How Practice Architectures Hold Practices in Their Course

Abstract

AbstractThe chapter focusses on how practices are understood in the theory of practice architectures. It begins by introducing the notion of ‘intersubjective space’—the three-dimensional space in which people encounter one another: in language in semantic space, in activity and work in physical space–time, and relationships of solidarity and power in social space. It discusses the kinds of arrangements found in these dimensions of social space—respectively, cultural-discursive, material-economic, and social-political arrangements—that enable and constrain practices as they unfold. These arrangements combine to form practice architectures that enable and constrain practices. The theory of practice architectures is an example of a site-ontological theory: it views practices as grounded in the sites where they are enacted. The purpose of the theory of practice architectures, it is suggested, is to discover the conditions of possibility for practices. The chapter employs the ecological notion of the ‘niche’ to explore the situatedness of practices in the particulars of the places, the sites, where they are enacted. The chapter also briefly introduces the notions of ‘practice landscapes’ and ‘practice traditions’ before presenting a summary diagram that encapsulates the main elements of the theory.