theories
classic theories
contemporary theories
While many of us share in certain aspects of the lifeworld, we also develop unique forms of relations and attitudes that distinguish individual lifeworlds. The aspects of the lifeworld that we hold in common are generally referred to as typifications and recipes. These are tried and true assumptions about the nature of everyday life that make smooth intersubjective relations possible. As long as the people and situations in everyday life remain consistent and unproblematic, we continue to employ typifications and recipes. It is when unexpected situations arise that people will depart from standardized interpretations of the lifeworld and attempt to creatively develop new typifications and recipes. Schutz divided the social world into four realms, the most important of which are the direct and indirect experience of social reality. Direct experiences of social reality are called we-relations. In we-relations, we experience people in face-to-face intersubjectivity. Indirect experiences of social reality are called they-relations. In they-relations we relate to abstract types of people rather than to people themselves.