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

Krzysztof Konecki
2017 Czech Sociological Review  
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
more » ... c 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.
doi:10.13060/00380288.2017.53.6.379 fatcat:tt3zzhxudngkhbhlh7erjpzmjy