Page 57 - Cultural Change and Ordinary Life

48 Cultural change and ordinary life

I make these points in this way, as it is important to recognize that the
project that is represented by a book like Lembo’s is, in my view, precisely the
sort of direction that studies of media audiences should be taking. This is
especially the case with the attention to the processes of sociability. In this
sense the book serves to reveal important directions, especially combined with
the overall approach to television and everyday life in the work of Silverstone
(1994) that I considered at some length in an earlier chapter.

Conclusion
In this chapter, I have deepened the analysis of ordinary life to offer the
context for why I see it as being constituted around processes of performing
and audiencing. Thus, starting from the critique of previous understandings of
media audience processes, I have expanded the scope of consideration to the
diffused audience of ordinary life. This entails consideration of the increased
interactions between simple, mass and diffused audiences, in a context where
society and culture have become more spectacular and performative. The
media fuel and are involved in the constitution of these processes. Moreover,
these changes are themselves framed by the contextual processes outlined in
Chapter 3. In addition there are different audience positions that can be taken
up that involve different levels of commitment and enthusiasm. While this is
another important step in my argument, it remains to show how this argu-
ment and approach can work out in further detail. This will involve more
extensive discussion of the key processes that make up the ordinary processes
of audiencing and performing. I have introduced these so far, especially in
Chapter 2, as involving belonging, distinguishing and individualizing. These
three dimensions relate to each other and are part of the wider processes. It is
also important to remember that these processes themselves involve more
specific aspects of ordinary life as I also briefly addressed in Chapter 2. Thus
through the rest of the book, I will draw on specific studies of ordinary pro-
cesses to substantiate some of the more general theoretical points. Some of this
research I have carried out with various collaborators. The next chapter moves
into this discussion with ideas of ‘globalization and belonging’.

Note

1 My knowledge of Goffman has been greatly advanced by many conversations over
the years with my colleague Greg Smith. Many thanks for these. For an overall discus-
sion, see Smith (2006).