Confidentiality and personal integrity

Area of Science:

• Social Sciences
• Sociology
• Ethics

Background:

• Confidentiality is often viewed as a duty, but its social dynamics are complex.
• Erving Goffman's social theory provides a framework for understanding social interaction and self-presentation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To reframe confidentiality not just as a rule, but as a social skill tied to self-image management.
• To analyze the implications of breaching and respecting confidentiality within social interactions.

Main Methods:

• Application of Erving Goffman's social theory.
• Analysis of confidentiality breaching as a social act of embarrassment and exposure.
• Examination of case studies, including examples from the UKCC document on Confidentiality.

Main Results:

• Confidentiality is intrinsically linked to the social skills individuals use to manage self-images.
• Breaching confidentiality can be a tactic to embarrass and expose incompetence.
• Decisions to breach or respect confidentiality involve ethical trade-offs, potentially protecting the vulnerable or shielding the guilty.

Conclusions:

• Ethical considerations of confidentiality must account for the potential for prejudice and harm.
• A Goffmanian perspective reveals the performative and interactional nature of confidentiality.
• Understanding confidentiality requires acknowledging its role in social control and individual reputation management.