Abstract This paper attempts to explain the trajectory and unusual outcome of this courtroom encounter by applying Erving Goffman’s approach to interaction. It employs his notions of frame and footing, plus those of face, ritual deference and demeanour when they are useful. This perspective shows that, as well as the socially constituted power asymmetry, the participants create an interactive asymmetry in which the accused, Penelope Soto, although a canonically ratified participant, is sometimes effectively ‘de-ratified’. However, as the encounter progresses, Soto and the judge shift their footings back and forth such that into the court-hearing frame, another frame, that of the social encounter, is insinuated. This clash of frames is shown to be a major cause of the trajectory taken by the encounter. The Goffmanian perspective also points up the effect of the use of a video link for this encounter. This application of Goffman’s framework functions as a test of some of his concepts and the paper concludes with some comments and suggested elaborations.

中文翻译：

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立足共舞：索托案的戈夫曼主义视角

摘要本文试图通过运用欧文·高夫曼（Erving Goffman）的互动方法来解释这种法庭遭遇的轨迹和异常结果。它运用了他的框架和脚步概念，以及有用的面孔，礼节尊重和举止。这种观点表明，除了社会上构成的权力不对称之外，参与者还产生了互动性的不对称，尽管被正式批准的参与者，被告佩内洛普·索托（Penelope Soto）有时会被有效地“取消批准”。但是，随着相遇的进行，索托和法官来回转移了自己的立足点，以至于进入了法庭听证会，这是社会相遇的另一个框架。帧的这种冲突被证明是相遇所采取的轨迹的主要原因。戈夫曼式的观点还指出了使用视频链接进行这种相遇的效果。戈夫曼框架的这种应用是对他某些概念的检验，本文最后给出了一些评论和建议的详细说明。