passenger while operating a motor vehicle. One relatively frequent source of embar- Moreover, symbols of reserve identities are rassment we categorized as "damaging often carried into social transactions. Or- someone's personal representation." This dinarily, they are concealed, as when a included cases of ethnically colored sneers court judge wears his golfing clothes be- in the presence of one who, in fact, be- neath his robes. Finally, symbols of aban- longed to the deprecated ethnic group but doned or relict identities may persist in set- did not put that identity forward, or be- hind-the-back slurs about a woman who '4 This observation and the ensuing discussion constitute a contribution to and extension of pres- turned out to be the listener's wife. The ent perspectives on role conflict. Most discussions victim of such misplacement, however in- conceive of such conflict as internalized contradic- advertent, will find it difficult to continue tory obligations. They do not consider simultane- the transaction or to present the relevant ous multiple-role performances. An exception is identity to the perpetrators of the embar- Everett C. Hughes' discussion of the Negro physician innocently summoned to attend a prejudiced rassment in the future. The awkwardnessis emergency case in "Dilemmas and Contradictions reflexive. Those who are responsible for the in Status," American Journal of Sociology, L misplacement will experience the same dif- (March, 1945), 353-59. ficulties and dis-ease. ' We have rewritten this discussion to relate to Other sources of embarrassmentanchored Goffman's classification which came to our atten- in identity suggest a basic characteristic of tion after we had prepared an earlier version of Strauss this article. Goffman distinguishes between what all human transactions, which, as people do in transactions and what the situation puts it, are "carried on in thickly peopled calls for. He recognizes that people do many things and complexly imaged contexts."'3 One al- at once in their encounters and distinguishes those ways brings to transactions more identities activities that command most of their attention than are necessary for his role performance. and energies from those which are less demanding of energy and time. Here, the distinction is made As a consequence, two or more roles are between main and side involvements. On the other usually performed at once by each partici- hand, situations often call for multiple activities. pant.14 Those which are central to the situation, Goffman If we designate the relevant roles in speaks of as dominant involvements; others are as dominant roles'5 then we called subordinate involvements. Dominant roles, transactions therefore, are those that are central to the trans- may note that adjunct roles-a type of side actional situation-what the participants have come involvement, as Goffman would have it,'6 together to do (see Goffman, Behavior in Public Places, pp. 43-59). "The implication of the discussion is that struc- '1 Adjunct roles are one type of side involvement tured activities are uniformed, while interpersonal or activity. We focus on them because we are activities emphasize individuation in dress. Erving concerned here with identity difficulties. There are Goffman suggests, in correspondence, that what activities which are not necessarily ad- may be reflected here is the company people keep other side namely, sporadic nosepicking, scratch- in their transactions. The work of men in our so- junct roles, or stomach growling, which ciety is ordinarily teamwork, and teams are uni- ing, coughing, sneezing, of embarrassment, but formed, but housework performed by a wife is are relevant to matters of the problem in these solitary work and does not require a uniformed not to the conceptualization such activities, insofar as they appearance, though the "housedress" might be so terms. Of course, anticipated, may regarded. are consistently proposed and become incorporated in the personal role (always '1 Anselm L. Strauss, Mirrors and Masks (Glen- an adjunct role in official transactions), as in the coe, Ill.: Free Press, 1959), p. 57. case of Billy Gilbert, the fabulous sneezer.

