Culture is a multifaceted and multidimensional phenomenon. It covers all spheres of human activity, including the ordinary life of people: their way of life, housing, food, speech. All this adds up to the concept of "everyday culture." We will talk about what it is, how it developed and studied, and what its structure and specifics are.
The concept of everyday life
In sociology and psychology, everyday life is understood as a special sphere of human activity. This is a kind of natural state of life of an individual, a set of his daily activities in order to satisfy basic needs. At the same time, a person does not reflect on this activity, including the specificity of the culture of everyday life, that it is the result of the usual, ordinary activities of people. In the course of everyday activity, a person uses a large number of objects, so often everyday life is equated with the material, material and physical world.
The culture of everyday life: a characteristic of the concept
The study of everyday life in cultural studies takes shape late, in the middle of the 20th century. This is due to the fact that for a long time everyday life was perceived as a banality, activity without cultural value, it was even perceived as an antipode of culture. Later, however, it came to be understood that everyday life is connected with the natural way of life of a person, that this culture is closely connected with labor activity, with the creation of the material world. Therefore, examining the culture of everyday life, researchers focus on its content, it is not the result of special activity, reflection and does not require special efforts from a person. This is how a person’s ordinary life develops: his life, food, clothes, speech.
History of the study of everyday culture
For the first time, scientists turned to the study of everyday life in the framework of historiography. They were interested in such components of culture as the human environment, the body and everything connected with it in human practice, ceremonies, traditions, family and group relationships, forms of leisure. However, the culture of everyday life as an independent area of scientific knowledge develops only in the 60s of the 20th century. This is due to the fact that ordinary life seemed so mundane and banal that it did not reveal anything significant for a broad understanding of culture. But later, scientists realized that it was in the culture of everyday life and everyday life that national and individual identities were hidden, and they actively began to catch up. From this time begins the rehabilitation of the culture of everyday life. Books devoted to the study of this phenomenon began to be published in the last third of the 20th century. L. White noted that everyday things have a special symbolic meaning and can be considered in a semitic aspect.
The first school of science that made everyday life the focus of its research was the French school of Annals. The representative of this school, F. Braudel, noted that everyday life is the conditions in which a person lives, his labor activity, needs and how to satisfy them, these are interactions between people. In sociology, A. Schütz became the main researcher of everyday life. This approach is characterized by the understanding of everyday life as a certain framework of ideas and principles in which a person builds his ordinary life. Later, other approaches to the study of this phenomenon are formed: from the point of view of cultural studies, philosophy, and history.
Signs of everyday life
A. Schütz most fully described the distinctive characteristics of the culture of everyday life, these include:
- The active labor activity of people aimed at creative transformation of the surrounding reality. Within the framework of his daily activity, a person has no time to think, he acts to ensure his existence.
- Naturally established beliefs. To live, a person needs to have some familiar attitudes. For example, the daily culture of ancient India is based on the idea of rebirth and reincarnation, and this affects all daily practices of the Indians.
- Vital tone. In his everyday life, a person constantly solves some vital tasks intensively, and a high involvement in everyday activities provides him with a feeling of a full life.
- Special ideas about time. In everyday worldview, time is perceived as an eternal repetition.
- The typed world. Everyday life is built on repetition and typical situations. This guarantees a person the inviolability of his natural attitudes and allows him to be confident in the future.
Thus, the predictability of history in the culture of everyday life is perceived as a guarantee of peace. This allows a person to save resources without asking unnecessary and painful questions.
National specifics of everyday life
Since everyday life is connected with the life of people, it has a pronounced ethnic flavor. Everyone knows, for example, that the culture of everyday life in Japan is radically different from the life of Europeans. This specificity is due to the primordial ideas about the world order, attitude to work, ritual culture. The most distinctly tangible impact on the daily culture of religion. So, the life of Christians and Muslims is built on various grounds, this leads to a different organization of life, food, and costume. For example, people from Southeast Asia differ significantly from the inhabitants of Europe, for example, in their lifestyle. This is due to climate, religion, ideas about the structure of the world, national traditions.
