Sociologický časopis / Czech Sociological Review 2017, 53(6): 881-902 | DOI: 10.13060/00380288.2017.53.6.379

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

Krzysztof Konecki
University of Łódz

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: qualitative methods, Zen Buddhism, public places, lived order, contemplative sociology, ethnomethodology

Published: December 1, 2017Show citation

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Konecki, K. (2017). Standing in Public Places: An Ethno-Zenic Experiment Aimed at Developing the Sociological Imagination and More Besides …. Sociologický časopis / Czech Sociological Review, 53(6), 881-902. doi: 10.13060/00380288.2017.53.6.379.
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