This content downloaded from 137.99.63.107 on Thu, 12 Jun 2014 11:13:00 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 6 THEAMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY tings where they have no relevance for very closely on matters of poise, as we dominant role performances.'7 For exam- shall see. Matters of poise converge on the ple, photographs of the performeras an in- necessity of controlling representations of fant may be thrust into a transaction by a the self, and identity-symbols are impor- doting mother or wife, or one's newly con- tant self-representations. stituted household may still contain the Personal poise.-Presentation of the self symbols of a previous marriage. in social transactions extends considerably In these respects, the probability of beyond making the appropriate personal avoiding embarrassment is a function of appearance. It includes the presentation of at least two factors: (1 ) the extent to an entire situation. Components of situa- which adjunct roles, reserve identities and tions, however, are often representationsof relict identities are not incongruentwith the self, and in this sense self and situation dominant role performance;18 and (2) the are two sides of the same coin. Personal allocation of prime attention to the domi- poise refers to the performer'scontrol over nant role performance so that less atten- self and situation, and whatever disturbs tion is directed toward adjunct role per- that control, depriving the transaction, as formance, reserve identities, and relict we have said before, of any relevant future, identities. Thus the professor risks em- is incapacitating and consequently embar- barrassment should the performance of rassing. his sex role appear to be the main Loss of poise was a major dimension in activity in transactions with female stu- our scrutiny of embarrassment, and its dents where the professorial role is analysis can do much to shed light on the dominant-for example, if the student components of social situations-a neces- pulls her skirt over her knees with clearly sary task, because the concept, "situation," more force than necessary. The judge may is quite difficult to specify and operation- not enter the courtroom in a golf cap, alize. Working from the outside in, so to nor may the husband dwell on the symbols speak, we wish to single out five19elements of a past marriagein the presence of a new of self and situation with reference to wife while entertaining guests in his home. which loss of control gave rise to con- Similarly, should adjunct role performance siderable embarrassment. prove inept, as when the smoking lecturer First, spaces must be so arranged and ignites the contents of a wastebasket or maintained that they are role-enabling. the argumentative driver fails to observe This is sometimes difficult to control, since the car in front in time to avert a collision, people appear in spaces that belong to attention is diverted from the dominant others, over which they exercise no author- role performance. Even without the golf ity and for which they are not responsible. cap, should the judge's robe be caught so Students, invited to faculty parties where that his golfing attire is suddenly revealed faculty members behave like faculty mem- in the courtroom, the transactions of the bers, will "tighten up" to the extent that court will be disturbed. Fetishistic devo- the students' role performance is seriously tion to the symbols of relict identities by impeded. To avoid embarrassment,people bereaved persons is embarrassing even to well-meaning visitors. 18 Adjunct roles, reserve identities, and relict However, the matter of avoiding incon- identities need not cohere with the dominant role; they simply must not clash so that the attention gruence and allocating attention appro- of participants in a transaction is not completely priately among the several identities a diverted from the dominant role performance. performer brings to a transaction verges 19 The five components to be discussed-spaces,

17 This phenomenon provides the main theme props, equipment, clothing, and the body-are not and source of horror and mystery in Daphne offered as an exhaustive list. We have been able du Maurier's now classic Rebecca. to distinguish close to forty such elements.

This content downloaded from 137.99.63.107 on Thu, 12 Jun 2014 11:13:00 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions EMBARRASSMENTAND THEANALYSIS OF ROLEREQUIREMENTS 7 will go to great lengths to insure their to save the situation. The speaker was a appearance in appropriate places, and to man of national reputation-one of the some to be deprived of access to a par- pillars of his discipline. To everyone's dis- ticular setting is to limit performance may and embarrassment, he proceeded to drastically. give a pedestrian address of the caliber of Spaces are often fixed in location and an undergraduate term essay. Everyone have boundaries. As such they may par- hoped the discussant would save them, and take of the character of territories or do- he did. His tactic was to make clear to mains: a particular person (or persons) is the audience that the identity presented "in command" (it is "his" domain) and by the speaker was not his real identity. most familiar with it, and the territory is This result he accomplished by reminding in continual danger of being invaded (de- the audience of the major contributions of liberately or inadvertently). Embarrass- the speaker, by claiming the paper pre- ments were reported for both of these sented must be interpreted as evidence that features of space. Being "in command" the speaker was still productive, and that and familiar with an area means knowing all could expect even more important con- where the back regions are and having the tributions in the future. When the audi- right of access to them. The host at a ence thundered applause, they were not party in his own home, however much he simply expressing their agreement with the may be vanishing,20is at least the person discussant's appraisal of the speaker: they in whose territory the gathering takes were also thanking him for saving them all place. Should a guest spill food on his from embarrassmentby putting the speaker clothes, he has no choice but to suffer back in command of the territory. embarrassment for the remainder of the We have already touched upon problems party. The host, by contrast, can retire to presented by invasions of spaces, and little his bedroom and change his clothes quick- more need be said. Persons lose poise when ly, often before the momentary loss of they discover they are in places forbidden poise becomes known. A striking case of to them, for the proscription itself means the man "in command" of a territory is they have no identity there and hence can- the person delivering a speech to a fixed not act. They can do little except with- audience in a closed room. In being pre- draw quickly. It is interesting that chil- sented to the audience, he may even be dren are continually invading the territories told, "The floor is yours." To underline of others-who can control the course of his exclusive domain, the speaker may wait a sharply hit baseball?