Towards a Socio-Cultural History of Experience: A Theoretical-Methodological Framework

This article focuses on two basic issues: how experiences are social and cultural, and how we can use experiences as an analytical lens in historical research. Kokko and Harjula develop their earlier social history-based approach to experiences by making cultural legitimation an explicit component of theoretical conceptualisation. They theorise how experiences construct socio-cultural reality by pointing out institutionalisation and legitimation as the processes that make experiences societally circulated, taken-for-granted socio-cultural structures. The dynamics of change are conceptualised as an interplay between cultural tradition, present experiences, and future expectations. The article presents methodological tools for historical research. The ‘layer of experience’ and ‘scene of experience’ are conceptualisations for contextual temporal and spatial analysis. By combining the analysis of expressions of experiences – ‘sediments’ – with the study of ‘scripts’ and ‘narratives’, Kokko and Harjula contribute to the recent discussion on the normative and narrative features of experience. They conclude by reflecting on the role of historical research in cultural legitimation.