Erving Goffman's 1959 The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life is the first book of its kind. In it, Goffman attempts to bring social interaction into the domain of sociology. Effectively, he presents a set of core motivations, a set of acceptable responses, and a series of deviations which compose the nature of every social interaction. Goffman's work is based upon the tenet that social interaction is essentially the same every time, despite its variety of manifestation and appearance.
According to Goffman, people play two roles in public. First, they are audience members eager to learn about their fellow man. Secondly, they are actors trying to avoid embarrassment. Everyone is filling both of these roles simultaneously during every social interaction. Taking the theatrical analogy even further, Goffman elaborates upon appearance, manner, setting, etc. which contribute to the distinctions of performance. Despite these variations, however, the goals of social interaction and the fact that people are performing remain constant throughout every tier of society and every type of venue or event.
