This was never intended to be taken as a literal account of how an individual views themselves. It is proposed to provide a "general theory of face-to-face interaction, a theory that could be used to interpret any social exchange." The theory itself consists of both individual actions and structures that partly determine these meanings. In a society where individualism is increasingly widespread, it is necessary for sociologists to study it, because the notion of what constitutes an individual is evolving. Through Goffman's theory of the self, the individual was seen as making conscious and unconscious choices about how to project their desired image. It can be argued that this is the real value of Goffman for the sociological point of view.