Christoph Reuss wrote:
>
> Brad McCormick quoted:
> > "[Erving] Goffman's First Law":
> >
> > Wherever there is a system,
> > there is a way to "work" it.
>
> Definitely!
Sorry, but the examples you adduce, as timely and important as
they are, have nothing to do with the interests of the
great, late American sociologist Erving Goffman.
I have a little story about Goffman: A Full-professor I
knew was assigned to oversee the process of selecting
the person to hold a new Endowed Chair. A young
Assoc. Professor applied for the job and gave Goffman as a
reference. My friend knew Goffman was ill at the time
(dying of cancer), but he decided to follow up on
the reference anyway. He called Goffman, who was
quite friendly, and told my friend:
You will not regret it if you hire this person [the young
Assoc. Prof.].
What happened? The University selected a middle-aging and possibly
alcoholic, but apparently "better known" (or at least
"senior" person to fill the new Endowed Chair. My friend's
comment to me? "With a recommendation like that from
Erving Goffman, this young man will find a fine position for
himself, somewhere."
>
> City of Los Angeles High School Math Proficiency Exam
> ======================================================
[snip]
No, a better "10-word-or-less" example of Goffman's
Law is the old story of the man who left the factory
every day with an empty wheelbarrow. Each day the guard inspected
the wheelbarrow, and, finding it empty, let the man pass.
(The man was stealing wheelbarrows.)
Non carborundum legitimi! (which could well have served
as a sub-title for Goffman's great study of the real life
of inmates of psychiatric "hospitals": _Asylums_.)
+\brad mccormick
--
Let your light so shine before men,
that they may see your good works.... (Matt 5:16)
Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. (1 Thes 5:21)
Brad McCormick, Ed.D. / [EMAIL PROTECTED]
914.238.0788 / 27 Poillon Rd, Chappaqua NY 10514-3403 USA
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