Contents
Preface and acknowledgments
List of Illustrations
1. Introduction: waiting, cultural studies and the quotidian 1
Reading the bus stop 4
Cultural studies and everyday life 10
Everyday life and the public sphere 21
Rethinking everyday life 29
Ways of reading 35
2. Workspace: office life and commuting 46
The rise of the Angestellten 47
Exploring office space 57
The fall of the middle manager 66
Ethnographies of commuting 79
On the Underground 87
3. Urban space: the myths and meanings of traffic 100
Myths of the road 101
The cost of congestion 111
The secret history of the traffic light 118
The parking wars 127
Watching the pedestrians 138
4. Non-places: supermodernity and the everyday 153
The road to nowhere 154
Mapping Mondeo land 165
Roadside cultures 175
Imagining the new town 188
Wish we weren’t here: boring postcards 203
5. Living space: housing, the market and the everyday 211
Houses and the pseudo-everyday 213
Location, location, location 219
The limits of tower-block chic 229
The politics of housebuilding 236
House viewings 248
Reading the market 260
6. Conclusion: the everyday and cultural change 267
Notes 279
Bibliography 290
Biography
Moran, Joe
