Time and Power in Everyday Life

International Seminar

Venue: University of Milano-Bicocca, Department of Sociology and Social Research, Building U7, II floor, Aula de Lillo, Via Bicocca degli Arcimboldi 8, 20126 Milano

Date: November 13th (afternoon) and 14th (morning)

Organizers: AIS (Italian Sociological Association) Research Committee “Vita Quotidiana” (Everyday Life), Editorial Board of the Journal “Temporalités”, Department of Sociology and Social Research, University of Milano-Bicocca

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The de-standardization of biographical and social temporality appears to be one of the most important consequences of the economic, political and cultural changes taking place in late modern societies. This process challenges traditional life course models, the usual distinction between individual and social times, the modern definition of the public and private spheres, and the capacity of everyday life routines to protect people against uncertainty and doubt. With regard to the latter, there is a notable stirring of interest in the ambivalent role and meaning of everyday life – as Lalive D’Epinay noted many years ago – in contemporary international debate. In particular, there are attempts to initiate negotiations in this dimension in order to gain the power to redefine the temporal and spatial boundaries of individual and social experience, and increase agency.

In the context of this debate, the seminar focuses on two specific areas of negotiation. The first concerns the individual strategies employed to establish some sort of coherence between flexible working times and careers. These strategies may result, on the one hand, from individual initiatives to harmonize different social times or temporalities associated with intimate relationships. On the other hand, these strategies can be the result of collective bargaining with employers over the last twenty years.

The second area of negotiation concerns individual and collective capacity to aspire to the future, in the sense proposed by Appadurai, which links individual aspirations to collective action for social change. This capacity can be observed both in new approaches to memory and its connection to the future, and in the negotiation of new meanings for urban times and spaces, with the aim of  restoring a vision of the public sphere, involving new forms of political participation and new models of sociability.

Connecting work to intimacy in everyday life

November 13th (afternoon)

3pm ­– 6:30pm

Chair: Carmen Leccardi (University of Milan-Bicocca)

Welcome address: Carla Facchini, Head of the Department of Sociology and Social Research

Jean-Yves Boulin, University of Paris Dauphine, Paris

Sunday Work and Loss of Sociability: A US – France Comparison

Jens Thoemmes and Timo Giotto (CERTOP, Toulouse)

The capitalization of working time and effects on everyday life

Marita Rampazi (University of Pavia)

Young people’s dwelling: the negotiation of home temporality in everyday practices and relationships 

Discussants:   Mauro Migliavacca (University of Genova)

Sveva Magaraggia (University of Roma Tre)

Question time/debate

Constructing the future in everyday life

November 14th (morning)

9:30am – 13am

Chair: Luisa Leonini (University of Milan)

Emilia Araujo (University of Minho, Braga)

A matter of time and power: the place of the future in today’s economy and political programmes

Carmen Leccardi (University of Milano-Bicocca)

Social movements and the reconstruction of the future

Paolo Jedlowski (University of Calabria)

Memories of  futures past. Changing horizons and everyday life

Discussants:   Ilenya Camozzi (University of Milano-Bicocca)

Marco Deriu (University of Parma)

Question time/debate

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