IntroductionThe social theorist I have chosen for this article is the symbolic interactionist Erving Goffman. I chose Erving Goffman because of his intellectual and still current research on social behavior and learning in individuals. He is one of the few social theorists that I find quite interesting and remarkable. Not only that, but I found that I wanted to know more about him and soak up all of his ideas and work because he's from Canada. I am a very proud Canadian and I am happy that such an influential social theorist whose work is still used today is from the country I come from. This article will introduce most, if not all, of the most important aspects of Goffman's social life by providing you with his biography, his ideas, and how his ideas relate to our current times, the 21st century. → ADDBiographyErving Manual Goffman was born in Mannville, Alberta, Canada on June 11, 1922 to Max and Ann, his Ukrainian Jewish immigrant parents, and his sister Frances. In 1937, Goffman attended St. John's Technical High School. Goffman had a wide education and first attended the University of Manitoba due to his interest in chemistry in 1939. After this period of his life, he worked at the National Film Board in Ottawa, in Ontario, where he met one of his mentors, Dennis Wong, who boosted Goffman's mind. interest in the study of sociology. It was at this time that Goffman enrolled at the University of Toronto where he studied sociology and anthropology (Fine & Manning, 2003, p. 35). Goffman received his undergraduate degree in sociology in 1945 from the University of Toronto and continued his graduate studies at the University of Chicago (Dillon, 2010, p. 266). The transition for Goffman was very difficult and overwhelming..... . middle of paper......I studied at St. Elizabeth Psychiatric Hospital and found it to be a very harsh institution. Goffman found that "the institution as a whole had accomplished its mission of being a 'house of force' for changing people...self-mortification and the system of privilege undermined patients' sense of self (Fine and Manning, 2003, p.50). . This means that St. Elizabeth was a place where the patients there had no choice but to change while removing and undermining their individuality. “The institution as a whole is capable of attacking a person's self-concept, our sense of who we 'really' are (Fine & Manning, 2003, p. 50). Although this article cannot focus on all of Goffman's ideas, he had many other notable ideas, including his highly influential work on stigma, transmission, language, and institutional framework analysis..