We’ve been editing ourselves at work for centuries. A footman to a king might have flattered a monarch they truly despised. Soldiers in the Second World War would have tried to put on a brave face in the trenches each day.
Now, we have city boys dialling up the banter to fit in and get ahead, and receptionists adopting sunny dispositions. It’s a key part of human nature, says cultural anthropologist Dr Alex Gapud, who references socialist Erving Goffman’s theory that life is theatre, and people are like actors on a stage, each playing a variety of parts. “At work, we play roles,” says Gapud, “whether it’s the role of the boss, or someone that’s client-facing, for example.
” Goffman’s theory refers to a frontstage mentality – when we’re “on stage” we behave a certain way, the clothes we wear can be compared to an actor’s costume, and we speak with particular terms or acronyms, almost like a script. Gapud recalls working in a call centre when he was young and using his “phone voice”, which was an octave higher than his own. “That’s not how I normally am, but I was performing the role of the customer service rep,” he says.
Margaret Thatcher, on the other hand, famously took lessons in the 1970s to lower the pitch of her voice, to make her seem firmer. These are typical frontstage behaviours. Then there’s the backstage version we all have – when we’re behaving more organically with our equals at work, or our peers in usual life.
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