Ethno...tongue-twister! I still can't pronounce it without getting stuck. The topic was even more so complicated in understanding the definition of 'Ethnomethodology'. Once I got it, it was a relief! For me, Ethnomethodology is a theory that focuses on the way we understand and make sense of the world. I like how this leads back to Goffman's theory of Dramaturgy and Presentation of the self in that people are seen as rational actors, but have practical reasoning rather than logic to make sense of and function in society.
In class today, we were tricked by Group 4 in that our group work was set to making sense of key definitions and going to a different group and explaining it to other members. Group 4, however, were secretly asked to make annoying noises and sounds and constantly ask 'WHY?', conducting what's known as the "breaching experiment" by Garfinkel. I did not notice the tapping of the pen sound, nor when we went into a different group when the Group 4 member constantly started asking "Why?" and "It doesn't make sense!", causing me to repeatedly analyse and describe the definition. I guess in another circumstance I might have found it annoying, or if that person was a close friend of mine, but because it was a class situation I genuinely fell for it, gullible! When we found out at the end of the discussions that those strange little happenings were purposeful, a resounding "Ohhhh!" broke out from class members who were shocked but finally understood why they were being asked so many questions!
In another case, understanding "Documentary Method of Interpretation", our tutor was quite helpful in terms of examples of that definition that helped us understand it better, considering it was quite difficult to understand. She used a great example of a train station situation, where a man would be running through the station, occaisonally bumping into someone accidentally. In another context, we might consider this a rude act, but because it's a train station, we rationalise this person's behaviour because of the context. What this means is, we rationalise our behaviour and other people's behaviour based on what patterns are in our head! We don't tend to think about our reasons, it's just automatic and subconscious! That makes it a little scary.
