ABSTRACT
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 The Production of Commonsense. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 Racism and Explanations of Difference. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 Lay Ontologizing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 Characteristics of Ordinary Explanation of Difference . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Multidimensional Causal Ontology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 Logical Constraints to Action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 Scientific Character of Lay Ontologizing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 Rhetorical Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 Political Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Historical and Social Basis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
In the streets, in cafes, offices, hospitals, laboratories, etc. people analyse, comment, concoct spontaneous, unofficial “philosophies” which have a decisive impact on their social relations, their choices, the way they bring up their children, plan ahead and
so forth. Events, sciences and ideologies simply provide them with “food for thought.” (Moscovici, 1984a:16)
The development of the sciences during modernity changed common sense and everyday life fundamentally. Ever since science stopped being theological, suggests de Certeau (1984:6), “it constituted the whole as its remainder,” creating common sense anew as a territory to be conquered. Of course, this organizing cleavage of modernity is tenuous. Sociologists of science and other commentators inform us that scientific projects are founded on everyday knowledge, which provides first-degree concepts and values and even cognitive strategies for second-degree scientific constructions (Flick, 1998; Schütz, 1966).
