Studying practitioners’ practices

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Beatrix Futák-Campbell
Keyword(s):  
Social Action ◽  
Practice Theory ◽  
The Other ◽  
Discursive Practice ◽  
Recent Application ◽  
The Social ◽  
Practice Turn ◽  
Practice Approach ◽  
Linguistic Approaches ◽  
Eu Studies

Practice theory is a diverse and constantly evolving body of ideas regarding the nature of social action, transcending a variety of disciplines in the social sciences. This chapter traces the evolution of the practice turn, from the seminal work in The Practice Turn in Contemporary Theory (Schatzki et al, 2001) to a more recent application in the field of International Relations (Pouliot, 2010; Adler and Pouliot 2011) and EU studies (Adler-Niessen, 2016). This chapter illustrates the different debates and discussions that have guided the path of practice theory towards an application within IR and EU scholarship. It particularly emphasises the importance of Raymond D. Duvall and Arjun Chowdhury’s contribution to the field, which highlights the emergence of two distinct approaches that the practice turn facilitates, namely the focus on behaviour/conduct on one hand and the discursive/linguistic on the other. While the former seems to have found greater support in the discipline of IR, this chapter argues that the ontological foundations upon which the practice turn rests allude to the utility and even necessity for a discursive practice approach. The book serves as a contribution to the linguistic approaches within the practice turn.

scholarly journals Pragmatisme og "practice turn"

2018 ◽  
pp. 43-61
Author(s):  
Antje Gimmler
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
John Dewey ◽  
Social Scientist ◽  
The Other ◽  
Production Of Knowledge ◽  
The Social ◽  
Practice Turn ◽  
Understanding Of Science ◽  
The One ◽  
Philosophical Pragmatism

Practices are of central relevance both to philosophical pragmatism and to the recent ‘Practice Turn’ in social sciences and philosophy. However, what counts as practices and how practices and knowledge are combined or intertwine varies in the different approaches of pragmatism and those theories that are covered by the umbrella term ‘Practice Turn’. The paper tries to show that the pragmatism of John Dewey is able to offer both a more precise and a more radical understanding of practices than the recent ‘Practice Turn’ allows for. The paper on the one hand highlights what pragmatism has to offer to the practice turn in order to clarify the notion of practice. On the other hand the paper claims that a pragmatism inspired by Dewey actually interprets ‘practices’ more radically than most of the other approaches and furthermore promotes an understanding of science that combines nonrepresentationalism and anti-foundationalism with an involvement of the philosopher or the social scientist in the production of knowledge, things and technologies.

Peasant Resistance in Ethiopia: the Case of Weyane

1984 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-92 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gebru Tareke
Keyword(s):  
Social Action ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
The Other ◽  
The West ◽  
Political Autonomy ◽  
Social Basis ◽  
The Social ◽  
Pastoral Communities ◽  
The Government ◽  
Peasant Resistance

Weyane was a spontaneous, localized peasant uprising with limited objectives. It occurred in 1943 because several disaffected social groups in the eastern part of Tigrai believed that they could defeat or at least extract substantial concessions from a weak transitional government. The multiplicity of objectives roughly correspond to the divergent interests of the participants: the sectarian nobility wanted a greater share in the regional reallocation of power, the semi-pastoral communities of the lowlands were interested in pre-empting feudal incorporation, and the highland cultivators wanted to terminate the excessive demands of officialdom and militia. The convergence of these forces made Weyane possible; the disorganization of the ruling strata and the subsequent defection of a segment of the territorial nobility enormously enhanced the peasants' capacity for collective action. But this very heterogeneity comprised the peasants' objectives. The revolt lacked a coherent set of goals, nor did it have a specific program for social action. The rebels attacked neither the legitimacy of the monarchy nor the ideological basis of the Ethiopian aristocracy. In the end, Weyane buttressed the feudal order, and was probably instrumental in strengthening Ethiopia's neo-colonial link with the West. In the aftermath of rebellion, the Tigrai nobility did get its rights and prerogatives recognized, to the same extent that the nobility in the other northern provinces did. The government undercut the nobility's political autonomy, but paid the price of reinforcing their social position. On the other hand, in reaction to Weyane, the state destroyed the social basis of clan authority and autonomy, and reduced the Raya and Azebo to landless peasants. Weyane marked the end of conflict between centrifugal and centralizing forces, but did not eliminate the social roots of popular protest.

