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Everyday Life

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Encyclopedia of Critical Psychology

Introduction

Everyday life (the quotidian) encompasses personal habits, shared rituals, and interactions. The everyday has been investigated through explorations of experiences of boredom, walking, cooking, eating, and shopping; the use of objects such as food, money, and plastic; and the relevance of places such as the street, mall, and home. Research considers the wider significance of such mundane acts, things, and places in reproducing sociocultural patterns of life. A focus on “everyday life” is imperative for a critical psychology that moves beyond the “worldlessness” of many Anglo-American psychologies (see also entry on “Conduct of Everyday Life”).

Definition

Everyday life remains an inherently problematic, vague, polysemic, and contested concept (de Certeau, 1984). The term “everyday life” is often used as a general catchphrase for the ordinary, the typical, repetitive, mundane, and shared fabric of social life. It is defined by what is left over when extraordinary events,...

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References

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Psychology, University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand

    Darrin Hodgetts & Ottilie Stolte

Authors
  1. Darrin Hodgetts
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  2. Ottilie Stolte
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Correspondence to Darrin Hodgetts .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, York University, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Thomas Teo

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Hodgetts, D., Stolte, O. (2014). Everyday Life. In: Teo, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Critical Psychology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5583-7_502

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5583-7_502

  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-5582-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-5583-7

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Behavioral Sciences

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