-and part of the until waiters clear the last table of cups process of socialization consists of indica- and saucers and the doors are closed. In tions of the importance of boundaries. such a setting, where the audience is not Whether territories are crescive or con- free to leave, the speaker is now in great trived affects the possibility of invasion. danger of embarrassinghis audience unless When they are contrived and boundaries his speech is such that the audience is not are marked, the invader knows he has let down. Should he show lack of poise, crossed the boundary and is embarrassedif the audience will feel embarrassedfor him, caught. With crescive territories inadver- yet be unable to escape, for that would tent invasions occur, as when a tourist re- further embarrasshim. Hence they will suf- ports discovery of a "quaint" area of the fer silently, hoping for a short speech. city only to be met with the sly smiles of In a situation reported to us, the dis- those who know that the area is the local cussant at a professional meeting was able prostitution region. Such considerations raise questions con- 20 David Riesman, Robert J. Potter, and Jeanne Watson, "The Vanishing Host," Human Organiza- cerning both how boundaries are defined tion, XIX (Spring, 1960), 17-21. and how boundary violations may be pre-

This content downloaded from 137.99.63.107 on Thu, 12 Jun 2014 11:13:00 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 8 THEAMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY vented. Walls provide physical limits, but bounds is a source of embarrassment, sig- do not necessarily prevent communications naling a loss of poise. Consequently, the from passing through.2' Hence walls work boundaries are usually controlled and pa- best when there is also tacit agreement to trolled and come to represent the selves of ignore audible communication on the other those who are authorized to cross them. side of the wall. Embarrassmentfrequently A second component of self and situation occurs when persons on one side of the that must be controlled to maintain poise wall learn that intimate matters have been is here designated props. Props are ar- communicated to persons on the other ranged around settings in an orderly man- side. A common protective device is for ner commonly called decor. Ordinarily they the captive listeners to become very quiet are not moved about during a transaction, so that their receipt of the communication except as emergencies arise, to facilitate will not be discovered by the unsuspecting the movement of people about the setting intimates. When no physical boundaries and to protect the props from damage. In are present, a group gathered in one sec- some cases, their adherence to settings is tion of a room may have developed a com- guaranteed by law. Wall-to-wall carpeting, mon mood which is bounded by a certain mirrors attached to walls, and curtain fix- space that defines the limits of their en- tures, for example, may not be removed gagement to one another. The entry of from houses, even though ownership of someone new may be followed by an em- such domestic settings may change hands. barrassed hush. It is not necessary that The arrangement of less adhesive props the group should have been talking about within a setting may mark off or suggest that person. Rather, since moods take time (as in the case of "room dividers") smaller to build up, it will take time for the new- subsettings facilitating the division of comer to "get with it" and it may not be large assemblies into more intimate circles. worth the group's trouble to "fill him in." Moreover, although props are ordinarily However unintentionally, he has destroyed not moved about during transactions, they a mood that took some effort to build up are typically rearranged or replaced be- and he will suffer for it, if only by being tween major changes of scene, marking off stared at or by an obvious change of sub- changes in life situations.22 ject. In some cases, when the mood is par- Perhaps just because of their intimate tially sustained by alcohol, one can prepare connection with the life situations of those the newcomer immediately for the mood who control them,23 loss of control over by loud shouts that the group is "three 22David Riesman and Howard Roseborough, in drinks ahead" of him and by thrusting a a discussion of family careers, indicate the linkage drink into his hand without delay. So, too, between the rearrangement of props and the re- a function of foyers, halls, anterooms, and arrangement of life situations: "One of our Kansas cham- City respondents, whose existence had been wrapped other buffer zones or decompression up in her daughters' social life, when asked what bers around settings is to prepare such new- she did when the daughters married and moved comers and hence reduce the likelihood of away, said that she slept more-and redecorated their embarrassing both themselves and the living room. Still another became more active those inside. in church work-and redecorated the vestry" ("Careers and Consumer Behavior," in Lincoln Spaces, then, include bounded areas Clark [ed.], Consumer Behavior, Vol. II: The Life within which transactions go on. The Cycle and Consumer Behavior [New York: New boundaries may be more or less sharply York University Press, 1955], p. 14). defined, that is, walled in or marked off 3 Striking examples are provided by Harvey W. by the distances that separate one en- Zorbaugh in Ernest W. Burgess (ed.), The Urban from another. Overstepping the Community (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, counter 1926), pp. 103-4; and in Anonymous, Street- " See Erving Goffman, Behavior in Public Places, Walker (New York: Gramercy Publishing Co., pp. 151-52. 1962), pp. 46-48.

