Artikel

Alledaagsheid als sociaal-wetenschappelijke en historische categorie

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Abstract

Everyday-life as a socio-scientific and historical category — At the moment there is an increasing interest in the importance of everyday-life for the knowledge and determination of human behaviour. The connotations of banality and unimportance associated with the notion of everyday-life are being questioned. Besides the problem of everyday-life as concrete praxis and as an object of study, the integral approach to human behaviour can advance the integration of the social sciences, which have until now been separated especially for institutional reasons. What is traditionally considered to be historically relevant is inversely related to what is important for the study of everyday-life. Still, we have to accept rationally that the everyday-life led by millions of people is very relevant to the subsequent social evolution and an explanation of the latter. The first necessary step towards the study of everyday-life consists in a description of it. This can be done very systematically by dividing everyday-life into three levels: the material, the social and the mental level of groups and classes in society. Although even this division is arbitrary because everyday-life forms an organic unity at every moment. Finally, without a more profound knowledge of everyday-life, an amelioration of it, which is an important political goal, cannot be realized.

How to Cite:

Gaus, H., (1980) “Alledaagsheid als sociaal-wetenschappelijke en historische categorie”, Tijdschrift voor Sociale Wetenschappen 25(2), 122–140. doi: https://doi.org/10.21825/tvsw.94758