After I get ready, I go to school (if it is a school day). All of a sudden I am playing the role of a student. I sit quietly in a student desk in a large room while I listen to the professor (who is also playing a role) lecture about the topic of the day. According to the intro, "performance is always performance for someone." (Carlson readings pp.5). I am the spectator of my professor's performance as well as the performer (in the eyes of my professor). As a student, I am expected to pay attention in class, take notes, go home or to the library, and study the material that I have been taught. This is a perfect example of the notion that we are all performers and spectators (role reciprocity). Although nobody in specific has taught me how to be a student, movies, shows, friends, and society as a whole have shaped my behavior in such a way that I know what I must do to be considered a "good" student. On the other hand, others (my classmates) look up to me when it comes to being a student and they use my methods of studying to also play the role of a "good student".
As soon as I am done will all of my classes, my role as a student changes because I go to work after class. All of a sudden I have a change in social self and am no longer playing the student who needs to study. Instead, I am considered the employee who needs to get the job done, regardless of the obstacles that seem hard to overcome. Even when I am not at work but I am wearing business attire, I am expected by society to behave as a mature and professional adult would act. Although nobody has told me how I have to act while I am at work and/or in business attire, I have seen enough in society to know what is right and what is wrong. There is a big difference between the duties I have at work and my responsibilities. When I hear the word "duty" I think of something that I am being forced to do at work but when I hear "responsibility" I think of something that I should be doing to be a good employee.