This content downloaded from 137.99.63.107 on Thu, 12 Jun 2014 11:13:00 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions EMBARRASSMENTAND THEANALYSIS OF ROLEREQUIREMENTS 9 props is a more frequent (though usually erful guaranties of the exclusiveness of milder) source of embarrassment than the social circles and status strata. violation of boundaries. When one stumbles Much of our earlier discussion of ad- over his own furniture or slips on his own junct roles, reserve identities, and relict throw rug, doubt may be cast on the extent identities applies to props. The porcelain to which such props represent, in fact, dinnerware may always be kept visibly in the self and situation of the person or reserve for special guests, and this very team members who have arranged them. fact may be embarrassing to some dinner Gifts of props are frequently embarrassing guests who are reminded that they are not to the recipients. Thus an artist (or would- so special after all, while, for other guests, be artist) may foist a painting on a friend anything but the everyday props would be without recognizing that the painting is embarrassing.Relict propsalso present a po- contrary to the recipient's aesthetic taste. tential for embarrassment,persisting as they Moreover, the artist may expect that his do when one's new life-situation has made work will be given a prominent display them obsolete. The table at which a woman commensuratewith his investment. A con- used to sit while dining with a former flict is immediately established between husband is obviously still quite serviceable, loyalty to the artist-friend and loyalty to but it is probably best to buy another. the recipient's self. A way out is to in- Third, every social transaction requires clude the prop in question only in those the manipulation of equipment. If props situations where the donor is present, but are ordinarily stationary during encounters, this may become tedious, depending on equipment is typically moved about, han- the frequency and scheduling of visiting. A dled, or touched.24 Equipment can range classic case is the wealthy relative's gift of from words to physical objects, and a loss a self-photograph, which must be dragged of control over such equipment is a fre- out of the closet for display when the rela- quent source of embarrassment. Here are tive visits. included slips of the tongue, sudden dumb- Clashing differences in domestic decor ness when speech is called for, stalling cars will usually terminate or restrict house-to- in traffic, dropping bowling balls, spilling house visiting. Because of this, many war- food, and tool failures. Equipment appear- time friendships have been abruptly ended shortly after the cessation of hostilities 24Whether objects in a situation are meant to and demobilization. In a common military be moved, manipulated, or taken up provides an important differentiating dimension between equip- setting, servicemen would meet and become ment on the one hand and props (as well as cloth- close friends, sometimes building up life- ing, to be discussed shortly) on the other. Equip- and-death obligations to one another. They ment is meant to be moved, manipulated, or taken would eagerly anticipate extending their up during a social transaction whereas clothing during hard-won intimacy into the workaday and props are expected to remain unchanged a social transaction but will be moved, manip- world of peacetime. Then, when they met ulated, or taken up between social transactions. in one or the other's home, the glaring in- To change props, as in burning the portrait of an compatibility in decor would silently signal old girl friend (or to change clothes, as in taking an incompatibility in life situation. Such off a necktie), signals a change in the situation. ex- confrontations would be The special case of the strip-tease dancer is no embarrassing ception, for her act transforms clothes into equip- covered over with empty promises and ment. The reference above to the "stickiness" of futile vows to meet again, and the former props may now be seen as another way of describ- friends would part as embarrassed stran- ing the fact that they are not moved, manipulated, If incompatibilities in decor can bring or taken up during transactions, but remain un- gers. Cloth- owe changed for the course of the transaction. about the estrangement of friends who ing is equally sticky but the object to which it their lives to one another, we can see how sticks differs. Clothing sticks to the body; props props and their arrangement become pow- stick to the settings.

This content downloaded from 137.99.63.107 on Thu, 12 Jun 2014 11:13:00 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 10 THEAMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY ances that cast doubt on the adequacy of a part of what he called the "material control are illustrated by the clanking mo- me." Moreover, since it is so close to the tor, the match burning down to the fingers, body, it conveys the impression of body tarnished silverware, or rusty work tools. maintenance, paradoxically, by concealing Equipment sometimes extends beyond what body-maintenance activities.26 Hence, the is actually handled in the transaction to doublewrap-outer clothes and underclothes. include the stage props. Indeed, items of Underclothesbear the marksof body mainte- equipment in disuse, reserve equipment, nance and tonic state, and their unexpected often become props-the Cadillac in the exposure is a frequent source of embar- driveway or the silver service on the rassment. The broken brassiere strap some- shelf-and there is a point at which the times produces a shift in appearance that objects used or scheduled for use in a situa- few women (or men, for that matter) will tion are both equipment and props. At one fail to perceive as