Everyday Understanding : Social and Scientific Implications

Within the last decade there has been a growing interest in broadly shared understandings of culture, termed variably indigenous psychologies, lay theories, implicit theories and everyday understanding.

Among others, psychologists, sociologists, anthropologists and educational specialists have been prominent in this work.

The assumption underlying this research has been that lay perspectives are critical to the understanding of prevailing patterns of action.

As yet, however, there has been little attempt to draw together and to ask about its broader practical, theoretical and metatheoretical implications. For instance, how are we to view the origin or genesis of lay conceptions, what is their relationship (if any) to cognition, are there good demonstrations of their relationship with action, what are the functions of lay theory within social life and what relationship do such conceptions have to scientific theories?. The latter question is particularly interesting, as many argue that social science conceptions represent elaborations of everyday language, and without the threat of lapsing into "nonsense", the sciences cannot transcend the boundaries of common sense understandings of a culture. This volume brings together the work of investigators across the social sciences, from a variety of cultural and disciplinary backgrounds to treat the problem of lay theories.

The present volume will provide the reader with a sample of the best available work from diverse perspectives on lay theories.