The Performative Structure of Social Action: Theatre as a Model Field of Social Order

Abstract

This study reconceptualizes theatrical performance not as a representation of social reality but as a model field for understanding the structural mechanisms of social action. Drawing on social interaction theory and theories of performativity, the article argues that social order is not sustained solely by abstract institutional structures but is produced through ongoing acts of presentation. A tri-layer framework of performative social action is proposed, consisting of role presentation, norm presentation, and visibility presentation. At the level of role presentation, identities are constituted through the continuous enactment of recognizable behavioral patterns. At the level of norm presentation, social rules operate through patterned modes of action rather than exclusively through cognitive adherence. At the level of visibility presentation, social interaction unfolds within a structure of observation in which anticipated evaluation shapes self-regulation. Theatre, as a highly condensed and institutionalized environment of presentation, renders these otherwise dispersed mechanisms observable. By conceptualizing the stage as a structural model of social interaction, this study demonstrates how identity, normativity, and power relations are generated through visible practices. The framework positions theatre studies as a methodological resource for social theory and advances a performative understanding of the production of social order.