embarrassing. instant, the items of a table setting lie Fifth, the body must always be in a immobile as props; at the next, they are state of readiness to act, and its appear- taken up and transformed into equipment. ance must make this clear. Hence any evi- The close linkage of equipment and props dence of unreadiness or clumsiness is em- may be responsible for the fact that embarrassing. Examples include loss of whole barrassment at times not only infects the body control (stumbling, trembling, or participants in the transaction but the ob- fainting), loss of visceral control (flatu- jects as well. For example, at a formal lence, involuntary urination, or drooling), dinner, a speaker was discovered with his and the communication of other "signs of fly zipper undone. On being informed of the animal." The actress who is photo- this embarrassing oversight after he was graphed from her "bad side" loses poise, reseated, he proceeded to make the requi- for it shakes the foundation on which her site adjustments, unknowingly catching the fame rests. So does the person who is em- table cloth in his trousers. When obliged barrassed about pimples, warts, or missing to rise again at the close of the proceedings, limbs, as well as those embarrassed in his he took the stage props with him and of presence. course scattered the dinner tools about the Ordinarily, persons will avoid recogniz- setting in such a way that others were ing such stigmata, turn their eyes away, forced to doubt his control. His poise was and pretend them out of existence, but on lost in the situation. occasion stigmata will obtrude upon the Just as props may be adjunct to the situation causing embarrassmentall around. dominant role performance, held in re- A case in point was a minor flirtation reserve, or relict, so may equipment. Indeed, ported by one of our students. Seated in as we have said, reserve equipment is a library a short distance from a beautiful often an important part of decor. girl, the student began the requisite ges- Fourth, clothing must be maintained, tural invitation to a more intimate con- controlled, and coherently arranged. Its versation. The girl turned, smiling, to very appearance must communicate this. acknowledge the bid, revealing an ampu- Torn clothing, frayed cuffs, stained neck- tated left arm. Our student's gestural line ties, and unpolished shoes are felt as em- was brought to a crashing halt. Embar- barrassing in situations where they are ex- rassed, he abandoned the role he was pected to be untorn, neat, clean, and building even before the foundation was polished. Clothing is of special importance ' since, as William James observed,25 it is A complete exposition of the body-mainte- of the self as the nance function of clothing is set forth in an ad- as much a part body- vertisement for Jockey briefs, entitled: "A Frank I William James, Psychology (New York: Discussion: What Wives Should Know about Male Henry Holt & Co., 1892), pp. 177-78. Support," Good Housekeeping, May, 1963, p. 237.

This content downloaded from 137.99.63.107 on Thu, 12 Jun 2014 11:13:00 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions EMBARRASSMENTAND THEANALYSIS OF ROLEREQUIREMENTS 11 laid, pretending that his inviting gestures folding be erected and that attention be were directed toward some imaginary given to preventing this scaffolding from audience suggested by his reading. Such collapsing. The scaffold develops as the stigmata publicize body-maintenance ac- relationship becomes stabilized. In time tivities, and, when they are established in persons come to expect that the way they social transactions, interfere with role place the other is the way the other an- performances. The pimples on the face of nounces himself, and that poise will con- the job applicant cast doubt on his ma- tinue to be maintained. Persons now begin turity, and, consequently, on his qualifica- to count on these expectations and to have tions for any job requiring such maturity. confidence in them. But at any time they All this is to say that self and situation may be violated. It was such violations must be in a perpetual condition of poise of confidence that made up the greatest or readiness, adequately maintained, and single source of embarrassmentin our ex- in good repair. Such maintenance and the amples. Perhaps this is only an acknowl- keeping of self in a state of good repair edgment that the parties to every trans- obviously require energy and time. While action must always maintain themselves in engaged in maintenance or repair, the per- role to permit the requisite role-taking, or son is, for that time, unable to play the that identity-switching ought not be ac- role. Hence we may expect that persons complished so abruptly that others are left will, in order to avoid casting doubt on floundering in the encounter as they grope their ability to play a role, deliberately for the new futures that the new identity play down or conceal maintenance and implies. repair activity. Speakers know that spon- This is all the more important in situa- taneity cannot be left to chance but must tions where roles are tightly linked to- be prepared for, even rehearsed. Yet, ob- gether as in situations involving a division viously information on the amount of of labor. In one instance, a group of social preparation it took to be spontaneous scientists was presenting a progress report would destroy the audience's belief in the of research to a representative of the client spontaneity. Outer clothes require under- subsidizing the research. The principal in- clothes, as social life requires an underlife vestigator's presentation was filled out by (which is, of course, also social).27 comments from the other researchers, his professional peers. Negatively critical com- MAINTENANCE OF CONFIDENCE ments were held to a bare minimum. Sud- When