Vol. 32 (2005): Everyday Life

One field of research in ethnology is the everyday life of so-called ordinary people: how one lives, works, spends one's leisure time or which cultural forms, customs, and routines are attached to everyday life. The everyday has often been defined according to Norbert Elias' interpretations as the opposite of that which is conceived as non-quotidian. On the other hand as the study of the everyday has gained a stronger foothold in various disciplines, everyday life has also been defined and conceptualised in increasingly diverse ways. However, everyday life does not seem to emerge as an unproblematic field of collective experience through customs and changes in society and culture at large, as its meanings alter depending on whose everyday life is being described.