How to manage subordinate involvements

goffman starts to explain how to manage subordinate involvements.

To begin with, i will explain what subordinate involvement is.

It’s an involvement that doesn’t require the attention of the actor, something that we can qualify as a distraction. It is often expected that a side involvement will be a subordinate one. However, it can also be the other way round. This is something Goffman tries to explain through various example throughout the 1st part of the text. Indeed, his point is that nothing is invariable.

When trying to go deeper into subordinate involvements, he makes multiple statements.

The 1st one being that those kind of involvements shouldn’t catch too much of one’s attention and that therefore people always feel the need to call them distractions. However, as we’re talking about well established subordinate involvements, they’re very much likely to become what goffman calls a point for defection by catching too much attention as they’re usually allowed when obligatory behaviour is required.

He also points how what we consider a subordinate involvement is very different according to the social class, the gender or even the age class.

He gives the example of some children’s behaviours that once are applied to adults become something that makes them mentally ill.

His next point is that if a subordinate involvement were to be prohibited, it would be quite clear and gives a striking example with convents where looking away in times of meditation or prayer is considered as unacceptable.

Goffman also points how the social approval of subordinate involvements varies through the years as some things that were impermissible years ago aren’t anymore. It depicts the cultural changes brought by the evolution in regard to informal conduct or some technological advancement.

His last point is that subordinate involvements are likely to be initiated in case of discomfort when one feels threatened by the dominating involvement.