identities have been validated and denly the principal investigator overstepped persons poised, interaction may begin. Its the bounds. He made a claim that they continuation, however, requires that a scaf- were well on the road to confirming a hypothesis which, if confirmed, would repre- 27Consider the fact that the physician often sent a major contribution. Actually, his needs time and opportunity to consult medical informant was one of books and colleagues before he can render an au- colleagues (our thoritative medical diagnosis. A structural assur- them) knew that they were very far in- ance is provided by his having been taught to make deed from confirming the hypothesis. They diagnoses slowly. Through time thus gained, he first sought to catch the leader's eye to takes advantage of informal encounters with col- look for a hidden message. Receiving none, leagues and spare moments between patients when he can consult medical books. A direct revelation they lowered their eyes to the table, bit of his need for such aids and his rather unsystem- their lips, and fell silent. In the presence atic way of getting them would be embarrassing. of the client's representative, they felt they Yet it is in the patient's best interest that they could not "call" their leader for that be kept secret from him, otherwise the patient would be embarrassing, but they did seek would be in the position of having to pass judgment on a professional practice when he is, in fact, him out immediately afterward for an too involved to render an objective judgment. explanation. The leader agreed that they

This content downloaded from 137.99.63.107 on Thu, 12 Jun 2014 11:13:00 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 12 THEAMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY were right, but said his claim was politic, other's continued identity or his ability to that new data might well turn up, and that maintain his poise may be destroyed leads it was clearly too late to remedy the situ- to the generation of a set of performance ation. norms. These are social protections against Careful examination of this case reveals embarrassment.29 If persons adhere to a more basic reason for the researchers' them, the probability of embarrassmentis hesitance to embarrass the leader before reduced. We discovered two major per- the client's representative. If their leader formance norms. were revealed to be the kind of person who First, the standards of role performance goes beyond the data (or to be a plain almost always allow for flexibility and liar), serious question could have been tolerance. One is rarely, if ever, totally in raised about the kind of men who will- role (an exception might be highly ritu- ingly work with such a person. Thus they alized performances,where to acknowledge found themselves coerced into unwilling breaches of expectation is devastatingly collusion. It was not simply that their embarrassing.30 To illustrate, we expect jobs depended on continued satisfaction of one another to give attention to what is the client. Rather, they were unwilling to going on in our transactions, but the at- say to themselves and to the client's rep- tention we anticipate is always optimal, resentative that they were the kind of re- never total. To lock the other person com- searchers who would be party to a fraud. pletely in one's glance and refuse to let To embarrass the leader, then, would have go is very embarrassing.A rigid attention meant embarrassing themselves by casting is coerced eventuating in a loss of poise. serious question upon their identities as One is rapt in the other's future and de- researchers. Indeed, it was their desire to prived of control almost like the hypno- cling to their identities that led, not long tist's subject. Similarly, never to give one's afterward (and after several other similar attention to the other is role-incapacitat- experiences), to the breakup of the re- ing. If one focuses his gaze not on the search team. other's eyes, but on his forehead, let us Just as, in time, an identity may be dis- say, the encounter is visibly disturbed.31 credited, so too may poise be upset. Should Norms allowing for flexibility and toler- this occur, each must be able to assume ance permit the parties to social trans- that the other will render assistance if he actions ordinarily to assume that they will gets into such control trouble, and each not be held to rigid standards of conduct must be secure in the knowledge that the and that temporary lapses will be over- assumption is tenable. Persons will be looked. The norm is respected by drinking alert for incipient signs of such trouble- companions who both understand how it is irrelevant attitudes-and attempt to avert to have had a drop too much and who the consequences. Goffman has provided can also be counted on not to hold another many examples in his discussion of drama- to everything he says, does, or suggests. turgical loyalty, discipline, and circum- I Implicit in Georg Simmel, The Sociology of spection in the presentation of the self, Georg Simmel, trans. Kurt H. Wolff (Glencoe, Ill.: pointing out protective practices that are Free Press, 1950), p. 308. employed, such as clearing one's throat be- s0 See the discussion of "role distance" in Erving fore interrupting a conversation, knocking Goffman, Encounters (Indianapolis, Ind.: Bobbs- on doors before entering an occupied room, Merrill Co., 1961), pp. 105-52. or begging the other's pardon before an "-Here we are speaking of what Edward T. Hall intrusion.28 calls the "gaze line." He points out there are cul- that one's confidence in the tural variations in this phenomenon. See his "A The danger System for the Notation of Proxemic Behavior," I Goffman, The Presentation of Self in Everyday American Anthropologist, LXV (October, 1963), Life, pp. 212-33. 1012-14.

