Sheila is a black executive at a company that is almost entirely all-white.She jokes with her mother that when she goes to work she "checks her blackness at the door." Erving Goffman might say that at work she is her _________ self.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Erving Goffman's concept of front stage refers to the public self that an individual presents to the world, while back stage refers to the private self that they reserve for themselves. In this scenario, the fact that Sheila feels like she needs to hide or downplay her blackness in order to fit into her predominantly white workplace suggests that she is presenting a front stage self at work.

Sheila Is a Black Executive at a Company That Is