ABSTRACT
While sociologists have long recognised the uses of etiquette literature in understanding relations between the self and society, and have more recently documented the significance of lifestyle media for the same purpose, the broader category of domestic advice literature has been relatively neglected by sociologists and historians alike. There are several reasons for this neglect. First, domestic advice literature has been associated with women, both as authors and readers. Men have dominated the cultural canons in the patriarchal west, while women have been marginalised. Second, the study of domesticity has been neglected, until recently, in favour of a history of great men and great events. Domestic advice literature concerns the everyday, rather than the notable, spectacular or lauded. Third, domestic advice literature is dismissed as a published, mediating discourse, rather than being accorded the status of ‘primary’, unpublished source material. However, domesticity, the everyday, cultural mediation and advice discourses are all commanding greater interest, along with a wider interest in the history and sociology of intimacy and the emotions. This book therefore contributes to an ongoing reassessment of what is worthy of historical analysis.
