Doing Modernity: Studies in Critical Interactionism

But What is Modernity? Part II July 8th, 2008 by waynemellinger I have describe  modernity  as a term that is used to describe our contemporary era.  In it broadest sense modernity refers to the forms of social life that emerged in the 19th century, that involved industrial capitalism and urbanization, particularly as found in Western societies.  Of course, social life is very different in 2008 from 1908, and different in Mexico City than it is the Stockholm. Clearly modernity takes many forms. As I have been writing this blog I continually note features that seem uniquely “modern”.   What are the defining features of modernity? Here is a list: industrialism capitalism urbanization rapid increase in sophistication of technology surveillance military / state power reflexive attitude dynamic nature and rate of social change persistent concern for examining everyday life through reflexive monitoring self-identity as a reflexive proj...

The revised version of this poem can be found at:  https://thedionysiannaturalist.blogspot.com/2026/10/to-initiate.html

An updated version of this paper is now found at: https://www.blogger.com/blog/posts/3211221518503659997  

Unlearning Oppression July 10th, 2008 by waynemellinger Unlearning Oppression Originally posted July 10, 2008. Since this piece was written, I've developed a fuller theoretical account, the Layered Moral Economy of Oppression , which provides the larger structural framework within which the argument below can now be situated. Readers who want that fuller treatment can find it in "The Layered Moral Economy of Oppression: Completing the Santa Barbara School's Unfinished Revolution." In the summer of 2008 I taught Racism and Sexism in America at Antioch University Santa Barbara. I called the class "Unlearning Oppression" because it dealt with the interconnections of class, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, age, ability, and immigration status — not as separate topics to be covered in sequence, but as interlocking systems that implicate every student in the room. My goal was to create a climate in which students could work through their own experience of be...

We Swim in Oceans of Ideology that Pass as Common Sense August 16th, 2008 by waynemellinger We Swim in Oceans of Ideology that Pass as Commonsense Wayne Martin Mellinger, Ph.D. [originally written in 2008, it was re-written in 2024] We Swim in Oceans of Ideology that Pass as Common Sense It is often said that ideology is like the air we breathe: invisible, taken for granted, and vital for our social existence. Yet, like fish in water, we are often unaware of the ideological currents that shape our beliefs, behaviors, and perceptions of reality. The concept of ideology, popularized by Karl Marx and further developed by scholars like Louis Althusser and Antonio Gramsci, refers to the set of ideas, values, and norms that dominate a society and serve to justify its power structures. Far from being neutral or objective, ideology works to normalize and naturalize the status quo, making social arrangements appear inevitable and unquestionable. One of the most insidious aspects of...

Formal Consensus and Non-Hierarchical Social Organization (Revised) From a 2008 note to an interactional analysis of designed equality Wayne Martin Mellinger, Ph.D. · Oct 4, 2026 Author's Note, 2026 I am leaving the 2008 post below largely intact because it records an argument at the moment it began to form. I have corrected a few typos but otherwise the text is unchanged. The question it posed— how do we "do equality"? —later became part of a larger Critical Interactionist inquiry into the situated production of hierarchy, recognition, participation, and moral order. That broader inquiry is the subject of my essay "Doing Equality." That essay now carries the full reconsideration of the formal-consensus question this post first raised. Below, I first set out what the question became, then reproduce the original post as an archive. What the Question Became The 2008 post asked how people “do equality.” Eighteen years later, I can say what the question was really a...

In 2008 I created a blog entitled “Doing Modernity: A Critical Sociologist Looks at Everyday Life”.  It was initially created to go along with an upper-division course in Social Psychology I was teaching at Antioch University Santa Barbara.  Unfortunately, that blog was erased when Friendster stopped carrying blogs earlier this year.  At that time, I had produced about 80 entries with lots of images, illustrations, artwork and photos. Here I hope to resurrect that blog and continue with its themes and ideas. That earlier blog covered a wide range of concerns and interests, but was centrally concerned with how we “do modernity”–that is, I hoped to examine a few of the concrete practices social actors employ in everyday life to produce and reproduce our society.  Initially, I also hoped to illustrate for my students an autoethnographic approach to examining everyday life, particularly concrete instances of social activity. I would usually begin with t...

Wayne Martin Mellinger, Ph.D. is a social justice educator, activist and writer, living in Santa Barbara, CA. He advocates for our neighbors on the streets, for those with mental health challenges and for all who are denied equal access to basic needs or are treated without dignity and respect. He has worked as an Outreach worker / Case Manager / Counselor for WillBridge of Santa Barbara, New Beginnings Counseling Center, The Safe Parking Program, Transition House and Casa Esperanza. His passion is helping chronically homeless and dually diagnosed individuals transition into permanent housing and self-sufficiency. He has taught sociology, social psychology and anti-oppression classes at Antioch University Santa Barbara, Ventura College, the Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz, and Berkeley campuses of the University of California and the Fielding Graduate University, He received his M.A and Oh.D. inSociology from UC-Santa Barbara. He is also a certified substance abused counselor. He sits on...

At a recent community forum addressing social justice issues with the homeless, I briefly considered the Santa Barbara Homeless Foot Washing (that I conceived and am not preparing for its third incarnation). The forum was sponsored by CLUE--Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice, a local non-profit on whose board I serve.  "Ideal type" is a concept that comes from sociology and was conined by Max Weber. An ideal type is formed from characteristics and elements of the given phenomena, but it is not meant to correspond to all of the characteristics of any one particular case. It is not meant to refer to perfect things, moral ideals nor to statistical averages but rather to stress certain elements common to most cases of the given phenomena. The following elements from the Foot Washing might be worth holding onto for other faith-based events planned for the homeless and seeking social justice: 1. Attempt to bring about inter-faith programs of action, which involve a ...

Riding my bike around downtown Santa Barbara is a constant lesson in class and status in America. Beginning on the lower East Side where I live, and where many of the homeless shelters are located, and riding up State Street, each few blocks take me up another rung on the socio-economic ladder. I move from more ill-kept neighborhoods where potholes are frequent, and where homeless people hang on the corners waiting for the shelters to open, to clean, well-tended streets with multi-million dollar mansions. Along the way, I pass through downtown Santa Barbara, with the upscale Paseo Nuevo shopping mall drawing wealthy tourists from around the globe—a clear sign that gentrification has happened in Santa Barbara. When I first moved to Santa Barbara in the early 1980s, lower State Street was run down and many SROs housed the poor. Today, the contrast between the shoppers with their bags from Nordstrom and Abercrombie and Fitch, and the homeless people panhandling for spare change outside...

Doing the Right Thing Praxis for Social Justice as Spiritual Practice [Originally written in 2011, revised in 2026] Wayne Martin Mellinger, Ph.D. I first encountered the phrase “praxis for social justice” in the spring of 2007, when I began teaching in the BA Program in Liberal Studies at Antioch University Santa Barbara. Professor Dick Morrow, the program’s chair, introduced me to an educational philosophy that joined learning with doing, ethical reflection with public responsibility. It gave a name to a relationship I had been seeking among the different parts of my life. Teaching, sociology, activism, and the search for spiritual meaning could belong to a common undertaking. I had long been concerned with power, inequality, and domination. I had participated in labor, feminist, LGBTQ+, ecological, and anti-imperialist movements. My intellectual life returned repeatedly to a practical question: how do people sustain arrangements that injure one another, and how can they learn to orga...