Many social activities are framed performances, not self-representations

Evidence

One can have the same experience, while the action giving rise to that experience can differ. This difference precedes the question of whether the availability of a different type of action is again limited – for instance by moral or legal demands, or by power. … Mistaken interpretations of experience are treated as errors and are sanctioned differently, if at all. On the other hand, acts are subject to special social controls which are formulated at the same time as the action itself becomes possible. … It is revealed, inter alia, in the fact that where acting is concerned, it is easier to deny that it was intended than in the case of experiencing and hence the complications which arise over the problem of negation in a normative theory or even a logic of action. — Niklas Luhmann, Trust and Power, 615 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Actions carry special social controls that experiences do not — Niklas Luhmann, Trust and Power, 615; Achieved micro-celebrity is a deliberate self-presentation strategy, not a social position — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update: Celebrity, Publicity,…, 277; City dwellers read identities and perform behavior from learned repertoires — Lyn H. Lofland, World of Strangers_ Order and Action in…, 642

Broader Connections

• Actions carry special social controls that experiences do not #complicates (0.70) — Niklas Luhmann, Trust and Power, 615