Who knows what by-ways of the web made me buy a 2nd hand copy of [amazon_link id=”0520271459″ target=”_blank” ]The Practice of Everyday Life[/amazon_link] by Michel de Certeau? Economists have a bad reputation for our use of jargon and impenetrable style of writing, but I find the this semiotics-inflected sociology/cultural studies impossible to understand. Every paragraph has a few words italicised and a few others in quotation marks – and I could never abide linguistic philosophy. As one of my least favourite philosophers wrote, “Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent” – I wish!
[amazon_image id=”0520271459″ link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]The Practice of Everyday Life[/amazon_image]
Wikipedia tells me: “Perhaps the most influential aspect of [amazon_link id=”0520271459″ target=”_blank” ]The Practice of Everyday Life [/amazon_link]has emerged from scholarly interest in Certeau’s distinction between the concepts of strategy and tactics. Certeau links “strategies” with institutions and structures of power who are the “producers”, while individuals are “consumers” acting in environments defined by strategies by using “tactics”. In the influential chapter “Walking in the City”, Certeau asserts that “the city” is generated by the strategies of governments, corporations, and other institutional bodies who produce things like maps that describe the city as a unified whole.”
I’d got just a whiff of this before I gave up – everyday life as a kind of low-profile AdBusting rebellion against the powers that be, outwardly confirming, inwardly subverting. It isn’t often I completely fail with a book but this has defeated me. Happy to post it to anyone who’d like it. It has a very nice cover…
Yes, I’m labouring under the illusion of the insight that can be garnered from this kind of opaque literature. A gracious recipient and happy home awaits…
Flat 2
69 Russell Road
Whalley Range,
Manchester
M16 8AR
Kindest, C.
First come, first served. I’ll mail it at the weekend
Pingback: Reading the Unreadable | Homines Economici
I tend to agree with you and am still puzzled by this phenomenon. I’m not an economy fanboy, but I found Tyler Cowen’s “In praise of commercial culture” (economy) and “Writing on the wall” by Tom Standage (history) much more enlightening about “media theory” than the likes of McLuhan and Kittler. But still those two are see as giants in their field. On the other hand, you might try Bruno Latour’s “The pasteurization of France”. This is modern social philosophy (actor-network-theory) but it’s fun to read and it illustrates nicely the diffuse force-networks that shape history. Ad I would be interested in anything you liked in this modernist genre.