ABSTRACT
Despite his concern with such matters as strategic interaction, impression management and role performance, Goffman has had relatively little influence on the analysis of markets and economic behaviour. The concern of this chapter is to suggest that Goffman’s essays provide an important resource with which to consider the interactional character of economic action and to begin to explore how everyday transactions are accomplished. The case in question is the auction, and in particular auctions of fine art and antiques. The chapter draws on the idea of impression management and explores the ways in which competition and a sense of competition is established during the sale of particular lots. It addresses the ways in which bids are created to facilitate and encourage potential buyers to participate in the proceedings and maximise the sale of goods. Goffman’s insights prove invaluable in this regard, and yet they expose an order of action that remains relatively unexplored within his overall oeuvre. In particular, the chapter seeks to show how everyday transactions and markets rely upon an interactional and sequential organisation that forms the foundation to the concerted accomplishment of economic action and provides the resources through which social institutions are produced and sustained.
