Charlotte Højholt

Ernst Schraube

This original and innovative volume offers a basic introduction to the psychological study of the conduct of everyday life in contemporary society. It moves psychological theory and research practice out of the laboratory and into the real world, focusing on the question of how human beings live their everyday life as active subjects and using this as a basis for understanding the dilemmas and contradictions we are confronted with in our lives. The chapters both trace the development of psychological theories of the everyday and offer comparative empirical studies of a variety of everyday practices. Drawing on developments across the social and human sciences, and written by an international group of scholars from a number related disciplines, this collection demonstrates how the study of subjects in the context of their everyday life can contribute to the development of psychological theory, methodology, and practice. Constructed to support an upper-level course on the social psychology of everyday life, the book will also appeal to scholars and researchers throughout psychology and connected branches of the humanities and social sciences.

Psychology and the Conduct of Everyday Life

Psychology and the Conduct of Everyday Life moves psychological theory and research practice out of the laboratory and into the everyday world. Drawing on recent developments across the social and human sciences, it examines how people live as active subjects within the contexts of their everyday lives, using this as an analytical basis for understanding the dilemmas and contradictions people face in contemporary society. Early chapters gather the latest empirical research to explore the significance of context as a cross-disciplinary critical tool; they include a study of homeless Māori men reaffirming their cultural identity via gardening, and a look at how the dilemmas faced by children in difficult situations can provide insights into social conflict at school. Later chapters examine the interplay between everyday life around the world and contemporary global phenomena such as the rise of the debt economy, the hegemony of the labor market, and the increased reliance on digital technology in educational settings. The book concludes with a consideration of how social psychology can deepen our understanding of how we conduct our lives, and offer possibilities for collective work on the resolution of social conflict.

Mariane Hedegaard

Oddbjørg Skjær Ulvik

Karin Aronsson

Children live their lives across various social settings, including homes, kindergartens, schools and different kinds of institutions. The different contributions of this book focus on children’s perspectives, and on how children learn and develop through taking part in activities in social communities such as families, peer groups, classrooms, and day care institutions. This collection illustrate different ways of dealing with varying social contexts, and the research presented involves questions about children’s worldmaking, anchored in children’s daily lives. The studies are inspired by Vygotsky’s theory of development (1998), as well as childhood sociology. One of the aims has been to problematice time, change, continuity, developmental trajectories, and transitions in order to identify novel ways of discussing different trajectories through childhood and youth, that is ”development”.

Charlotte Højholt

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