Michel de Certeau: Neoliberal Governmentality and Cultural Resistance

Abstract

Michel de Certeau characterises the everyday as the realm of cultural activity practised by those who do not formally produce culture. He argues that ordinary people are not passive consumers of cultural products; rather, they actively reshape culture through their daily practices and tactical engagements with the materials provided by dominant systems. Cultural transformation, in his view, emerges from the disorder and plurality of everyday life. This perspective resonates with Mikhail Bakhtin’s concept of heteroglossia, which emphasises the coexistence of multiple voices and meanings beneath official or dominant narratives. Such diversity enables individuals to navigate social life and position themselves within the broader cultural landscape.

For de Certeau, culture is not fixed but dynamic, continuously produced through human actions and everyday practices. Ordinary individuals creatively interact with cultural forms, reframing meanings and adapting cultural products to suit their own needs and circumstances. These practices often occur within the gaps and margins of dominant structures and therefore leave little visible trace. One of de Certeau’s key examples is walking in the city, which he interprets as a spatial practice through which individuals reinterpret urban space. Through their movements, pedestrians generate alternative meanings that subtly challenge the strategic logic of urban planning. Ultimately, de Certeau reveals how everyday activities allow ordinary people to reshape culture and reclaim a degree of autonomy from economic, political and institutional power.