Where The Action Is: Three Essays
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Worn/faded, no tears
Pages: Good
What does it mean to take a risk, to face uncertainty, and to perform character under pressure? In Where the Action Is: Three Essays, the celebrated sociologist Erving Goffman turns his razor-sharp analytical lens on the concept of action — those moments of consequential, problematic, and avoidable activity where individuals knowingly expose themselves to chance. Through three interlocking essays — Where the Action Is, Cooling the Mark Out, and On Face-Work — Goffman dissects the social rituals of risk-taking, from the gambling table to everyday encounters, arguing that these moments of fate reveal the deepest truths about human character and social interaction. Goffman's work sits at the thrilling intersection of sociology, social psychology, and moral philosophy, and this collection stands as a landmark in 20th-century social thought. His prose is precise yet deeply evocative, charting the unwritten rules that govern how individuals manage identity, dignity, and consequence in the face of the unknown. A thinker who transformed the way we understand social performance through works like The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life, Goffman here distils his genius into focused, provocative arguments that continue to resonate across disciplines — leaving the reader to wonder just how much of daily life is, in fact, a calculated gamble.
Author: Erving Goffman
Format: Hardback
Genre: Essays
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Worn/faded, no tears
Pages: Good
What does it mean to take a risk, to face uncertainty, and to perform character under pressure? In Where the Action Is: Three Essays, the celebrated sociologist Erving Goffman turns his razor-sharp analytical lens on the concept of action — those moments of consequential, problematic, and avoidable activity where individuals knowingly expose themselves to chance. Through three interlocking essays — Where the Action Is, Cooling the Mark Out, and On Face-Work — Goffman dissects the social rituals of risk-taking, from the gambling table to everyday encounters, arguing that these moments of fate reveal the deepest truths about human character and social interaction. Goffman's work sits at the thrilling intersection of sociology, social psychology, and moral philosophy, and this collection stands as a landmark in 20th-century social thought. His prose is precise yet deeply evocative, charting the unwritten rules that govern how individuals manage identity, dignity, and consequence in the face of the unknown. A thinker who transformed the way we understand social performance through works like The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life, Goffman here distils his genius into focused, provocative arguments that continue to resonate across disciplines — leaving the reader to wonder just how much of daily life is, in fact, a calculated gamble.