ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book describes three themes stand out in Goffman's sociology. First, a theme of politeness and respect, which was expressed clearly in his investigations of rituals in the 1950s and of social interaction in the 1960s. Second, the theme of social illusion, which is pervasive because of Goffman's particular interest in the construction of social illusions that follows from expectations of normality and that is created by us all under the cover of the rituals of everyday life when we engage in impression management but also by social imposters of different kinds, and that is given significant expression.Third, and finally, a theme of crisis in the 1970s within whose framework an investigation of the crisis of the social interaction order can be discerned, not least in the books Relations in Public 1971 and Frame Analysis.
