Question Details

Read the following passage and answer the questions that follow:
Emergent in the wake of industrialization, studies of everyday life endeavor to bring into visibility and somehow make sense of our humble, taken-for-granted, seemingly unremarkable experience of the quotidian. The project has meant subjecting modern Western individuals to the kind of anthropological scrutiny more often reserved for non-Western peoples. The goal has been to explore patterns of behavior not because they are foreign but because they are so familiar as to fall beneath our notice. Artists as well as social theorists in this tradition set out to register and evaluate the neglected minutiae of our daily lives: the ways we sleep and ambulate, ingest and eliminate, work and recreate, care for ourselves and others, slip in and out of self- awareness, and interact with people, objects, and our surroundings. Generally speaking, everyday life studies is a science of the “small.” Though usually framed in relation to larger social structures, the objects of attention are micro-moments and micro-actions – turning a street corner, stirring a pot, feeding an infant. They are actions that take place without rising to the status of “event.” They are moments in time that leave no historical mark (at least as “history” has traditionally been understood). As these examples suggest, such practices are “everyday” not only because they are “ordinary” but also because they typically occur every day, perhaps even every few hours. Whether tied to bodily rhythms or the rigors of wage work, the non-events of everyday life are almost always characterized by patterns of repetition. Theorists of the everyday, focusing on the effects of modernity, have taken various stances on the political implications of our daily routines. Some have tied their repetitive nature to the mechanization and alienation of labor in a capitalist society. For Michel Foucault, domination is not restricted to the factory floor; the workings of power are more diffuse and insidious than this, operating in the very interstices of our seemingly private lives. For Michel de Certeau, the quotidian is a site not of forcible conformity but of micro-opportunities to defy the dominant order.


Why is everyday life studies regarded as a science of the “small” in the passage?

Options

A

Because it deals only and exclusively with the lives of disenfranchised subjects.

B

Because it is anthropological in methodology, and therefore a “small” science.

C

Because it does not accommodate social sciences within its epistemological framework.

D

Because it deals with events which are a part of our mundane processes and practices.

Show Answer

Correct Answer :

Option D

Because it deals with events which are a part of our mundane processes and practices.

Solution :

The correct option is: Because it deals with events which are a part of our mundane processes and practices.

Step-by-step Explanation:

1. Analyze the passage's definition of the "small":
The passage explicitly states that everyday life studies is a "science of the 'small'" because its "objects of attention are micro-moments and micro-actions – turning a street corner, stirring a pot, feeding an infant."

2. Examine the nature of these actions:
The passage describes these micro-actions as "humble, taken-for-granted, seemingly unremarkable experience of the quotidian" and actions that "take place without rising to the status of 'event'." These are the very definitions of mundane (ordinary, everyday) processes and practices that we perform routinely.

3. Evaluate the correct option:
The option stating that it is regarded as a science of the "small" "Because it deals with events which are a part of our mundane processes and practices" directly aligns with the text's explanation of focusing on familiar, repetitive, and ordinary daily routines (the "small" details of life).

4. Eliminate incorrect options:
- "Because it deals only and exclusively with the lives of disenfranchised subjects.": The passage does not state that it exclusively focuses on disenfranchised subjects; rather, it looks at modern Western individuals' daily lives.
- "Because it is anthropological in methodology, and therefore a 'small' science.": While it mentions "anthropological scrutiny," it does not state that anthropology itself makes it a "small" science.
- "Because it does not accommodate social sciences within its epistemological framework.": This is incorrect as everyday life studies involves social theorists and is framed in relation to larger social structures.

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