The social role of social worker: its shaping and acting in Erving Goffman’s dramaturgical perspective

The subject of the work is shaping and playing the social role of a social worker in the dramaturgical perspective of Erving Goffman. The article is based on the author’s own research carried out for the purposes of the BA thesis. A qualitative method was used, namely an in-depth interview and participant observation. The aim of the article is to describe and explain how the social role of a social worker is shaped and played in the light of Erving Goffman’s dramatic concept on the basis of research carried out at the Municipal Social Welfare Center. Social workers and students of social work participated in the study. The main hypotheses adopted in this work are the assumptions that the social role of a social worker is shaped and played by participation in performances with a defined interactive order, and that each of the performances contains a defined interactive order to which certain, constant elements are subordinated. The collected data was analyzed using the Atlas.ti qualitative analysis software. The research shows that social workers shape and play their social role by preparing in the backstage and during performances on stages, which are: studies, internships and professional work both in the center and in the field.

The subject of the work is shaping and playing the social role of a social worker in the dramaturgical perspective of Erving Goffman. The article is based on the author’s own research carried out for the purposes of the BA thesis. A qualitative method was used, namely an in-depth interview and participant observation. The aim of the article is to describe and explain how the social role of a social worker is shaped and played in the light of Erving Goffman’s dramatic concept on the basis of research carried out at the Municipal Social Welfare Center. Social workers and students of social work participated in the study. The main hypotheses adopted in this work are the assumptions that the social role of a social worker is shaped and played by participation in performances with a defined interactive order, and that each of the performances contains a defined interactive order to which certain, constant elements are subordinated. The collected data was analyzed using the Atlas.ti qualitative analysis software. The research shows that social workers shape and play their social role by preparing in the backstage and during performances on stages, which are: studies, internships and professional work both in the center and in the field.