Alltagsgeschichte (German;lit. 'history of the everyday' and sometimes translated as 'history of everyday life') is a form ofsocial history that emerged amongWest German historians in the 1980s. It was founded byAlf Lüdtke (1943–2019) andHans Medick (born 1939).[1]Alltagsgeschichte can be considered part of the widerMarxian historical school of 'history from below'. It challenged the well-known framework ofStrukturgeschichte [de] ('history of structures'), within the German historical field and advocated for a new model of social history.[2] It is related tomicrohistory.
Alltagsgeschichte developed from the social and political upheavals of the 1960s when new social movements began to mobilize with political and academic voices.[3] Its intention was to show the links between the ordinary "everyday" experiences of ordinary people in asociety, and the broad social and political changes which occur in that society.Alltagsgeschichte becomes a form ofmicrohistory because this massively broad endeavor to undertake can only feasibly be practiced on the most minute of scales. With the political shift in Germany during the 1990s, many historians deemedAlltagsgeschichte a casualty of the move from social history towards cultural history.[3] It can also be linked to the Italian historical doctrine ofmicrohistory (microstoria).
Alltagsgeschichte's leading proponents includePaul Veyne (born 1930) andMichel Rouche in France, andPeter Carr in the United Kingdom.[citation needed]Martin Broszat (1926–1989) was also strongly influenced by the method in his six-volume co-edited work onBavaria under National Socialism entitledBayern in der NS-Zeit (1977–1983).
An example ofAlltagsgeschichte becoming part of popular culture in Europe can be seen in the Austrian documentary series of the same name, produced between 1985 and 2006 by Elisabeth T. Spira.[4] The series chronicled the everyday lives and stories of Austrian people in over 60 episodes.[4]
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