Thing in everyday life
Everyday life of a person is closely connected with things. They organize all its manifestations from the rites of birth and death to everyday meals. Material culture and everyday life are two inseparable phenomena. Things have a culture-forming influence on a person, aesthetic content, psychological attitudes, and values of people are concentrated in them. In the culture of the 20th century, things acquire special significance, they become a kind of measure of the significance of a person.
For example, everyone knows the difference between a successful person - the presence of his apartment, car, cottage. Things become a symbol of prestige, the correct, socially-approved human behavior, characterize individuals belonging to certain social groups. For example, as you can learn from history, the culture of everyday life in the post-war period was such that special importance was attached to things that preserve the memory of past times, as well as symbolizing peace and quiet. You may recall that an important thing in post-war apartments is a round table and a lampshade above it as symbols of a family, its stable circle of life.
Russian features of everyday life
The culture of Russia has incorporated the traditions of many nations, but in general its identity is determined by its history. Despite all the events of the 20th century, Russian culture at its core remains the culture of an agrarian society. It has strong patriarchal ideas about life and its organization. Simple values remain important for people: family, wealth, health. This is evidenced, for example, by Russian proverbs: "your shirt is closer to the body," "the family is strong when there is only one roof over it." The Russian culture of everyday life is associated with traditional dwellings, until now in Russia they continue to build wooden houses, the center of which is the kitchen, where earlier, in the Russian hut, there was a stove - as the center of attraction of the whole family.
The sacred meaning is given to bread, which is still perceived as the highest value of everyday life. You can read about the features of Russian everyday culture, for example, in the novel by I. Shmelev, "The Summer of the Lord." In it, the author describes the life and cultural traditions of the Russian people.
Everyday life of an individual
The most important characteristic of the culture of everyday life is repeatability. Every day a person performs the same actions, rituals - this is what characterizes his everyday life, it is the opposite of weekends and holidays. The daily routine is divided between sleep, work, basic needs and leisure. Man draws up all these spheres with the help of things; they make up the culture of everyday life. These are household items, clothing, home decoration, which a person chooses based on national traditions, social standards and personal tastes. It is generally accepted that everyday life is a kind of averaged standard, without claims to be high. For example, in Soviet times, each person was required to set the environment: TV, refrigerator, furniture wall, carpet on the wall. With the growth of material opportunities and the stratification of society, there is an increase in the options for organizing everyday life.
Home as a place of everyday life
For a person, everyday life proceeds primarily in his home. The device at home is the best way to talk about the national character, traditions and values. So, in the Russian traditional house in the most prominent, “red” corner, a home iconostasis was always arranged, since religion played an important role in people's lives. The house in Russia was built in such a way that in it the rays of the sun lingered as long as possible. And, for example, in Central Asia, a dwelling, on the contrary, was built in such a way that the rays of the sun did not penetrate inside, in order to protect people from the scorching heat. In Chinese practice, there is a whole direction of organizing living space - Feng Shui, associated with national values and philosophy. The house has zones for all areas of daily activity: sleep, cooking and eating, leisure, communication. So, for Russians, the center of the house is still the kitchen, and for Europeans it is the living room. In this, the differences between these cultures are immediately visible.
Everyday clothes
The most important part of everyday life is the costume. Not in vain in all cultures there is clothing for every day and for holidays, and there are also costumes for special events: christening, weddings, funerals. The culture of everyday life is closely connected with the culture of the costume.
For example, for Russians, a fur coat is still not a matter of special desire (because it is prestigious), as in Europe, but a natural necessity, because it is the best way to protect yourself from the cold. Since ancient times, a man has shown his concern for a woman, bringing her fur skins for clothing. And today, the wife expects from her husband that he will take care of her and get a fur coat. Despite the fact that in everyday urban life this wardrobe item may no longer be relevant.
The gastronomic aspect of everyday life
An important part of the culture of everyday life is the kitchen, methods of eating. Thus, Asian peoples traditionally sit at the table with the whole family, and this ritual is observed to this day. In Russia, this tradition is gradually being lost, and this leads, oddly enough, to disorder in the family. Because eating is a sacred action that has axiological significance for people.