Review: Jim Cosgrave on The Contemporary Goffman

Michael Hviid Jacobsen, ed. The Contemporary Goffman. Routledge Studies in Social and Political Thought. New York: Routledge, 2010, 396 pp. $US 95.00 hardcover (978-0-415-99681-5)

In his contribution to The Contemporary Goffman, Charles Lemert asks: “Who, in his day, would have thought that Erving Goffman’s writings would endure as long as they have?” While there is no question that sociological interest in the work of Goffman persists, The Contemporary Goffman contributes to appraising and sustaining Goffman’s oeuvre by emphasizing its contemporary significance. Appearing 50 years after the publication of The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life, it also presents a case for considering Goffman’s oeuvre and sustained focus on the Interaction Order as classic within the sociological canon. Read more