Performing Action

In recent years the social sciences and the humanities have drawn closer to each other in thought and method. Literary criticism and theory, philosophy, and humanistic history have become part of the common background of sociologists, as scholars in literature, philosophy, and history have become attuned to work in sociology. This rapprochement between the humanities and the social sciences has led to new perceptions of human behavior by sociologists as well as new methodological orientations in their work. In Performing Action, Joseph R. Gusfield draws on drama and fiction show how certain aspects of human action are shaped by the formal dimensions of performance. He shows that observing and understanding behavior is analogous to what we do in reading a book, viewing a painting, or watching a play.

The concept of behavior as artistic performance is defined in chapter 1. Part 1, "Rhetoric," presents two chapters analyzing routine and classic social research reports as literary performances in qualitative and quantitative terms. The next chapter uses concepts drawn from dramatic criticism to examine diverse aspects of social behavior. The concluding chapter treats athletic competition as one form of narrative. Part 2, "Reflexivity," includes chapters on social movements and public actions, pointing out the ways in which objects and events are products of the interpretation and reflection of individuals. Gusfield considers how and why the character of social movements changed from the early to the late twentieth century. He then explores how movements affect social life by their very occurrence and impact on participants and observers. Subsequent chapters in this section discuss the reflexive character of recent social movements and how the content of the "traditional" in three different societies is itself a product of contemporary attitudes and reflections. Part 4, "Symbolism," draws upon literary and artistic conventions to deal with issues of representation and meaning. The first chapter reviews studies of symbolism in modern life generally while the remaining three analyze symbolism in particular areas: natural food movements, smoking and public health, and the pot-luck meal in American life.

The book's last chapter is a conceptual summary, examining the relations between sociology as science and art to argue that sociological methods are neither but partake of both. Following the philosopher Paul Ricouer, Gusfield shows how human behavior is capable of of being read as a text, always telling the the participant or observer "something about something." Performing Actions will be of interest to sociologists, psychologists, and students of aesthetics and critical theory.

Joseph R. Gusfield is professor emeritus of sociology at the University of California, San Diego. His books include Contested Meanings: The Construction of Alcohol Problems, The Culture of Public Problems, Mass Society and Extremist Politics, and Symbolic Crusade: Status Politics and the American Temperance Movement.