Risk and the regulated self : self-reflexivity through meditation in Poh Ming Tse.

Abstract

In this paper, I seek to show that Giddens’s notion of self-reflexivity pervades throughout the micro-institutional and ground levels of Poh Ming Tse’s (PMT) beginner meditation class - a reflection of the larger phenomenon of societal reflexivity which stems from the overall framework of risk negotiation and prevention. Through ethnography and interviews, I have structured my analysis according to “Micro-institution” and “Self”, of which the former explores PMT’s self-reflexive brand of meditation through course teachings while the latter portrays the heterogeneity of self-reflexivity through the analysis of participant decision making processes by determining that (1) primary participation motivations for PMT’s meditation class are secular- risk negotiation – not religious in nature (2) the nature of motivations affects participants’ preference towards aspects of the course (3) different notions of self-reflexivity between micro-institution and participants lead to conflict.