1956/11/01 by Erving Goffman · 3 citations
Psychology · Social Sciences · #Emotions and Moral Behavior #Psychology of Social Influence #Educational and Social Studies #Embarrassment #Face (sociological concept) #Social psychology #Psychology #Function (biology) #Social relation #Sociology #Social science
paper · doi:10.1086/222003
openalex publication_date 1956/11/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30
Embarrassment, a possibility in every face-to-face encounter, demostrates some generic properties of interaction. It occurs whenever an individual is felt to have projected incopatible definition of himself before those present. These projections do not occur at random or for psychological reasons but at certain places in a social establishment where incopatible principles of social organization prevail. In the forestalling of conflict between these principles, embarrassment has its social function.