Everyday resistance is a form of resistance based on the actions of people in their everyday lives. Everyday resistance is perceived to be the most common form of resistance to oppression. This particular form of resistance is a way of undermining power in a matter that is typically disguised or hidden. Everyday resistance (also, by
James C. Scott
James C. Scott (born December 2, 1936) is an American political scientist and anthropologist specializing in comparative politics. He is a comparative scholar of agrarian society, agrarian and non-state societies, Subaltern (postcolonialism), ...
, called infrapolitics) is a dispersed, quiet, seemingly invisible and disguised form of resistance
seemingly aiming at redistribution of control over property.
The acts of everyday resistance are considered to be relatively safe and they require either little or no formal coordination.
Everyday resistance can be understood as exploited, oppressed people undermining power as a way of surviving,
holding onto their dignity
and executing agency.
Resistance
Defining resistance depends on interpretation and context. Activities described as resistance can alternatively be perceived as rebellion or even deviance.
The oppositional act that is resistance is, like all acts, situated within certain relations with regards to a certain space and time. Resistance engages with various actors and takes different forms. Techniques, discourses and practices vary.
Resistance can be understood as any mental or behavioral act in which an individual makes an attempt to stop, repel, prevent, expose, abstain from, withstand, work against or refuse to comply with, any form of oppression or violence.
[{{Cite journal , last=Wade , first=Allan , date=1997 , title=Small Acts of Living: Everyday Resistance to Violence and Other Forms of Oppression , journal=Contemporary Family Therapy , volume=19 , issue=1 , pages=23–25]
History
The concept was first introduced by
James C. Scott
James C. Scott (born December 2, 1936) is an American political scientist and anthropologist specializing in comparative politics. He is a comparative scholar of agrarian society, agrarian and non-state societies, Subaltern (postcolonialism), ...
in the year of 1985. By introducing the concept of everyday resistance, the ordinary lives of peasants were put on the political agenda. By studying a subaltern culture for the first time, that being one of peasants in South East Asia, Scott saw how small acts of resistance were being coordinated. Despite the concept originating from the study of peasants however, everyday resistance is not ''a peasant monopoly''
but rather a concept of all categories of subalterns.
See also
Civil Resistance
Civil resistance is political action that relies on the use of nonviolent resistance by ordinary people to challenge a particular power, force, policy or regime. Civil resistance operates through appeals to the adversary, pressure and coercion: i ...
Social Movement theory
Social movement theory is an interdisciplinary study within the social sciences that generally seeks to explain why social mobilization occurs, the forms under which it manifests, as well as potential social, cultural, and political consequences ...
Contentious politics
Contentious politics is the use of disruptive techniques to make a political point, or to change government policy. Examples of such techniques are actions that disturb the normal activities of society such as demonstrations, general strike actio ...
Weapons of the Weak
''Weapons of the Weak: Everyday Forms of Peasant Resistance'' is a 1985 book on everyday forms of rural class conflict as illustrated in a Malaysian village, written by anthropologist James C. Scott and published by Yale University Press.
In '' ...
Nonviolent resistance
Nonviolent resistance (NVR), or nonviolent action, sometimes called civil resistance, is the practice of achieving goals such as social change through symbolic protests, civil disobedience, economic or political noncooperation, satyagraha, cons ...
Class struggle
Class conflict, also referred to as class struggle and class warfare, is the political tension and economic antagonism that exists in society because of socio-economic competition among the social classes or between rich and poor.
The forms ...
References
Nonviolent resistance movements