This content downloaded from 137.99.63.107 on Thu, 12 Jun 2014 11:13:00 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions EMBARRASSMENTAND THEANALYSIS OF ROLEREQUIREMENTS 13 So, too, colleagues are persons who know of the futures that they have entrusted to enough to embarrass one another but can others. ordinarily be trusted not to do so. The Embarrassments, therefore, always have exclusiveness of colleague groups can be careers. One person embarrasses others seen, therefore, as a collective defense whose hurried attempts to salvage the against embarrassment. situation merely call further attention to The second performance norm was that the embarrassment.A point may be reached of giving the other fellow the benefit of where no repair is possible-the embar- the doubt. For the transaction to go on at rassed person breaks into tears, flees, or, all, one has at least to give the other fel- in the classic case, commits suicide-not to low a chance to play the role he seeks to save face, but because face has been de- play. Clearly, if everyone went around stroyed beyond repair.32 Other termina- watching for chances to embarrass others, tions are possible, as we have shown. The so many would be incapacitated for role embarrassingsituation may be transformed performance that society would collapse. by humor-laughed off-to define it as Such considerate behavior is probably unserious and to invite others to symbolize characteristicof all human society, because their solidarity with the embarrassed per- of the dependence of social relations on son by joining in the laughter.33 Blame role performance. A part of socialization, may be diverted away from the transaction therefore, must deal with the prevention and placed on others on the outside. The of embarrassmentby the teaching of tact. embarrassed one may fall sick. There are People must learn not only not to em- numerousoutcomes, and, while some are less barrass others, but to ignore the lapses that drasticthan others,none is completelydevoid can be embarrassingwhenever they occur. of risk. Why is it, then, that embarassment In addition, people must learn to cope with may be deliberately perpetrated? There embarrassment. Consequently, embarrass- are at least three reasons or social func- ment will occasionally be deliberately tions that may be attributed to deliberate perpetrated to ready people for role in- embarrassment. capacitation when it occurs. First, since embarrassing situations are inevitable in social life, persons must be DELIBERATE EMBARRASSMENT schooled to maintain poise when poise is Although we have emphasized up to this threatened, to maintain the identities they point instances of embarrassment which have established in social situations in the arise from wholly unexpected acts and face of discreditation, and to sustain the revelations, the unexpected is often de- confidence others have built up about mat- liberately perpetrated. Examples are prac- ters. Deliberate embarrassment acts to tical jokes, teasing, initiation into secret socialize young people with these skills. societies, puncturing false fronts, and pub- Consequently, all young children trip one lic degradation. Since embarrassment ap- another, push, disarrange one another's pears to represent social damage that is clothing and other items of personal ap- not at all easily repaired, we might well pearance. Besides being fun, such play34 ask why the condition may be deliberately established. The embarrassedperson stands S2 Goffman, "On Face-Work," Psychiatry, XVIII 1955), 213-31. exposed as incapable of continued role per- (August, formance-a person who cannot be de- 3 See Ruth Laub Coser, "Some Social Functions of Laughter: A Study of Humor in a Hospital Set- pended upon. In his presence, all must ting," Human Relations, XII (May, 1959), 171-82. pause and review their assessments and ex- ' the Careful attention must be given to all phases pectations. Whatever they decide, of children's play, which includes very much more transaction is halted, and those depend- than the anticipatory and fantastic dramas empha- ent upon it are deprived of the realization sized by George H. Mead.

This content downloaded from 137.99.63.107 on Thu, 12 Jun 2014 11:13:00 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 14 THEAMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY socializes the child in the maintenance of a pattern of interactive insult. The classic poise despite direct physical attacks on his case is "playing the dozens."38 "balance." Indeed, young children will If one function of deliberate embarrass- spin about, inducing dizziness as they un- ment is socialization, we would guess that knowingly test their ability to handle the such tests would be concentrated in the imbalance in the play that Roger Caillois formative years and in other periods of speaks of as ilinx or vertigo.35 But sociali- major status passage. Our survey of adults zation continues throughout life, and adult in the evening extension class showed this men, for example, test who can maintain to be true. When we asked them to recall poise in the face of the other's loss by play- the time of their lives when they were fre- ing at "drinking the other under the table." quently embarrassed, the adolescent years The roller coaster and tilt-a-whirl, and less were most commonly mentioned. Instances upsetting machines like the merry-go-round of deliberate embarrassment also included and ferris wheel can be interpreted as a hazings and the humiliation which accom- technology available to test poise.36Almost panied socialization into the armed forces. by definition, every game is a test of poise, It may well be that every move into an but some sports place particular emphasis established social world-every major rite upon such tests-ski-jumping and gymnas- de passage-is facilitated by the deliberate tics.37 Announced identities are also chal- perpetration of embarrassingtests of poise, lenged and impugned in play, as in "name- identity, and self-knowledge.39 calling," and such teasing often reaches Second, embarrassment is deliberately out to call