Description
Designed to capture the character and spirit of Great Britain, Mass-Observation is rooted in the theory that the true nature of a place will be captured best by taking note of the mundane, the commonplace, and the oft-overlooked. Called the “science of ourselves,” the concept seeks to democratize the collection of social data, but also to look for meaning in unusual places.
Steps
Perhaps the simplest process, mass-observation simply involves sending individuals out to observe and record the community. They may attend local events or simply spend the afternoon on a park bench, taking note of what happens nearby. Data includes observations of actions, behaviors, and conversations, as well as notes about any non-human elements of the community that matter. After data is collected, it may be assembled into a document or database, and can then be analyzed for specific elements or ideas that mark community character. This final step—identifying trends or main points from the data—is the least well-developed in the initial program.
Pros and Cons
The real value of this process lies in distillations of the data after it is collected; such distillations and the data collection preceding them are very difficult, which is most likely why this process is rarely used for heart and soul-type activities. To truly acquire enough information to identify the character of a place would require an enormous amount of time and effort. In today’s era of government wire-tapping and hidden cameras, people may be less inclined to tolerate researchers taking note of their behaviors and recording conversations than citizens of London in the 1930s. It is also possible that the theory behind the process is incorrect, and an examination of the routine aspects of a place misses its true character. Finally, it would be very easy to amass years’ worth of work and still never truly draw any conclusions about the character of a place or develop any implementation strategies.
On the other hand, the mass-observation work does seem to have captured elements of character that are missing in other studies and projects, due to its fine-scale, thorough approach. The process requires very little technology or training (though training in anthropology certainly helps the field researchers), and can vary in scope. With volunteers carrying out the research, the process could be a very inexpensive, easy, and poignant way of capturing community character.
Examples
Three young men initiated the mass-observation research project in the 1930s and completed it in the 1950s, with the material now archived in London. They sent a team of paid researchers out into the field to observe public situations, local government meetings, sporting events, and street encounters. The team recorded people’s behaviors and conversations with a great deal of detail, and volunteer writers then produced a documentary account of life in Britain. The archive continues to accept diaries and other accounts of everyday life. Additional publication projects have now documented life through mass-observation in many other areas and groups, including communities in central Europe, workers at certain factories, and wartime women.
http://www.massobs.org.uk/history.html
A popular book,
resulted from the early mass-observation movement.