The Return of the Everyday

This article argues that the everyday is a mechanism whose function is to repeat events in order to weave them into the fabric of life. This mechanism is not permanent and universal, but instead is rooted in historical, sociological and phenomenological circumstances that this article aims to analyze. The concept of the everyday emerged during late modernity in the wake of processes of secularization, urbanization and the acceleration of the pace of life. These processes led to a weakening of the old institutions (the church, the community) and the rise of new ones (the state, capital), so that the experience of the everyday and its repetitiveness changed dramatically. From that point on, the everyday was conceived of first and foremost as a banal arena of repetition that is disconnected from “real” events. To develop these arguments, the article first defines the everyday through its repetitive function. It then presents two conceptions of the everyday as reflected in the work of Michel de Certeau and in the study of phenomenology. Since neither of these accounts provides a satisfactory model of the changes in the role of the everyday in modernity, the article turns to Freud’s and Benjamin’s theories of the shock that underpins events. Shock necessitates either integration or parrying, two options that are grounded in history and culture and that result in different modes of the everyday. The article concludes by examining the Israeli case and analyzing the social protests of 2011 through the perspective of the everyday and its repetition.