Social Performance

The performance theory has emerged from a range of theoretical traditions. It has become influential in a range of fields of cultural and social theory. Goffman was the first one to use the concept of performance to explain the enactment of social roles according to the logic of status management.

More recent developments in performance theory seek to understand the performative character of identity and social collective by drawing upon theoretical resources of symbolic action, ritual and social drama. The performance theory shows how social action is contingent upon history and collective sentiments. The continuous performative acts actualize and reproduce the identities of social actors and groups. In his exposition of the elements of performance, JC Alexander defines cultural performance as:

'The social process by which actors, individually or in concert, display for others the meaning of the social situation. This meaning may or may not be one to which they themselves consciously adhere; it is the meaning that they, as social actors, consciously or unconsciously wish to have others believe. In order for their display to be effective, actors must offer a plausible performance, one that leads those to whom their actions and gestures are directed to accept their motives and explanations as a reasonable account'.

An element of Alexander's model is the means of symbolic production. By this, Alexander is referring to the range of 'mundane material things' that allow and empower people to act socially. This consists of objects that serve to represent things to others, frequently through iconic means. These material things are a crucial part of any social performance because they assist social actors to 'dramatize and make vivid and concrete the invisible motives and moral they are trying to represent'.

In a recent study, Alexander applies the performance model to understand the way the US political and electoral system operated in the lead-up to the election of Barack Obama as president in 2008. Alexander shows that the ability of politicians to win over the electorate depends on the orchestration of drama; the voting public and media see emotion and powerful competitors.

Alexander, J.C. (2003) The Meanings of Social Life: A Cultural Sociology, Oxford University Press, New York.