Standing in Public Places : An Ethno-Zenic Experiment Aimed at Developing the Sociological Imagination and More Besides ...

• Authors: Krzysztof Konecki
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

This article describes and analyses an ethno-Zenic experiment consisting of standing motionless in public places (for example, at the entrance to a shopping mall, in front of a petrol station, a bank or a shop, or on a street corner). The research was inspired by an ethnomethodological approach to lived order and psychological knowledge - derived from Buddhism - on how the mind works. Some inspiration was also drawn from symbolic interactionism. The experiment was aimed first at discovering the basic assumptions underlying our everyday activities. A second and more important goal was to deconstruct the work of the mind, especially with respect to the process of the looking-glass self and ‘producing’ emotions. The article also discusses the use of the self-study method (ethno-Zenic experiments) to deconstruct the mind as part of a lived order in a certain location and, in the wake of that, mindfulness.

Keywords

EN

qualitative methods; Zen Buddhism; public places; lived order; contemplative sociology; ethnomethodology

Discipline

• SOCIOLOGY: SOCIOLOGY

• Publisher: Institute of Sociology, Czech Academy of Sciences
• Journal: Sociologický časopis. Czech Sociological Review
• Year: 2017
• Volume: 53
• Issue: 6
• Pages: 881-902
• Document type: ARTICLE

Contributors

author

Krzysztof Konecki

• Sociologický časopis, redakce, Sociologický ústav AV ČR, v.v.i., Jilská 1, 110 00 Praha 1, Czech Republic

Identifiers

DOI

10.13060/00380288.2017.53.6.379