Unknowingly, social order is very important in everyday life. As Elizabeth Silva states, “social order is a key principle of living together” (Reflections on Ordered Lives, 2009, Audio). The ordering of social life can be considered in many ways. However, two theories emerge when looking at the creation of social order, that of Erving Goffman and Michel Foucault. Both of these theories concern how society is produced and, more specifically, how social order is created and remade. Although the two theories aim to encompass a broad picture of society's understanding, they do so in very different ways. Both divide big questions into smaller questions, Goffman examines how an individual creates order and Foucault examines how discourse works. The two theories are both very different but similar in many respects. This makes them interesting to compare and contrast, which this essay aims to do. Erving Goffman (1959, 1971, and 1972) developed several theories that aim to understand how social order is created. His main interest was in how people's everyday interactions were linked to the creation of social order. (Silva, 2009, p.316). Michel Foucault (1972, 1977 and 1978) was also interested in the construction of social order; however, he focused on people who possess what he called "authoritative knowledge" and on people who put this knowledge at the service of social institutions. Each of these theories attempts to answer its own questions, uses the evidence gathered to make claims, and develop concepts and theories to understand how order is created in society. (Silva, 2009, p.319). The questions Goffman is concerned with are how people intuit the roles they and others must play, how they know this in... middle of paper.... ..order as a whole.Works Cited'Reflections on ordered lives' (2009) DD101 Introduction to the social sciences. [online]. Available at https://learn2.open.ac.uk/pluginfile.php/1126837/mod_label/intro/dd101_cd3_reflections_on_ordered_lives_lq.mp3 (accessed May 2014). Silva, E.B. (2009) 'Making Social Order' in Taylor, S., Hinchcliffe, S., Clarke, J. and Bromley, S. (eds), Making Social Lives. Milton Keynes, The Open University.Staples, M., Meegan, J., Jeffries, E. and Bromley S. (2012) 'Learning Companion 2', Introducing the Social Sciences, Milton Keynes, The Open University.The Open University ( 2009) DD101 Social Science Presentation, “Online Activity 23 – Building a Social Science Argument: The Knowledge Loop 4.” [online]. Available at https://learn2.open.ac.uk/pluginfile.php/1127221/mod_resource/content/2/html/323_1.html (accessed May 2014).