Freud And Goffman - A Comparison Of Theoretical Ap

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Comparing and Contrasting the Theoretical Approaches of Goffman and Freud This essay will compare the theoretical approaches of Goffman and Freud as exemplified by Symbolic Interactionism (Goffman) and Psychoanalysis, in particular dream theory (Freud). It will do this by exploring the kernel of their ideas and how each approached their research. Sigmund Freud travelled to Europe to study the research of a neurologist called Jean-Martin Charcot who studied hypnosis. Neurology was not satisfying enough for Freud, he became the founding father of psychoanalysis whereby he would get his patients to bring repressed thoughts and feelings into consciousness in order to free them from suffering repetitive distorted emotions. The clinical tool that Freud developed -Psychoanalysis, is a method of mind investigation focusing on revealing the unconscious mind (sociology index). However Freud did not stop at psychoanalysis, he wanted to study dreams, and published his thinking in ‘The Interpretation of Dreams’. Freud thought that dreams were the "royal road to the unconscious" (p.12) S. Freud(1899). He thought that dreams illustrate the logic of the unconscious mind. “every dream turns out to be a meaningful psychical construct that should be allotted a specific place in the mental whirl of waking life.” (p.11) S. Freud (1899). Whilst Freud’s work relies heavily on the emotional and conscious/ unconscious thoughts of people, Erving Goffmans work ‘The Presentation of the Self in Everyday Life’ focuses on the individual’s social context. Freud’s work is much more closely related to Psychology whereas Goffman decribes his work as “I mean this report to serve as a sort of handbook detailing one sociological perspective from which social life can be studied…”,”(Preface) E. Goffman (1959) Goffman’s work is linked with psychology but sociology is the dominant
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