In a broad sense, sociology/cultural studies of everyday life can be seen as problematizing the mundane and ordinary aspects of life. Some of these trivial and ordinary matters include our small, obvious daily activities, social interactions, food preferences, and ways of dressing. Thus, in Persian culture, wearing black clothing at the funeral loved ones or serving a special dish on a particular occasion is considered normal, while the same may be evaluated as unusual in other contexts. In this way, sociology/cultural studies of everyday life provide the opportunity to make visible what is often overlooked due to its sheer presence, recognizing it as a cultural phenomenon.
 
It is one of the fundamental paradoxes of our social life that when we are at our most natural, our most everyday times of our life, we are also at our most cultural moments; that when we are in roles that look the most obvious and given, we are actually in roles that are constructed, learned and far from inevitable. (Willis, 1979:85)
 
One of the essentials for perceiving the everyday affairs is a temporal and historical perspective. By looking at images or films left from not-so-distant past, one can uncover the "agreements" of past actors regarding what was considered beautiful, ethical, and fair at that time, and recognize the differences between those and current "agreements" on the same subjects. In fact, the everyday, like any other social phenomenon, is historical and changes over time, which signifies that the everyday is a "process," "fluid," and "in motion." In this sense, sociology/cultural studies view everyday not as a fixed and unchanging phenomenon, but as something dynamic and fluid that we live in and reproduce moment by moment.
 
Fluidity and variability of everyday matters are not limited to time; they also change from one society to another. What is considered normal in one culture may be seen as unusual in another. Breakfast, as a meal, holds a different status in Iranian and Turkish cultures. In Turkey, hosting breakfast, which generally occurs on holidays, is a common practice, and it features a wide variety of food items. In fact, in that culture, breakfast is regarded as almost equally important as lunch. This is not the case in the Iranian culture.
 
The ordinary, conventional, and mundane not only varies from one culture to another but can also differ within various social groups in the same culture. Therefore, research on "subcultures" is one of the intriguing areas in the study of everyday life. Beyond the differences in the everyday experiences "in" and "within" cultures, the main challenge of everyday life studies is to make the seemingly trivial and overlooked aspects of social life visible.
 
Given the importance of the everyday, one might wonder how and from what point "the everyday" gained such legitimacy and scientific standing that it became an academic subject in social sciences. This phenomenon has a history as long as the social sciences themselves, and many sociologists, including the founders of sociology such as Simmel, Weber, and Marx, each in their own way, consider culture to be a political and historical process that shapes everyday life.
 
A review of how everyday matters are addressed in social sciences reveals a wide range of study areas: from ethnographic studies (for example, Zorbaugh, 1983) to research in cultural sociology (for example, Alexander, 2008) and studies with approaches emerging after the performative turn in social sciences (for example, the use of theater in the works of figures like Denzin, 2001 and Saldaña, 2005). Additionally, part of the research on everyday life is dedicated to critical studies that explore how oppression, inequality, and social order manifest in seemingly trivial matters (for example, see Althusser, 2008; Macherey, 1978; Chaney, 2012). Such an approach in everyday life studies examines the power relations that form the foundation of current daily life. This approach unveils the framework of interests that the structuring of daily life serves.
 
(Cultural) studies of everyday life in the West began with a focus on issues such as the working class and women, and later extended to areas such as race, leisure, and the media. This focus on the aforementioned themes was due to the Western society's engagement with issues related to these themes from the years following World War II to the present. However, as Stuart Hall (2007) puts it, "the rest of the world" has been experiencing a different modernity. In this context, the experience of modernity in Iranian society, like many societies in the Middle East, is more complex than that of its Western counterparts, as it is based on a type of "local" experience of imported modernity intertwined with local matters. Thus, the "imagined or conceptual West" has played a fundamental (positive/negative) role in our lived everyday experience—from the arrangement within our homes to our definitions of femininity and beauty. Over the past century, we have always evaluated ourselves, our society, and our history in a positive or negative comparison with Western humanity, society, and history. In other words, the everyday in "the rest of the world" has somehow been constructed within the gravitational pull of the West.
 
The special issue "Culture and Everyday Life" aims to publish a number of articles related to this field, focusing on the experience of Iranian modernity. These articles cover a wide range of topics, from the display consumption in the everyday lives of affluent women to the experience of nostalgia in the daily lives of Iranian migrants. Some articles have a theoretical/methodological nature (such as the article "Michel de Certeau and the Historiography of Everyday Life: A Reflexive Encounter Through the Experience of Cultural Studies in Iran"), while others are precisely based on historical inquiry (such as the article "The Emergence of the Everyday in Qajar Era Photographs"). It is hoped that this collection will attract the attention of professors, researchers, and students to this research area.