Using Symbolic Interactionist theories and descriptions of the everyday life of self-defined 'shy' people, the book explores the social processes of becoming a 'shy person' and performing the shy self in public places. The question of interactional competence is discussed in relation to issues of identity, embodiment, performativity and deviance.

SUSIE SCOTT is Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Sussex, Brighton, UK. She has researched and published in the areas of interaction and everyday life, medical sociology, qualitative methodology and social theory.