A world of singles

I recently read Erving Goffman’s Relations in Public (1971). Goffman is the dude when it comes to ‘micro-sociology’ - ‘studies of face-to-face communication and related rituals of social interaction’ - the sociology of everyday life.

Relations in Public (which does not, sadly, have anything to do with the discipline of public relations) is about how we interact with other people in public settings. The whole book is peak overthinking, aided and abetted by Goffman’s slightly-snarky tone of voice a...