Shyness and Society

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-ix

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2. Introduction: Entering the Secret World of the Shy

   • Susie Scott

   Pages 1-14

3. Shyness in Cultural and Historical Perspective

   • Susie Scott

   Pages 15-36

4. Dramaturgical Dilemmas of the Shy Self

   • Susie Scott

   Pages 37-69

5. Outsiders and Enclosures

   • Susie Scott

   Pages 70-90

6. Poise, Performance and Self-Presentation

   • Susie Scott

   Pages 91-123

7. Rules, Reactions and Resistance

   • Susie Scott

   Pages 124-166

8. Conclusion

   • Susie Scott

   Pages 167-174

9. Back Matter

   Pages 175-194

   PDF

Using Symbolic Interactionist theories and descriptions of the everyday life of self-defined 'shy' people, the book explores the social processes of becoming a 'shy person' and performing the shy self in public places. The question of interactional competence is discussed in relation to issues of identity, embodiment, performativity and deviance.

• Embodiment
• Everyday Life
• identity
• interaction
• Self

Shortlisted for the 2008 BSA Philip Abrams Memorial Prize. For more information about the prize, see http://www.britsoc.co.uk/publications/PAM.htm

'This book is a 'should read' for anyone sociologically interested in the public performance of emotions, the self, and identity.' - Michael Atkinson, American Journal of Sociology

• University of Sussex, UK

  Susie Scott

SUSIE SCOTT is Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Sussex, Brighton, UK. She has researched and published in the areas of interaction and everyday life, medical sociology, qualitative methodology and social theory.

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