Goffmanian “Cooling” in Technology-Mediated Frontline Enforcement Work

Abstract

Frontline workers enforce rules in their interactions with customers, patients, and everyday people. AI and other emerging digital technologies increasingly mediate these interactions, but sociologists have often overlooked how technology affects relationships between enforcer and enforcee. We argue that centering Erving Goffman’s ideas of “cooling the mark out”—ameliorating tense interactions after a loss of face, status, or self-image—can illuminate how new, data-driven technologies shift roles and relationships in frontline work. We illustrate these processes by drawing on three case studies: self-checkout in retail cashiering, electronic driving logs in commercial vehicle inspections, and prescription drug monitoring programs in pharmacy. We conclude with recommendations for how sociologists of AI can draw on Goffman to theorize about changes in frontline work occasioned by new AI-driven technologies.