Performative Sociality and Bounded Intimacy in Social Partner Relationships A Goffmanian Perspective

Abstract

Postmodern society at present is increasingly fragmented in terms of inter-personal communication, functionalised, and emotionally shallow. The old form of a prolonged, emotionally rich relationship is being replaced by a more flexible and convenient relationship based on “mutual consideration”. Among the above new forms, social partner relationships have been particularly prevalent among young people, and they are organised around specific activities such as studying, exercising and consuming, rather than emotional closeness. In accordance with Goffman's dramatic theory, this paper will examine the relationship among social partners and observe how they present themselves to others, handle public attention, and keep their emotions concealed. Based on the above analysis, the relationships among social partners are generally highly formal in nature and are maintained by strict rules for boundary maintenance, emotion control, self-presentation selection and information restriction. Together, these mechanisms have created a kind of “limited closeness” that is both stable and functional, but not intimate. The above results further indicate that the reasons for changes in social partner relationships are also related to the whole society, such as a fast-paced life, digital communication and the need to reduce risk in social interactions. Although the links can provide functions such as reduced loneliness, flexible companionship, and easy social connections, they are also limited in their development of trust and empathy, and a stable long-term relationship cannot be established. They are also too dependent on consistent role performance and thus relatively weak when facing expectation gaps or disruptions to impression management.