Re: actual site: mundanebehavior.org

Mark Whitaker makes a very useful point with a bit of irony from Kafka.  
Maybe
Chris also could give the journal the current data on frequency of messages 
by
senders and Wally might provide an analysis with his incisive humor?


On Tue, 22 Feb 2000, Mark Douglas Whitaker wrote:

> 
>         Well, there was a slew of 'daily life' methodologial interest in
> sociology in the late 1970s. The interesting topic here, is that it seems 
>to
> contain an interest in power relations in the structuring of the dull and
> mundane.
>         For instance, email distribution list conversations would be a 
>prime
> category for study in my opinion. ;-)
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Mark Whitaker
> 
> 
> http://www.mundanebehavior.org/index2.htm
> 
> >Published Thursday, December 2, 1999, in the San Jose Mercury News 
> >
> >Sociologists study the ho-hum and hoi polloi
> >BY BARBARA FEDER
> >Mercury News Staff Writer 
> >
> >FEELING a bit ordinary today? No fits of abnormal behavior coming on?
> That's good news to two Cal State-Fullerton sociologists, who have 
>launched
> an online journal that seeks deep meaning in the ho-hum life.
> >
> >It's called, appropriately enough, the Journal of Mundane Behavior. And
> when it makes its debut in February, its founders hope it will serve as a
> kind of antidote for a field they see as increasingly obsessed with 
>deviance. 
> >
> >The brainchild of Scott Schaffer and colleague Myron Orleans, the
> peer-reviewed journal ultimately will include interdisciplinary articles 
>on
> commuting, small talk and a thousand other inconsequential topics that 
>might
> have made for a great "Seinfeld'' episode.
> >
> >As a society, Schaffer argues, we can learn more about social dynamics,
> power and conformity from mining normal behavior, rather than the Jerry
> Springer-ized issues such as transsexualism that social scientists seem
> prone to study these days. 
> >
> >"In a sense, these are the basics of sociology, and yet there's been a 
>move
> away from the examination of the apparently ordinary. We tend to go for 
>the
> extreme because it's easy,'' Schaffer said. "We're trying to reinvigorate
> the study of how we maintain social codes -- in spite of the fact that
> they're violated so often.''
> >
> >Schaffer, an enthusiastic 29-year-old instructor, got the idea for the
> journal after reading what essentially was a mundane manifesto in
> Sociological Theory, a leading journal in the field. The article, by
> University of Missouri sociologist Wayne Brekhus, called for a renewed
> "study of the unmarked'' and lamented the fact that there was no so-called
> Journal of Mundane Behavior to counter numerous journals on social 
>deviance.
> >
> >Intrigued, Schaffer got Brekhus' blessing to use the name and tapped
> Orleans as co-editor.
> >
> >Since then, submissions have steadily trickled in, often from 
>international
> scholars. Anything "inconsequential'' is fodder for this journal, and
> upcoming articles include a study of library layouts, notions of power as
> displayed in the eating habits of teachers and students in British
> classrooms, and an account of behavior in a Japanese elevator. 
> >
> >Not surprisingly, some have wondered if the journal is a hoax. Others 
>sniff
> at online journals, saying they lack the credibility of their older,
> paper-based peers.
> >
> >Still, Brekhus applauds the scholars at California State
> University-Fullerton for their undertaking. 
> >
> >"I meant it as a joke, but as a joke to illuminate a serious message. I'm
> delighted that they picked it up,'' Brekhus said. "Most of social life is
> not very unusual. When you study extremes, the picture you get of how
> society operates is skewed. But there are all these mundane decisions we
> make that are far more consequential for society as a whole.''
> >
> >
> 
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