Impression management is a way to get people to see you any way you want them to. To achieve this one would wear a certain type of clothes, for example, to give off a certain impression. It is all about image, and managing the impression you give off. If you were at work in a nice office, most people would be wearing nicer clothes, such as suits to give an appearance of professionalism. But if you see the same people on the weekends, they will probably be wearing jeans or shorts with a casual shirt because they are no longer in an environment that requires them to appear in such a specific way. These impressions lead to a social role, what category you would be placed in compared to the rest of the people in the society. Each person has a set of different social roles for different occasions; these are called one's status set. Statuses that are biologically determined (sex, height, hair color, etc.) are considered ascribed statuses. A status that one has to work for and acquire over time ia an achieved status. In most societies there are few statuses that have priority over others; these are master statuses. Master statuses determine a person's overall position in society.
             In the film American Beauty, there are many example of impression management. Carolyn is the prime example. Throughout the entire film she is constantly trying to be something other than herself. She wanted to be powerful and successful. Something she said quite a few times was that, "to appear successful, one must project an image of success at all times". When she failed, when she didn't sell a house, she felt such a loss of self because she had become her job's image as a real estate agent. She started to break from behind the mask that had become her, but she couldn't allow herself to do so. As soon as she started to break free, it scared her to not have such control and began to slap her own face and yell at ...