Erving Goffman (1922-82) was arguably one of the most influential American sociologists of the twentieth century. A keen observer of the interaction order of everyday life, Goffman's books, which have sold in the hundreds of thousands, continue to be widely read and his concepts have permanently entered the sociology lexicon. This volume consists of ten original essays, all written by prominent Goffman scholars, that critically assess Goffman's many contributions to various areas of study, including functionalism, social psychology, ethnomethodology, and feminist theory.

Contributions by: Luiz Carlos Baptista, Ann Branaman, James J. Chriss, Norman K. Denzin, Uta Gerhardt, Charles Lemert, Philip Manning, Anne Warfield Rawls, Mary F. Rogers, Thomas J. Scheff, Gregory W. H. Smith, A Javier Treviño