The Social Construction of a Secure, Anonymous Electronic Payment System: Frame Alignment and Mobilization around Ecash

1998 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 273-283 ◽  
Author(s):  
David J. Phillips
Keyword(s):  
Social Construction ◽  
Social Action ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Payment System ◽  
Security And Privacy ◽  
Discursive Practice ◽  
Electronic Payment ◽  
Frame Alignment ◽  
The Social ◽  
Electronic Payment System

This paper examines public discourse in order to illuminate the processes by which issues of anonymity, surveillance, security, and privacy are integrated into public understandings of, and interactions with, consumer payment systems. Using theories of the social construction of technology, and Gamson's model of issue construction, it analyses the issue package deployed by the developer of the Ecash electronic payment system. An issue package is a set of framing devices which focus and constrain discussion of a particular issue. The paper then analyses three different discursive sites (print media, US Congressional deliberation, and an electronic mailing list) to gauge the success of that package, according to its presence and its resonance within each site. Using theories of frame alignment and social mobilization, the package is identified as a globalizing framing strategy. Its failure is explained by the difficulties a frame of such structure will have in meshing with the discursive practice of each site, in resonating with cultural themes of each site, and in provoking social action.

Music in the Work of Social Reproduction

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 162-183 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric Drott
Keyword(s):  
Social Reproduction ◽  
Historical Materialism ◽  
The Self ◽  
The Other ◽  
Current Crisis ◽  
The Social ◽  
Practice Turn ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Shed Light

This article interrogates music’s role in the work of social reproduction by bringing into dialogue two seemingly antithetical approaches to thinking music’s relation to the social. One is historical materialism; the other is work informed by the “practice turn” in music sociology, exemplified by Tia DeNora’s studies of music as a “technology of the self.” By taking seriously the proposition that under certain conditions music may itself function as a technology, and by reframing this proposition along materialist lines, this article aims to shed light on the changing functions music has come to assume in late neoliberalism. In particular, new modalities of digital distribution like streaming, by simultaneously driving down the cost of music and normalizing its therapeutic, prosthetic, and self-regulatory uses, increasingly cast it as a cheap resource that can be harnessed to replenish the cognitive, affective, and/or communicative energies strained by the current crisis of social reproduction.

Positioning the Normative Practice Approach

2019 ◽  
pp. 31-54
Author(s):  
Jan Hoogland
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Social Action ◽  
Social Practices ◽  
Stepping Stones ◽  
Normative Structure ◽  
The Social ◽  
Practice Approach ◽  
Normative Practice ◽  
Normative Practices ◽  
Definition Of

The concept of social practices has received growing attention in interpretative social sciences. This concept is based on a long tradition of hermeneutical, interpretative, action-theoretical, pragmatist, and phenomenological theories in the social sciences, starting with Weber's famous definition of social action. In this chapter, some crucial stepping stones of this tradition are highlighted. In the line of these theories, a new approach of normative practices will be introduced, partially based on core philosophical insights of the Dutch philosopher Herman Dooyeweerd. Central features of this approach are 1) the multi-layered, intrinsically normative structure of social practices (constitutive side) and 2) the importance of regulative convictions, ideals, and attitudes leading the disclosure and development of those practices (regulative side).

scholarly journals PRAGMATISM AND PRACTICE THEORY: CONVERGENCES OR COLLISIONS

2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
Anders Buch ◽  
Bente Elkjaer
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Common Ground ◽  
Practice Theory ◽  
Organization Studies ◽  
American Pragmatism ◽  
The Social ◽  
Practice Turn ◽  
Pragmatist Philosophy

Proponents of the ‘practice turn’ in the social sciences rarely mention American pragmatism as a source of inspiration or refer to pragmatist philosophy. This strikes us as not only odd, but also a disadvantage since the pragmatist legacy has much to offer practice theory in the study of organizations. In this paper we want to spell out the theoretical similarities and divergences between practice theory and pragmatism to consider whether the two traditions can find common ground when gazing upon organization studies. We suggest that pragmatism should be included in the ‘tool-kit’ of practice-based studies of organizations.

