Social Roles - Borrowed Desire and Hierarchy
Three short lessons on front stage and backstage selves, mimetic desire, and the claim that hierarchy follows possessions.
Who we are in public, what we want and where we stand may all be shaped by other people. These shorts look at the self as a performance, desire as imitation, and rank as something that may follow possessions.
Front Stage, Backstage and the Performed Self
Published 2026-09-22 · Watch the short
You talk, sit and even hold your face differently when you are alone. The short says this is not being two-faced. It points to the sociologist Erving Goffman, who in 1959 described life as running on two stages.
| Stage | Description |
|---|---|
| Front stage | Every version of you performing for an audience, at work, in the group chat, on a date or on camera |
| Backstage | The space where the door closes and the performance drops |
As the video presents it, Goffman went further and said performing is the self: there is no hidden real you waiting under the front stage, and the self is built in the switch between the two. The short adds that phones blur the line, since you post the front stage and live the backstage, yet every private message or close-friends story is another backstage with an audience. It asks when you were last fully backstage.
Note
This is the video’s reading of Goffman. Whether the self is only performance is a contested philosophical question.
Mimetic Desire, Wanting What Others Want
Published 2026-09-09 · Watch the short
The philosopher René Girard studied desire and, according to the short, concluded that humans do not generate desire on their own but borrow it. Someone else wants something, and suddenly you want it too. He called this mimetic desire, where mimetic means imitated.
- Ask whether you wanted a job, a partner or a lifestyle before you saw someone else have it.
- Advertising, the short says, does not sell the product but someone else enjoying it.
- Some of what feels like your own ambition or taste may come from whoever you stood closest to when you decided you wanted it.
The video closes with a question: is the thing you are chasing something you want, or something you watched someone else want first?
Note
This is a short summary of Girard’s idea. It does not claim that all desire is borrowed in every case.
Hierarchy and the Penan of Borneo
Published 2026-07-14 · Watch the short
Many assume hierarchy is simply human nature. The short points to the Penan, a nomadic people of Borneo shown in the film Tawai by Bruce Parry. Historically everything they owned fit on their back, and the video claims that because they never accumulated possessions, they never developed leaders or a class system.
| Common assumption | The short’s argument |
|---|---|
| Ranking is the starting point of society | Ranking is a result of some people having more money, land or goods |
| Some people are naturally on top | Without possessions, hierarchy has nothing to attach to |
The suggestion is that hierarchy may not be built into human nature but may have begun when humans started keeping score.
Important
This is the video’s account of one society and a speculative argument. It is not established that possessions alone cause hierarchy, and the claim about the Penan is not checked here.
Conclusion
The three shorts question what feels given. The performed self suggests we are shaped by audiences, mimetic desire suggests our wants are shaped by others, and the Penan example suggests rank may be shaped by what people accumulate. Each is presented as a way of thinking, not a proven rule, and each ends by asking what is truly your own.
FAQ
- The self is hidden under the front stage
- Performing is the self, built in the switch between stages
- Only the backstage self is real
- The self does not exist
(2) The short says there is no real you hiding under the performance, and the self is built in the gap between the two stages.
The short says acting differently when alone proves a person is two-faced.
False. It says this is not fake and not a flaw, but the two-stage pattern a sociologist mapped.
- The product itself
- Discounts
- Someone else enjoying the product
- Information about ingredients
(3) Once you see the product work for someone else, the wanting starts.
The short says the thing you are chasing may come from whoever you were standing closest to.
True. It suggests some ambition or taste may come from the people nearest you rather than from you.
- They have a strict class system
- They never accumulated possessions and so never developed a hierarchy
- They are ruled by one chief
- They live in large cities
(2) The short presents them as nomads whose belongings fit on their back, with no leaders or class system. This is the video’s account and not a verified fact.
| Idea | Thinker or example |
|---|---|
| A. Front stage and backstage | 1. René Girard |
| B. Mimetic desire | 2. The Penan |
| C. Hierarchy as result of accumulation | 3. Erving Goffman |
A - 3, B - 1, C - 2.
Vocabulary
References
- Travis Mayo. Front stage and backstage, Goffman and the performed self. YouTube Shorts, 2026-09-22.
- Also posted: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/zSnZK3GnHPE (2026-08-08)
- Travis Mayo. René Girard spent his life studying why we want the things we want. YouTube Shorts, 2026-09-09.
- Also posted: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/HQb9qdi9fXo (2026-07-23)
- Travis Mayo. Could fewer possessions mean more equality?. YouTube Shorts, 2026-07-14.