It was Shakespeare who adorned London’s famous Globe Theater with
the Latin motto Totus Mundus Agit Histrionem (All the World Is a Theater)
For Erving Goffman (1922–1982), arguably the most original American
theorist of the second half of the 20th century, the metaphor of life as
theater is rich in meaning. He sees all human interaction as, in some ways,
very much like a grand play. He is not, however, as concerned with sweeping
generalizations about the human condition as he is with the particulars of
daily life—the micro-level interactions between individuals that, when taken
together, constitute the human experience. At this micro level, he argues, the
world is much more like a stage than we commonly realize.
In Goffman’s
language, the industry has an interest in fostering sincerity on the part of
their agents. Insurance, for them, must not be merely another commodity but
must be something whose value they deeply believe in. Otherwise, the industry suggests,
agents will find it impossible to succeed at selling policies because, as
thePrudential company’s training manual claims, “if you are insincere, your
prospect will sense it” (W. Walsh as cited in Oakes, 1989, p. 247).
At the other end of
the spectrum of belief, according to Miller, are some car salespeople. Rather
than trying to convince themselves that they are doing unappreciative customers
a tremendous favor, they tend to realize that they are exploiting buyers but
construct a worldview that uses skill in haggling as the basis for determining
worth. As Miller (1964) explains,
A majority of
automobile salesmen admit that their customers regard them as “con men,” who
attempt to “put one over” on the buyer. In informal conversations regarding
what makes a “good salesman,” salesmen describe their role in much the same
way: for example, “Anybody can sell something they [the customers] want but the
real bit is to make them think they need exactly what you got to sell, only
more of it.” The consensus appears to be that the “good” salesman is highly proficient
at manipulating the situation and customer in such fashion as to produce a
favorable deal for the salesman. The object of the sales transaction, as an
experienced older salesman expressed it, is to “make them think they are
getting something instead of losing anything.” . . . Their behavior appears organized around the premise
that monetary and social success are the results of opportunistic dealing. (p.
22)
This highly cynical
view treats the impression of reality the salesperson wants to project as a
sham; furthermore, everyone but the customer knows that it is a sham. Depending
on how cynical people are, it may be possible for them to operate on a
day-to-day basis with this assessment of their role. Most people, however, are uncomfortable
with the view that they are actively exploiting suckers; they want to think of
themselves as decent people. Car salespeople frequently justify their cynicism
by claiming that the customers are just as bad or worse; they project the
negative aspects of their own roles onto customers. Thus, as Miller (1964)
writes, the salesperson sees customers as opportunistic, “out to make or save a
buck any way they can.” By selectively perceiving and, if necessary, by
misinterpreting the behavior of the customer to fit his own pattern of
expectations, the salesman is able to rationalize the exploitative and
manipulative aspects of his role, making his work acceptable to himself and
tolerable to others. (p. 20)
Why is it necessary
for the salesperson to go to such lengths to justify his or her behavior? The
profit motive in deceiving and manipulating customers is quite clear, it might
seem obvious that sellers should do anything possible within the law to rip
customers off and not worry about it. The near-universal desire not to do so
suggests that people are not comfortable with a tremendous amount of cynicism
about
their roles. They
would prefer not to have to establish and maintain what Goffman calls “role
distance,”
which means that they
dissociate themselves from, rather than wholeheartedly embrace, the role.
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