GOFFMAN AND INTERACTIONAL CITIZENSHIP

Goffman's analysis of the interaction order and his investigation of d eference and demeanor are used to extend and revise the macrosociologi cal theory of citizenship. Goffman's theorizing intimates that individ uals claim and are typically accorded a complex of interactional right s and are simultaneously obliged to honor a complementary set of oblig ations. Taken together, these rights and obligations comprise what we call interactional citizenship. In principle alterations in the intera ction order over time can be described and explained, and in this vein we propose that there has been a general, albeit incomplete and uneve nly realized, expansion of interactional citizenship to virtually ever y category of social actor. There are limits to this expansion, howeve r, and little reason to believe that interactional citizenship can eve r be fully realized.