Abstract
The current revival of pragmatism has led some analysts to rank Goffman as one of its proponents. Such contention seems rather dubious. A fundamental difference between Dewey’s and Mead’s standpoint and Goffman’s one is that whereas the former see the social as a natural phenomenon latter takes it to be immanent to the actual accomplishment of an action in common. This article claims that asserting that Goffman’s work is in line with pragmatism amounts to mistaking the spirit of pragmatism with its letter. This is demonstrated by considering Goffman’s stance on three notions that bear part of the legacy of pragmatism to sociology: situation, intersubjective communication and pluralism.
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Ogien, A. (2022). Pragmatism. In: Lenz, K., Hettlage, R. (eds) Goffman-Handbuch. J.B. Metzler, Stuttgart. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-476-05871-3_5
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