into question everything one perpetrated as a negative sanction as in seeks to establish about himself in social "calling" the one who is giving an un- encounters: desirable performance. Since embarrass- Shame! Shame! Double shame! ment does incapacitate the person from knows name! Everybody your 88 This game, found most commonly among The child, of course, learns the institu- American Negroes, is never carried on between two isolated antagonists, but requires the physical tionalized replies to such tests of identity presence of peers who evaluate each insult and and self-confidence which throw the chal- goad the players to heightened performances. The lenge back: antagonists and their peers are usually members of the same in-group, again emphasizing the social- My name, my name is Puddin'Tame. izing function of the play. As the insults become Ask me again and I'll tell you the same! more and more acrid, one antagonistic may "break down" (lose poise) and suggest fighting. That per- As others have noted, the challenges and son is perceived as having failed the test, and the responses inherent in such tests of poise, group then moves to prevent a fight from actually identity, and self-confidence often assume occurring. For Negroes, the ability to take insults without breaking down is clearly functional for

3 The Structure and Classification of Games," survival in Negro-white interaction (see John Dol- Diogenes, No. 12 (Winter, 1955), pp. 62-75. lard, "The Dozens: Dialectic of Insult," The Amer- ican Imago, I [November, 1939], 3-25; Ralph E. 36 A definite age-grading of the technology may Berdie, "'Playing the Dozens"' Journal of Abnor- be noticed in our society. The mildest test of poise mal and Social Psychology, XLII [January, 1947], is provided for the very young-the merry-go- 120-21; and Cornelius L. Golightly and Israel round-and the devilish devices seem to be re- Scheffler, "'Playing the Dozens': A Research Note," served for the middle and late teen-agers. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, XLIII [January, 1948], 104-5). 3 Poise is an essential part of the commercialized tumbling exhibitions we call wrestling. Interviews "An interesting comment on this point was with professional wrestlers by one of the writers made by Erving Goffman in a personal commu- establish that the most feared "opponent" is not nication: "Since the theater is the place for the at all the most fierce, but the neophyte, upon issue of poise, could our extensive high-school the- whose poise the established professional cannot atrical movement then be part of the socialization rely. you speak of?"

This content downloaded from 137.99.63.107 on Thu, 12 Jun 2014 11:13:00 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions EMBARRASSMENTAND THEANALYSIS OF ROLEREQUIREMENTS 15 performing his role, it can clearly be used question. Discreditation of the new self, to stop someone from playing a role that particularly in the official'spresence, would might discredit a collectivity. Empirical wreak such damage on the transaction that categories include public reprimands, ex- it must be foregone and the "manager's" posure of false fronts, open gossip and decision conceded.40 cattiness, or embarrassmentperpetrated as a retaliation for an earlier embarrassment. CONCLUSION In some of these cases, a person is exposed In this paper, we have inquired into as having no right to play the role he has the conditions necessary for role perform- laid claim to, because the identity in which ance. Embarrassment has been employed his role is anchored is invalid. In others, as a sensitive indicator of those conditions, the person is punished by terminating his for that which embarrasses incapacitates role performance so that he can no longer role performalnce.Our data have led us enjoy its perquisites. to describe the conditions for role perform- A third function of deliberate embar- ance in terms of identity, poise, and sus- rassment is the establishment and mainte- tained confidence in one another. When nance of power. The technique here is these become disturbed and discredited, rather more subtle than those we have dis- role performance cannot continue. Conse- cussed. Specifically, the scene may be laid quently, provisions for the avoidance or for embarrassment so that only by fol- prevention of embarrassment,or quick re- lowing the line established by the one who covery from embarrassment when it does sets the scene may embarrassment be occur are of key importance to any society avoided. In this case, one assures himself or social transaction, and devices to insure that his decision will carry the day by the avoidance and minimization of em- guaranteeing that any alternative will re- barrassmentwill be part of every persisting sult in irreparable damage to the whole social relationship. Specifically, tests of collectivity. Organizationalpolicy changes, identity, poise, and self-knowledge will be for example, may be accomplished by institutionalized in every society. Such de- cloaking them in a cover story impreg- vices, like all mechanisms of social control, nated with the organizational ideology. To are capable of manipulation and may well resist the proposed changes, consequently, and maintain risks the discreditation of the entire or- be exploited to establish ganization. Another example is to be found power in social transactions. Yet, deliberate in "kicking an official upstairs." The de- or not, embarrassment is as general a cision will be reached in a policy-making sociological concept as is role. discussion where the official in question UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA may be present. In the discussion, emphasis will be given to the official's quali- 4 Erving Goffman describes a similar process by for the new so that the which persons are channeled through a "betrayal fications post funnel" into a mental hospital (see "The Moral 4"stagemanager" leads a new self forward Career of the Mental Patient," Psychiatry, XXII to replace the old self of the official in [May, 1959], 123-42).

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