Everyday Aesthetics: Prosaics, the Play of Culture and Social Identities

Aesthetic studies have traditionally been confined to the analysis of art and beauty. In this book, Katya Mandoki advances the thesis that it is not only possible but urgent to open up aesthetic studies toward the richness and complexity of contemporary social life. Mandoki analyzes common situations in contexts such as the family, school, religion, medical and funerary traditions to detect the aesthetic strategies by which these practices acquire significance. Starting from Dewey's pragmatism and biologically inspired philosophy, Mandoki updates key debates in aesthetics to project them into the realm of a socio-aesthetic inquiry. She argues that in every process of communication, whether face to face interactions or through the media, fashion, marketing, or political propaganda, there is always an excess beyond the informative and functional value of a message: this excess is the aesthetic. Teachers and students interested in qualitative analyses in humanities and social sciences will find an original, precise and insightful proposal in this book.