The “Shirt-Weenie” A Note on Teaching the Power of Face-Work and Tact in Social Interaction

ERVING GOFFMAN Is one of the most im portant sociologists of the twentieth century. Popular textbooks in sociology (e.g., Gid dens, Duneier, and Appelbaum 2005; Ma cionis 2007) and social psychology (e.g., Aronson, Wilson, and Akert 2006; Cahill 2007; DeLamater and Myers 2007) devote large sections and entire chapters to Goff man's ideas concerning the presentation of self, face-work, the management of stigma and framing, among others. However, with the exception of Brown (2003), no pub lished teaching articles or notes exist that offer in-class teaching techniques concern ing Goffmanian sociology. We feel that sociology instructors need more teaching techniques concerning Goffmanian sociol ogy in order to enliven the material and make it relevant to students' ordinary be haviors and everyday lives. To this end, we discuss in this note the teaching technique we call the "shirt-weenie" demonstration. We found this demonstration helpful in teaching social psychology undergraduates the power of face-work and tact in influenc ing and structuring their own individual behavior.