Stepping out of the social world: A lonely call for more philosophy in the practice turn

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 212-219
Author(s):  
AMY SKONIECZNY
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Practice Theory ◽  
Social World ◽  
Philosophical Perspective ◽  
Philosophical Foundations ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The Social ◽  
Practice Turn ◽  
Sociological Approaches ◽  
Empirical Methodology

Abstract:Practice Theory and International Relations will challenge all you’ve come to know about the practice turn in international relations. It will ask you to question how you define practices and call for more precision. It will challenge your starting point of ground-up actions in everyday life and look at practices from above. It will push you to rethink your empirical methodology and call out sociological approaches as misconceived. And yes, it will ask you to reread Hegel and bring philosophy back in to your practice theorising. In short, it will make a lonely, and for many, unwanted call for a U-turn in the field. In this review, I’ll take up this call for a U-turn back to philosophical foundations, and ask what is gained and what is lost in rethinking practice theory from a philosophical perspective.

Laissez Faire in Georgia, 1732–1860

1943 ◽  
Vol 3 (S1) ◽  
pp. 78-100 ◽  
Author(s):  
Milton S. Heath
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
Social Action ◽  
The Other ◽  
Public Enterprise ◽  
General Character ◽  
Historical Material ◽  
Public Action ◽  
The Social ◽  
Private And Public ◽  
Laissez Faire

It is necessary to indicate at the outset the general character of the historical material with which this paper deals. I have been able to discover in this period of Georgia's history almost no advocacy or discussion of the doctrine of laissez faire as such. On the other hand, one finds much discussion of private and public enterprise which, if removed from the context of events, would seem to involve most of the commonly accepted tenets of laissez faire. Lastly, there are the main currents of social action, which, upon investigation, are found to have comprised a varying mixture of private and public activities. It is difficult, if not impossible, to determine the logic of the social policy which directed these currents simply by observing the varying proportions of private and public action; it would be necessary first to go behind the action and study both the ends and the means. In the limited space allotted to this paper, it is possible to present only the barest outlines of the more important events and discussions in which the issue of public interference or of private versus public action arose. Interpretations and evaluations must be left, for the most part, to additional studies

scholarly journals Practice ‘in Talk’ and Talk ‘as Practice’: Dish Washing and the Reach of Language

2012 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 103-113 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lydia Martens
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Social Action ◽  
Social Research ◽  
Practice Theory ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
The Social ◽  
Rules And Principles ◽  
Embodied Practice

The aim of this paper is to open up debate about the methodological implications of adopting practice theory in social research. Practice theory has become a much used analytical framework for researchers working on the question ‘what we do’ in relation to a diverse set of contemporary concerns, but discussion on the epistemological implications has thus far been limited. By looking at interview talk on dish washing through a practice-theoretical lens grounded in Schatzki's (1996 , 2002 ) ontology of practices, I set out to examine how language and talk form a resource and an obstruction when we want to think about mundane practices in scholarly ways. My concern is located within the broader questioning of qualitative interviews in debate in the social sciences. Acknowledging that interviews are ‘distinctive forms of social action’ ( Atkinson & Coffey 2003 ), I move on to consider how talk about washing up in interviews conveys the interaction between two practices; those of talking as the salient embodied practice wielded by human beings in interaction with each other, and dish washing as an integrated cleaning practice common in domestic kitchens. The analysis suggests that our qualitative interviews stimulated talk on the teleo-affective qualities of dish-washing. Rules and principles also appeared in the talk in specific ways. However, the talk was not so good for gaining understanding of the activity of dish washing. In conclusion, I argue that the standard qualitative interview brings out the human-to-human interactional concerns of practices, but that different research contexts need to be developed and employed for gaining greater understanding of the performance (or activity) of the practice of dish washing.

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