Frame Analysis

Erving Goffman’s book Frame Analysis (1974) differs from several of his other texts (e.g. the praised books The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life, Encounters, Stigma and Asylums) in that it is probably read because of Goffman’s reputation rather than because it is considered to have an indispensable message. Frame Analysis doesn’t seem to be a book that you must read. It lacks the heuristic character that marks many of Goffman’s other texts, and it has been described as ‘prolix’ and ‘extraordinarily messy’. The reason for this might be that Frame Analysis, at least partly, is a book on methodology, and such books are not expected to have greater literary qualities. Goffman wanted to make a ‘general statement’ with Frame Analysis, and against that background I am trying to answer two questions in my contribution: (1) of what is frame analysis a general statement? (2) what is it that is being generalized? To answer these questions, I search backwards among the texts Goffman published before Frame Analysis and study if there is a frame-analytical continuity in Goffman’s sociology, and if so, in what way