classemediocre.com
classemediocre.com is a participatory online encyclopedia about a social group that no sociology has ever managed to pin down: the « mediocre class ». It does not belong to any of the classic divisions of society, whether by wealth, power or labour. It is a shapeless class, with members on every rung of the social ladder.
What unites its members is not a status but a loose collection of habits, tastes and behaviours that can be spotted anywhere, from the sleeveless down jacket to the robot lawnmower. Since the notion is as elusive as what it describes, no fixed definition is offered. Instead, the website asks the public to build it: a short set of introductory notes frames the contributions, which together form an ever-growing encyclopedia of mediocrity.
In a deliberate contrast with the distributed protocols behind our other works, the editorial process is fully top-down: every entry is examined by a self-appointed « committee of mediocrity », which publishes or rejects it as it sees fit. Mediocrity, after all, has a taste for power.