Abstract

Although some consider Goffman to be the Durkheim of everyday life – given his focus on constraints in social situations – there are works of his in which an almost existentialist point of view on risk, gamble, and play emerges as fundamental dimensions of social life. I refer in particular to «Where the Action Is», an inquiry into gambling that Goffman conducted in part in Nevada casinos. I argue that the importance of this essay lies not only in its lively description of betting in gambling halls, but also in the image of «social situations» as spheres of change, identity, and, therefore, history. Building on certain ethnographic experiences in American and European casinos, I discuss the ethnographic and sociological fecundity of Goffman’s perspective