I vælten: kulturanalysens nye hverdag

Resumé

In vogue: the new everyday of cultural analysis

Based on two examples from user-driven innovation projects, we discuss what it means to undertake cultural analysis when the task is to change practices of everyday life. Whether it is about new garbage bins or new bathrooms, the examples enable us to demonstrate how and why companies and public-sector institutions are increasingly inviting cultural analysts to contribute to their work. At the same time, the examples allow us to illustrate some of the difficulties that cultural analysts experience when they – in the name of change – begin to scrutinise and ‘stir up’ the practices of everyday life; for instance, by studying how citizens with disabilities handle garbage and personal hygiene. What happens, we ask, when cultural analysis is called upon to inform the ways in which such complex practices might change? Through our two examples, we show how the difficulty relates to balancing a desire for change with a respect for the durable structures and fundamental differences of everyday life. One of the main objectives of cultural analysis is to identify and describe such structures and differences, and then to bring our insights to the attention of various stakeholders. As a result, cultural analysis – often via ethnographic fieldwork – brings citizens and users into being. This cannot always be fitted into the predefined range of possibilities that many change-oriented projects – consciously or unconsciously – operate within.