The Irony of Appearances
Goffman explicates, “A fourth discrepancy between appearances and overall reality may be cited. We find that there are many performances which could not have been given had not casts been done which were physically unclean, semi-illegal, cruel, and degrading in other ways; but these disturbing faces are seldom expressed during a performance.” Appearances are absolute representations of reality. Appearances are constituents of performances which are intended to conceal realities such as the ‘dirty works’ which individuals could be involved in. Facades are common among humanity; they are utilized to give favorable impressions.
The Irony of Clergymen
Goffman elucidates, “And so we find that clergymen give the impression that they entered the church because of a call of felt vocation, in America tending to conceal their interest in moving up socially, in Britain tending to conceal their interest in not moving too far down. And again, clergymen tend to give the impression that they have chosen their current congregation because of what they can offer it spiritually and not, as may in fact be the case, because the elders offered a good house or full payment of moving expenses." The clergymen, despite being held highly by the faithful, are not exempt from performances. Their status as clergy offers them an edge in terms of material benefits of being regarded as the men of God. Accordingly, if being a clergy entailed frugal living, most people would not be motivated to pursue the call. Therefore, the clergymen are impressive actors who exploit the impression of being called men to enjoy their lives.
The Irony of Executives
Goffman remarks, “Similarly, executives often project an air of competency and general grasp of the situation, blinding themselves and others to the fact that they hold their jobs partly because they look like executives…Interestingly enough, when the significance of unofficial qualifications becomes a scandal or political issue , then a few individuals who are obtrusively lacking in the informal qualifications may be admitted with fanfare." Executives exploit 'impression management' so that they can look like they have inherent managerial skills. The executives are not special because they cannot mitigate scandals as impressively as the individuals without lofty formal qualifications. If looks are the only sole reason why the executives perform impressively, then they would have no difficulty in handling political issuers. Accordingly, impressions are not utter indicators of executives' potential.
The Irony of Decorum
Goffman remarks, “We tend to blind ourselves to the fact that everyday secular performances in our own Anglo-American society must often pass a strict test of aptness, fitness, propriety, and decorum. Perhaps this blindness is partly due to the fact that as performers we are often more conscious of the standards which we might have applied to our activity but have not than of the standards we unthinkingly apply.” Americans fails to recognize that the various standards compel them to embrace performances. They are blinded to the extent that they cannot recognize they are merely acting involuntarily and unconsciously; therefore, the endeavors of upholding propriety are superficial.
The Irony of a Cadillac
Goffman elaborates, “Similarly, the American filling station manager is in a position to learn that a man who affects a new Cadillac may buy only a dollar’s worth of gas, or buy a cut-price variety, or seek to work the station for free service. And he also knows that the show some men put on of masculine know-how about cars is false, for they can neither diagnose the trouble with their car correctly, although claiming to, nor drive up to the gasoline pumps in a competent way.” The ‘new Cadillac’ is symbolic of status and affluence; however, the owner may not afford to fuel it. Perhaps, the car may have been purchased with a costly mortgage which would financially burden the purchaser for long; an owner who cannot afford to maintain it in terms of fuel uses it to give the impression that he is affluent whereas he is not. Accordingly, owning a costly car as a Cadillac is not a confirmation of affluence per se. Moreover, masculinity is not a confirmation of a man’s knowledge of vehicles.
