Family Dynamics and Social Practice Theories: An Investigation of Daily Practices Related to Food, Mobility, Energy Consumption, and Tourism

2014 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 204-224 ◽  
Author(s):  
Françoise Bartiaux ◽  
Luis Reátegui Salmón

Based on empirical data on “green” practices according to household size, this article questions the role, if any, given to close personal relationships by social practice theories in sustaining or not daily life practices. Data are mainly drawn from an Internet survey conducted in Belgium in 2006 by WWF-Belgium on daily practices, related to food, energy consumption, mobility, and tourism. Results show that smaller households carry out more numerous “green” practices than larger ones. The concluding discussion underlines the relevance of including social interactions—namely within the household—into the conceptual framework derived from the social theories of practices, to take into account the rearticulating role of social interactions and domestic power claims when carrying out a practice or a set of practices, and when changing it.

Author(s):  
Gulbarshyn Chepurko ◽  
Valerii Pylypenko

The paper examines and compares how the major sociological theories treat axiological issues. Value-driven topics are analysed in view of their relevance to society in times of crisis, when both societal life and the very structure of society undergo dramatic change. Nowadays, social scientists around the world are also witnessing such a change due to the emergence of alternative schools of sociological thought (non-classical, interpretive, postmodern, etc.) and, subsequently, the necessity to revise the paradigms that have been existed in sociology so far. Since the above-mentioned approaches are often used to address value-related issues, building a solid theoretical framework for these studies takes on considerable significance. Furthermore, the paradigm revision has been prompted by technological advances changing all areas of people’s lives, especially social interactions. The global human community, integral in nature, is being formed, and production of human values now matters more than production of things; hence the “expansion” of value-focused perspectives in contemporary sociology. The authors give special attention to collectivities which are higher-order units of the social system. These units are described as well-organised action systems where each individual performs his/her specific role. Just as the role of an individual is distinct from that of the collectivity (because the individual and the collectivity are different as units), so too a distinction is drawn between the value and the norm — because they represent different levels of social relationships. Values are the main connecting element between the society’s cultural system and the social sphere while norms, for the most part, belong to the social system. Values serve primarily to maintain the pattern according to which the society is functioning at a given time; norms are essential to social integration. Apart from being the means of regulating social processes and relationships, norms embody the “principles” that can be applied beyond a particular social system. The authors underline that it is important for Ukrainian sociology to keep abreast of the latest developments in the field of axiology and make good use of those ideas because this is a prerequisite for its successful integration into the global sociological community.


Author(s):  
Lexi Eikelboom

This chapter proposes a framework for approaching the theological significance of rhythm through phenomenology, prosody, and the social sciences. In accordance with the general categories of phenomenology established by Merleau-Ponty and the “rhythmanalysis” of Henri Lefebvre, the chapter investigates two experiences of rhythm: approaches to analysing the human encounter with rhythm in the reading of poetry and the role of rhythm in social interactions introduced through commonalities between rhythm in conversation and in jazz performance. These explorations establish two features of rhythm that are of analytical importance for the chapters that follow: (1) the synchronic and the diachronic as two necessary but distinct theoretical perspectives on rhythm, each of which emphasizes different features of rhythm and (2) the importance of interruption for understanding rhythm’s significance.


Author(s):  
Beste Nigar Erdem

The present study discusses how a masculine violence is presented in the news narrative in Turkey. Moreover, this study aims to analyze how the mental designs are reflected to the multimedia platforms and how it constitutes the social interactions and reflexes. Fundamentally, this study queries how the social reality area is reconstructed. Constructing the theoretical frame and the literature review of the masculine violence are the major concerns of this study. Additionally, the role of the news narrative in the construction of the social reality and the representation of the news of masculine violence are examined in this study. Finally, a case of masculine violence in Turkey has been examined in the social production context of the transmedia storytelling.


