Toward a sociology of the person

This paper proposes a sociology of the person that focuses upon the sociall y defined, publicly visible beings of intersubjective experience. I argue t hat the sociology of the person proposed by Durkheim and Mauss is more accu rately described as a sociology of institutions of the person and neglects both folk or ethnopsychologies of personhood and the international producti on of persons. I draw upon the work of Goffman to develop a sociology of th e person concerned with means, processes, and relations of person productio n. I also propose that the work of Goffman, Foucault, and others provides i nsights into the contemporary technology of person production and into how its control and use affects relations of person production. I conclude with a brief outline of the theoretical connections among institutions of the p erson, folk psychologies, the social constitution of the person, and the pr ospect of a distinctively sociological psychology.