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Article: Daily Life
- Article from:
- Europe, 1450 to 1789: Encyclopedia of the Early Modern World
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2004 The Gale Group Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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DAILY LIFE
DAILY LIFE.
Until the mid-twentieth century, professional historians often ignored the details of everyday life as antiquarian, in the sense of mundane, instead concentrating their narrative efforts on the wars and machinations of the powerful. The new legitimacy of the study of daily life derives from the growing concern with social history, beginning around the middle of the twentieth century, with its focus on mentalities, social classes, and ideas. This outlook argues that continuity and evolution are more significant than dramatic events like wars and dynastic upheaval, and asserts the validity of the study of, literally, the mundane
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conditions of material life, ...