Author(s):  
James Campbell

This chapter discusses the relationship of William James (1842–1910) and John Dewey (1859–1952). In particular, it attempts to tease out the ways in which Dewey’s thought drew upon ideas presented earlier by James. Among the Jamesian themes that appear in Dewey’s work are Dewey’s melioristic, pragmatic account of social practice; his emphasis upon the importance of habits in organized human life; his presentation of the role of philosophy as a means of improving daily life; his recognition of the social nature of the self; and his call for a rejection of religious traditions and institutions in favor of an emphasis upon religious experience. Clarifying Dewey’s relationship with James should in no way lessen the value of Dewey’s thought. Rather, it makes clearer the continuities that existed between these two pragmatic thinkers.


Author(s):  
Ellie R. Schainker

Chapter 3 explores the social dynamics of religious toleration and the confessional state from below by examining the spaces of Jewish conversion. The chapter presents a range of conversion narratives which locate interfaith encounters at the local tavern as the springboard for migrating to a different confessional community. It analyzes daily social interactions among Jewish and neighboring Polish, Lithuanian, Belorussian, and Ukrainian communities, and how these encounters nurtured intimate knowledge of other confessional lifestyles, facilitated interfaith relationships, and provided access to the personnel and institutions of other faiths. By taking a geographical approach, the chapter presents the western provincial towns and villages of imperial Russia as interreligious zones wherein conversion was predicated on interconfessional networks, sociability, and a personal familiarity with Christianity via its adherents. In exploring forms of encounter, the chapter highlights the role of the local godparent—often local elites or civil/military personnel—in facilitating confessional transfers.


Author(s):  
Katrina Hutchison ◽  
Catriona Mackenzie ◽  
Marina Oshana

This introduction distinguishes ways the social dimensions of moral responsibility have been investigated in recent philosophical literature: some theories highlight the interpersonal dimensions of moral responsibility practices; some explicate the interlocutive properties of morally reactive exchanges; while others seek to explain the role of the social environment in scaffolding agency. Despite the rise of social approaches, philosophers have paid scant attention to the implications of inequalities of power for theorizing about moral responsibility. The remainder of the introduction articulates a set of problems posed by contexts of structural injustice for theories of moral responsibility and highlights the relevance of recent work in feminist philosophy on relational autonomy and social epistemology for understanding and addressing these problems. The introduction notes the overlaps and differences between the concepts of autonomy and moral responsibility and offers preliminary reflections on how debates about relational autonomy might bear on social theories of moral responsibility.


2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 124-133 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dor Shilton

AbstractRecently, a growing number of studies have considered the role of language in the social transmission of tool-making skill during human evolution. In this article, I address this question in light of a new theory of language and its evolution, and review evidence from anthropology and experimental archaeology related to it. I argue that the specific function of language—the instruction of imagination—is not necessary for the social transmission of tool-making skill. Evidence from hunter-gatherer ethnographies suggests that social learning relies mainly on observation, participation, play, and experimentation. Ethnographies of traditional stone cultures likewise describe group activities with simple, context-bound interactions embedded in the here and now. Experiments comparing gestural and verbal teaching of tool-making skills also demonstrate that language is not necessary for that process. I conclude that there is no convincing evidence that language played an important role in the social transmission of lithic technology, although the possibility that linguistic instruction was involved as part of the social interactions accompanying tool-making cannot be excluded.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ina Reichenberger

Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. This paper examines the social practice of customer-to-customer value co-creation in tourism contexts by considering visitor–visitor interactions, their manifestations, influential factors, and types of resulting value using extended social situation analysis. On the basis of 76 qualitative in-depth interviews, results show that value co-creation is not necessarily dependent upon the underlying social interactions but predominantly influenced by personal factors and attitudes towards sociability. The stronger the focus on other social actors is and the longer and more personal the social interactions are, the more complex and multilayered is the co-created perceived value.


Author(s):  
Vitaly V. Rubtsov

The report highlights the fundamentals of L.S. Vygotsky’s cultural-historical theory and discusses the system of concepts of this scientific school. The report analyses L.S. Vy-gotsky’s approach, according to which the basis for the development of human psyche is created by a qualitative change of the social situation or, in A.N. Leont’ev’s terms, by a change of human activity. The importance of intelligence and emotions, which are inter-nally connected, is demonstrated in relation to the change of human activity. The role of social interactions in learning and development of children is discussed referring to the challenges of the “new school”.


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