Psychology of everyday life: an oxymoron or a new trend in psychology

Abstract

The concepts and the roots of the appearance of the psychology of everyday life are considered. The necessity of comprehension and structuring of its subject and field of research within the framework of psychological science is proved. It is analyzed paradoxically and inconsistency of the term psychology of everyday life, connected with its synthesis with various contexts of modern psychology. Nowadays it is difficult to separate the research field of psychology of everyday life from other spheres of psychological science. Paradoxically also is the fact that the everyday life from the point of view of psychology is connected with the minimization of individuality and personal activity. It is seemed that for psychology is more important the research of critical and deviant variants of development, rather than everyday behavior. The concept of liquid transitivity is presented, the role of everyday life in understanding the world and self-images in the situation of crisis (social and personal) and small but constant changes in norms, values and standards of the surrounding world is shown. In situations of cardinal transformations (for example, at the beginning of the ХХ and XXI centuries), people think about the sense of life and about self-existence rather than about everyday life. Moreover, for a large group of people, it is the emotions connected with crisis that gave the fullness of life and filled it with sense. Therefore, for a large group of artists and scientists, everyday life was not of interest for study, it was more important to realize how to overcome its pressure. In the situation of liquid transitivity from the point of view of psychology, the everyday life can be considered as a peculiar strategy of coping with the situation of plurality and variability of contexts. This in many ways is the reason for the actualization of interest to this field of psychology. Very important is the fact that everyday life provides an opportunity to restore the vital everyday identity and integrity of the life span. Everyday life also gives an opportunity to build a personal everyday life, fenced off from the general chaos of the environment. The role of the aesthetic paradigm and cultural capital in the individualization of everyday life and the emergence of individual everyday life, reflecting the personal characteristics of people is shown.