Anticipation and the surprises of everyday life

Abstract

Anticipation calls into question the status of the future with respect to the past, which has become particularly problematic and complex in the “risk society”, where risk is now omnipresent, notably in everyday life: for example, the areas of food, health and urban security and safety. The author takes the recently launched idea of interstices of everyday life (IEL), which alludes to “in-between” situations as well as to experiences that are apparently overlooked but which have a bearing on emerging values and revive the center/periphery relationship: for example, waiting/expectation, breaks, silence, games, gifts. In this context, surprise is seen as an interstitial phenomenon: looking at the notion from the standpoint of the unpleasant or bad surprises of everyday life leads the author to examine the place assigned to it in the planning of activities in today’s time-oriented cultures. On this basis, the author advances some observations on certain trends and deadlocks of our social systems. One major example discussed is the tragedy of 11 September 2001.