Facework Theory
General Purpose: Facework describes the maintenance of one’s perceived identity.
Specific Purpose: This theory is concerned with the ways in which we construct and preserve our self images, or the image of someone else.
Key terms, concepts, and definitions:
Face: One’s public self image, or how we want to be perceived by others. Face can be built, changed, or lost during communication exchanges that may threaten the way we want to be seen.
The two types of face are positive (the need for acceptance, appreciation, and approval) and negative (the need for autonomy, privacy, and independence). Positive face can be achieved through the process of mutual self-disclosure, as well as through receiving compliments and praise. Negative face can include showing independence or any sense of agency.
Facework: The specific means utilized in constructing and preserving face, including communicative acts such as apologies, explanations, or other statements.
Face concerns: Discerning whose face we want to preserve in a communicative encounter.
Face restoration includes any measures that serve to maintain our own face, while face giving includes any acts aimed to defend or preserve someone else’s face.
What does the theory do? Facework provides a way to understand how and why people engage in communicative acts that conserve what they perceive as their social identity. Everyone wants to be seen in a positive manner and will act to protect how they are viewed in a face-threatening situation, even if they do not realize they are doing this.
Where can it be applied? It can be applied in any interaction in which your own or someone else’s public image is threatened. For instance, if your close friend begins to tell an embarrassing story about you to a new romantic partner, this face-threatening act will likely cause you to speak up and explain yourself or the scenario in a more understandable light, to protect your positive face in front of this person.
Summary source:
Goffman, Erving. (1955) On face-work: An analysis of ritual elements in social interaction. Psychiatry: Journal for the Study of Interpersonal Processes 18, 213-231. doi:
Ting-Toomey, S. (1994) Face and facework: An introduction. In The challenge of facework (1-12). Albany: State University of New York Press.
Exemplar articles:
Oetzel, J., S. Ting-Toomey, T. Masumoto, Y. Yokochi, X. Pan, J. Takai, and R. Wilcox. (2001) Face and facework in conflict: A cross-cultural comparison of China, Germany, Japan, and the United States. Communication Monographs 68 (3), 235-258. doi: 10.1080/0367750128061
Park, J. (2008) Linguistic politeness and face-work in computer mediated communication, Part 2: An application of the theoretical framework. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology 59 (14), 2199-2209. doi: 10.1002/asi.20926
Specific Purpose: This theory is concerned with the ways in which we construct and preserve our self images, or the image of someone else.
Key terms, concepts, and definitions:
Face: One’s public self image, or how we want to be perceived by others. Face can be built, changed, or lost during communication exchanges that may threaten the way we want to be seen.
The two types of face are positive (the need for acceptance, appreciation, and approval) and negative (the need for autonomy, privacy, and independence). Positive face can be achieved through the process of mutual self-disclosure, as well as through receiving compliments and praise. Negative face can include showing independence or any sense of agency.
Facework: The specific means utilized in constructing and preserving face, including communicative acts such as apologies, explanations, or other statements.
Face concerns: Discerning whose face we want to preserve in a communicative encounter.
Face restoration includes any measures that serve to maintain our own face, while face giving includes any acts aimed to defend or preserve someone else’s face.
What does the theory do? Facework provides a way to understand how and why people engage in communicative acts that conserve what they perceive as their social identity. Everyone wants to be seen in a positive manner and will act to protect how they are viewed in a face-threatening situation, even if they do not realize they are doing this.
Where can it be applied? It can be applied in any interaction in which your own or someone else’s public image is threatened. For instance, if your close friend begins to tell an embarrassing story about you to a new romantic partner, this face-threatening act will likely cause you to speak up and explain yourself or the scenario in a more understandable light, to protect your positive face in front of this person.
Summary source:
Goffman, Erving. (1955) On face-work: An analysis of ritual elements in social interaction. Psychiatry: Journal for the Study of Interpersonal Processes 18, 213-231. doi:
Ting-Toomey, S. (1994) Face and facework: An introduction. In The challenge of facework (1-12). Albany: State University of New York Press.
Exemplar articles:
Oetzel, J., S. Ting-Toomey, T. Masumoto, Y. Yokochi, X. Pan, J. Takai, and R. Wilcox. (2001) Face and facework in conflict: A cross-cultural comparison of China, Germany, Japan, and the United States. Communication Monographs 68 (3), 235-258. doi: 10.1080/0367750128061
Park, J. (2008) Linguistic politeness and face-work in computer mediated communication, Part 2: An application of the theoretical framework. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology 59 (14), 2199-2209. doi: 10.1002/asi.20926
