Social Actors.... who bother now?

We were discussing Evning Goffman’s Dramaturge concept in perceiving people as “social actors” in their social relationship. The lecturer asked us to give an example of such “acting” strategy under a university student scenario.

“A university student wants to stay at campus for more freedom, while his parents concern about his state of being. In order to negotiate what he wants and what he is expected to be, he has to “act” like ….”

I have long alienated from university life, but was interested to hear what other students to say. One of our teammates said “at university halls, there are too much sex going on.” Apparently, the lecturer was shocked, much embarrassed too, she didn’t think that had much to do with “acting strategy”.

“But, they don’t even act, they just lie to their parents, and their parents don’t know.” he insisted.

Privately, I asked that students “Is that allowed in university hall? Is there any authority to interfere?” He told me “They closed one eyes. The moral standard among students is terrible nowadays.”…

Goffman’s concept shows that people do “act” in their social dealings to conform the cultural and social shared expectation, if nowadays, no one has expection any more, who cares to “perform”