Conference article

Introducing and Developing Practice Theory

Kirsten Gram-Hanssen
Danish Building Research Institute, Aalborg University, Denmark

Download article

Published in: Proceedings of the Sustaining Everyday Life Conference

Linköping Electronic Conference Proceedings 38:6, p. 45-57

Show more +

Published: 2010-11-05

ISBN:

ISSN: 1650-3686 (print), 1650-3740 (online)

Abstract

A household’s energy consumption is an important element of sustainable everyday life. It is therefore relevant to understand and explain the daily routines and use of technology that are intimately linked to energy consumption. This paper introduces a recent practice theory from Schatzki; Reckwitz; and Warde that has been put forward as a promising framework to explain everyday life consumer practices. The practice theory is; however; not a commonly agreed upon theory but is regarded more like an approach or a turn within contemporary social theory. When using practice theory in studies of everyday life; there are several conditions that need further clarification. In this paper; the focus will be on the question of how to include technology in practice theory and how technology contributes to both change and stability in practice. In the paper; Schatzkis practice theory is described in detail and; based on Reckwitz; is afterward extended with discussions of different socio-technical approaches; including appropriation and domestication of technology; transition theory; and scales of technology. The paper discusses practice theory and how it can be used to understand the role of objects and technologies in the constitution and change of routines and practices related to the use of everyday-life technologies; as it is by using these technologies that energy is consumed in the homes.

Keywords

No keywords available

References

Geels; F.W. (2002) Technological transitions as evolutionary reconfiguration process: a multi-level perspective and a case-study. Research Policy 31; 1257-1274

Gram-Hanssen; K. (2010a) Residential heat comfort practices: Understanding users. Building Research and Information 38(2); 175-186.

Gram-Hanssen; K. (2010b) Standby consumption in households analysed with a practice theory approach. Journal of Industrial Ecology 14(1); 150-165.

Gronow; J. and Warde; A. (Eds) (2001) Ordinary consumption. Harwood Academic Publishers. Berkshire; UK.

Huges; T. P. (1983) Networks of power. Electrification in western society; 1880-1930. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press.

Ilmonen; K. (2004) The use of and commitment to goods. Journal of Consumer Culture 4(1); 27-50.

Kemp; R. Loorbach; D. and Rotmans; J. (2006) Transition management as a mode for managing processes of co-evolution towards sustainable development. In Changes to Sustainable Consumption; 20-21 April 2006; Copenhagen; Denmark. Workshop of the Sustainable Consumption Research Exchange (SCORE) Network.

Knorr Cetina; K. (1997) Sociality with objects. Social relations in postsocial knowledge societies. Theory; Culture and Society 14(4); 1-30.
Latour; B. (1993) We have never been modern. Cambridge; MA: Harvard University Press.

Lehtonen; T-K. (2003) The domestication of new technologies as a set of trials. Journal of Consumer Culture 3(3); 363-385.

Lupton; D. and Noble; G. (2002) Mine/not mine: appropriating personal computers in the academic workplace; Journal of Sociology 38(1); 5-23.

Reckwitz; A. (2002a) Toward a theory of social practices. European Journal of Social Theory 5(2); 243-263.

Reckwitz; A. (2002b) The status of the ’material’ in theories of culture. From ’social structure’ to ’artefact’. Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour. 32;195-217.

Rip; A. and Kemp; R. (1998) Technological change. In Rayner; S. and Malone; E. (eds.): Human choice and climate change. Volume 2: Resources and technology. Columbus; Ohio: Battelle Press.

Schatzki; T. R. (1996) Social practices. A Wittgensteinian approach to human activity and the social. Cambridge: University Press.

Schatzki; T. R. (1997) Practices and actions: A Wittgensteinian critique of Bourdieu and Giddens. Philosophy of the Social Sciences 27; 283.

Schatzki; T. R. (2001) Introduction: practice theory. In Schatzki; T.R.; Cetina; K.K. and von Savigny; E. The practice turn in contemporary theory. London: Routledge.

Schatzki; T. R. (2002) The site of the social. A philosophical account of the constitution of social life and change. Pennsylvania State University Press.

Schatzki; T.R.; Cetina; K.K.; and von Savigny E. (2001). The practice turn in contemporary theory. London: Routledge.

Shove E. (2003) Comfort; cleanliness and convenience. The social organization of normality Oxford and New York: Berg.

Shove; E. and Pantzar; M. (2005) Consumers; producers and practices. Understanding the invention and reinvention of Nordic walking. Journal of Consumer Culture 5 (1); 43-64.

Van Vliet (2002) Greening the grid. The ecological modernisation of network-bound systems. PHD thesis; Wageningen University.

Warde; A. (2005) Consumption and theories of practice. Journal of Consumer Culture 5(2); 131-153.

Citations in Crossref