Making Sense of Everyday Life

by Scott, Susie

• ISBN13: 9780745642673
• ISBN10: 0745642675
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2009-07-27
• Publisher: Polity

Summary

This accessible, introductory text explains the importance of studying 'everyday life' in the social sciences. Susie Scott examines such varied topics as leisure, eating and drinking, the idea of home, and time and schedules in order to show how societies are created and reproduced by the apparently mundane 'micro' level practices of everyday life.Each chapter is organized around three main themes: 'rituals and routines', 'social order', and 'challenging the taken-for-granted', with intriguing examples and illustrations. Theoretical approaches from ethnomethodology, Symbolic Interactionism and social psychology are introduced and applied to real-life situations, and there is clear emphasis on empirical research findings throughout. Social order depends on individuals following norms and rules which are so familiar as to appear natural; yet, as Scott encourages the reader to discover, these are always open to question and investigation.This user-friendly book will appeal to undergraduate students across the social sciences, including the sociology of everyday life, the sociology of emotions, social psychology and cultural studies, and will reveal the fascinating significance our everyday habits hold.

Author Biography

Susie Scott, Lecturer in Sociology, University of Sussex

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

What is Everyday Life?

Theorising the Mundane

Emotions

Home

Time

Eating and Drinking

Health, Illness and Disability

Shopping

Leisure

Researching Everyday Life

Bibliography

Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.