Lost in translation? Implications of Theodore Schatzki’s multifaceted ontology for organizational studies

This essay problematizes Theodore Schatzki’s approach to practice within organizational studies, based on how Dasein and Lichtung , two concepts from Martin Heidegger’s philosophy, are appropriated in the interpretation of the ontology of social sites. The re-reading of the philosophical link between Schatzki and the post-Heideggerian movement facilitates the appropriation of Schatzki’s ontological approach in addressing today’s major social crises. This prominent social philosopher’s contributions have led the so-called ‘Practice Turn’ at the turn of the 21st century. This essay distinguishes the field of practices from practice-based studies and introduces notions from Heideggerian phenomenology, emphasizing its significance in understanding Theodore Schatzki’s ontology. The study problematizes the translation of the philosopher’s concepts into the context of organizational studies and highlights Schatzki’s practice study methodology based on its potential in the face of the complexity of today’s social crises.

Culture studies’ have emerged as a broader sub-discipline in the contemporary sociological literature. I have outlined here certain theoretical practices suggesting certain points of departure /divergence from classical sociological theorization, and attempted to locate `social’ in the cultural terrain. Both within (in all sub areas of sociology) and across the disciplines (interdisciplinary) this trend has been observed. Cultural perspectives are now taken as an alternative to mainstream theorization of the structure and process.With the cultural turn, the emphasis in social sciences has been more on process rather than on structure in accounting the everyday routine, in understanding of the past and present, social action and social order. There are various theories that focus on temporal meta-narratives of transition and there are various modes locating `social’ in the culturalist frame. Social theories that give emphasis on the process give emphasis on everyday context and lifeworld problematizing the links between discourse spaces, andin sociology’s particular relationship with the empirical world. Many of these theoretical projects are classified as `praxiological’. Studies involving discourse as a key theoretical concept in recent years are more active and interesting areas of application in the international and global context. It shows a shift in emphasis in the reading of the current practices, and sociology’s intellectual history. In sociology, cultural theories stretch from Claud Levi Strauss to Althusser to Michel Foucault , Pierre Bourdieu and others such as Alfred Schultz, Harold Garfinkel, Nikolas Luhman, Jugen Habermas’s theory of communicative action, Anthony Gidddens’s theory of structuration, Judith Burtler’s performative gender theories , Bruno Latour’s science studies, Charles’ Taylors’ neo-hermeneutical model of embodied agency, Theodore Schatzki’s theory that focused on practice concept. There is now a large and influential body of work primarily concerned with the interpretation of cultural and economic power, processes and practices. For instance, Bourdieu’s master concepts -- habitus, capital and field—are incorporated increasingly in the organizational analyses. His relational approach to the study of organization has made much influence in the organizational studies. It both reframes existing thinking about organizations and indicates new directions for research in organizations.The growing interest in post structuralism, in anti –essentialist ontology, relationalist and contextual view of identity politics, and in the discourse theory there is now a sharp contrast with the mainstream theorization. The structuring the discursive space, that enables the researchers to critically map out the political terrain of the global, generates new questions for research (for instance, what has been excluded by dominant discourses can be brought to the surface). Different problematics now call for different research strategies. Various theories that focus on temporal meta-narratives of the transitions (i.e. from feudalism to capitalism and then to socialism and beyond, theories of modernity and post modernity) are also conceived as a set of parallel temporal transitions from tradition to modernity to post modernity. That way, the post-modernity as a culturist project can be represented as the latest stage in the master logic of historical development. Furthermore, the concept of globalization represents an important shift in the transition towards cultural theorization. Now the questions revolve around the socio-cultural processes and the forms of life which are emerging as the transition from national to global is superimposed on the change from an industrial to post industrial and informational order.

This chapter introduces the practice theory developed by Theodore Schatzki and highlights its implications for organization studies. In particular, it shows how his theory contributes to our understanding of the micro-foundations of organizations, the embeddedness of organizations in their wider social context, and the temporal and spatial dimensions of organizations. It also discusses how Schatzki’s theory can be applied in empirical research on organizations.

The label “practice theory” refers to a group of approaches in late twentieth‐century social and cultural theory which highlights the routinized and performative character of action, its dependence on tacit knowledge and implicit understanding. Besides, these approaches emphasize the “material” character of action and culture as anchored in embodiment and networks of artifacts. Practice theory has its roots in anti‐intellectualist and anti‐dualist social philosophy, above all in Ludwig Wittgenstein and Martin Heidegger. In contemporary social theory, the works of Pierre Bourdieu, Theodore Schatzki, Anthony Giddens, Harold Garfinkel, and others contain diverse forms of practice theory. In a broad sense, the approaches of Bruno Latour and Judith Butler, and partly also that of Michel Foucault, comprise praxeological ideas as well. Currently, practice‐theoretical frameworks influence a wide range of empirical analyses in sociology and cultural studies, from gender studies to organizational and science studies, which analyze social structures from the point of view of “doing” culture (organization, gender, subjects, etc.).