The Goffman Lectures

About the Book

This book consists of essays presented as lectures to undergraduate and graduate students at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. The context was a special class during which students were reading the published work of Erving Goffman and writing about what they were reading. Some students enrolled as philosophy students and others as sociology students. Professor Hood and Professor Van De Vate often handed out printed versions to the students on the day they were presented. Dr. Hood took these printed versions to prepare the manuscript in a continuous form. The lectures themselves were presented some years apart, since the two departments agreed to offer the course only occasionally. The essays were designed to stimulate questions about what Goffman concludes, as well his techniques of observing and analyzing social life.

About the Author

About the Author Tom Hood, PhD, Professor Emeritus of Sociology joined the faculty at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville in 1965. Current research and writing interests include social suffering and collective distress, the social psychology of appearance and the attribution of character, the work of Erving Goffman, environmental movements in America. His published research on the Billy Graham crusade in Knoxville and his works on the social psychology of experiments have been reprinted and widely cited. Professor Dwight Van de Vate Jr., PhD (deceased), a deeply respected member of the Philosophy Department at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, taught there for over thirty years. Dwight’s favorite technique was to ask a student to use a concept in a question. One of Dwight writings, which reached book length, is Romantic Love—A Philosophical Inquiry, Pennsylvania State University Press, 1981. Tom Hood, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus of Sociology received his university education at Michigan State and Duke Universities. The Bachelor of Arts degree with high honors was awarded at M.S.U. in June 1960. In August of 1960 “Ginger” Johnson married Tom. She provided family support by teaching during his first years in graduate school in addition to his graduate research assistantship. Duke University awarded the A.M. degree in Sociology in 1964 and in August of that year their son, Christopher Charles was born. Ginger had by this time begun teaching at Meredith College in Raleigh, NC. In September, 1965, Hood began teaching at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Their daughter Heather was born in September , 1969 not long after Duke University granted Hood the Ph.D. degree. During those years Ginger provided great family support and much assistance in completing drafts of the dissertation . Professor Hood is a member of Phi Kappa Phi, Pi Gamma Mu, Phi Eta Sigma, and Alpha Kappa Delta and Alpha Zeta honor societies and FarmHouse Fraternity. Professor Hood joined the faculty at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville in 1965 as an instructor He was promoted to Assistant Professor in 1969, Associate Professor in 1973, Professor in 1985. He served as Head of the Department of Sociology from January 1983 until June 1991. Professor Hood has served on many Department, College and University committees. In 1991, he served as President of the University Senate. Active in outside organization, he has served as President of the Southern Sociological Society, as an officer and committee member in several sections of the American Sociological Association, President of the Popular Culture Association in the South, and Executive Officer of the international organization, The Society for the Study of Social Problems from 1991 .to 2009 Currently his research and writing interests include social suffering and collective distress, the social psychology of appearance and the attribution of character, the work of Erving Goffman, environmental movements in America. His published research on the Billy Graham crusade in Knoxville and his work on the social psychology of experiments has been reprinted and widely cited.