Meta-Sociology: Doings and Reflections

Abstract

I have called my remarks "Meta-Sociology: Doings and Reflections." Like many of you, I am not quite sure what "meta" means, but, knowing that George Ritzer was going to address a related theme, I was depending on him to give you the in-depth interpretation. I will settle for the shallow view. I think I got my first sense of this concept from watching the Gary Shandling Show. You recall how Gary often goes off the TV set and watches the other characters on the TV monitor to find out what they are saying and In the scenes in which he is not involved. To make a "meta"approach is to step out of doing the usual kinds of things we do--the teaching, the research, the advising--and instead to reflect on what we are doing: to attempt to make sense of what'we are up to when we teach, inquire, advise, and so on. So I am here not to talk about my research but about why I decided to do the research that I did; I am here not to present my work but to talk about what working means to me; I am here not to do sociology, but to talk about doing sociology.