A consistent theme in Goffman's work is the analyses of the various ways in which people manage to maintain dignity and self respect in the face of societal standards that demean them (Branaman, 2003, p.87). This theme echoes the work of John Scott (1985), who in Weapons of the Weak introduced the concept of 'everyday resistance.' Scott focused on subtle methods of rebellion that stopped well short of collective outright defiance amongst people who lacked the formal means to oppose authority. Greater attention, Scott asserted, should be paid to everyday acts of resistance which are quiet, dispersed or otherwise invisible (Vinthagen, Johansson, 2013). Importantly, these forms of resistance, said Scott (1985) do not, 'throw up the manifestos, …show more content…
Like Scott, Goffman chose to highlight the effectiveness of more covert forms of resistance. On his account, acts of resistance can be quite small, in the sense that they consist of subtle and rapid, micro-level communicative behaviours (Branaman, 2003). Thus, according to him : 'Extreme situations provide instruction for us, not so much in regard to the grander forms of loyalty and treachery as in regard to the small acts of living' (Goffman, 1961, p. 181). In Asylums, (1961) Goffman insisted that selves can never be completely defined by social situations. On his view, people can actively resist identification with the devalued selves that others would attribute to them. Goffman illustrated how mental patients responded to various assaults upon their dignity, including the expectation that they would take part earnestly in prescribed activities related to their treatment and the organization of the institution (Branaman, 2003). Thus institutions, he argued, typically fail to capture the inmate's sense of self. He observed that inmates would resist capture through secondary adjustments. This strategy of resistance, Goffman (1961, p.318) suggested is …show more content…
However, young men from disadvantaged estates have crafted a way of being that has legitimacy within their fields. They have, to quote Bourdieu, built a culture that is 'worthy of being sought and possessed’ (1977). Like the wise peasant, who is able to reverse the presumed meaning of the bow, by subverting mainstream norms and mores, Limerick's residents overtly express their irreverence towards a society they feel excluded by. As Stiofdn Ó Cadhla put it, joy-riders choose ‘competitiveness over submission, visibility over invisibility, evocativeness over silence' (2001, p.