Rituelle Spiele mit Beziehungen

On the one hand, Erving Goffman’s work has been perceived as an explication of the interaction order indebted to Durkheim. On the other hand however, it is known as an ironist rejection of order. Goffman made use of this ambivalence without ever attempting to resolve it. Instead of looking at Goffman as a cartographer of the order of everyday life’s order, he can be seen as someone who plays with different perspectives about the everyday game with order. Thus, his Durkheimian part is not order, but ritual, which he transforms into ritual play; norms are then ritual games with relationships.