Practice Theorists Research Articles

Interpretive Agency, Change, and the Role of Individuals in UN Peace Operations

ABSTRACT Much of what peacekeepers do on a daily basis is best understood through the lens of practice, and practice theorists have begun to explore the process by which practice change occurs in international organizations. Yet practice theory’s focus on tacit knowledge and ‘unthinking’ action raises important questions about agency. How can individual peacekeepers change their daily practices amid the myriad structural factors that dispose them to act in particular ways? Do changes in peacekeeping practice require conscious reflection on their part? Drawing on evidence from UN missions in Sierra Leone, Côte d’Ivoire, and the DRC, I argue that changes in practice often occur through interpretive agency as individuals determine what rules require in practice. Interpretive agency takes two distinct forms: practical agency and reflective agency. Reflective agency involves conscious deliberation, while practical agency occurs when peacekeepers make unthinking adjustments to existing practices. This article identifies conditions that are conducive to each type of interpretive agency, highlighting the impact of crisis, bureaucratic hierarchy, and the role of specialized knowledge. These findings improve our understanding of how individual agency shapes UN peace operations, while also contributing to wider debates about change and continuity in global governance.

Connection Points: The Dynamics of Recruitment to Packaging-Free Shopping

Practice theorists have indicated the importance of understanding everyday life – how it changes and stays the same – in responding to current environmental problems, including the proliferation of food packaging waste. Focusing on individuals as carriers of practices who carry them out is essential for the diffusion of sustainable practices because the more carriers are recruited by less wasteful food consumption, such as packaging-free shopping, the more they are likely to spread. Thus far, however, insights regarding the dynamics of how practices recruit their carriers have been limited. Based on a focused ethnography in a recently opened packaging-free shop and its customers’ homes in Germany, this study specifies the dynamics of recruitment by introducing the concept of connection points. The presence of connection points enables a practice to recruit carriers, allowing them to maintain daily routines to a certain degree, while in the process of adopting a new practice that entails changing their everyday life. This reveals a paradoxical dynamic: continuity, in very diverse ways, seems to pave the way towards change.

Exploring the frontiers of corporate governance: a practice theorists' perspective

This paper explores the frontiers of research on Corporate Governance, analyzes the dominant theoretical framework, and proposes a research agenda based on practice theorists. It highlights the need to consider social dimensions alongside rational-utilitarian aspects in corporate governance practices. By examining everyday organizational practices, the study aims to foster a reflective and holistic understanding of corporate governance. It challenges the conventional contractual relationship between agents and principals, emphasizing the complexity and interdependence within this field. The paper contributes to theoretical discussions by presenting influential authors' perspectives on social practices, offering new lenses for approaching corporate governance and providing practical implications for understanding contemporary organizations.

Kurt Lewin’s ideas are alive! But why doesn’t anybody recognize them?

Although Kurt Lewin is a key figure in the history of organizational behavior, only a few scholars or practitioners can explain why he earned this status. In order to shine light on this dissonance, we elaborate on the reasons why Lewin’s ideas are seldom discussed in today’s curricula (e.g., Lewin’s work is difficult to pin down due to his interdisciplinary interest as well as his convoluted writing style). To highlight the enduring applicability of Lewin’s approaches, we link his ideas (e.g., psychological satiation) with more recent concepts, like burnout. To support the continuing relevance of Lewin’s work, we outline how his ideas can inspire current epistemology by discussing his distinction between Aristotelian and Galilean thinking and his quest to find unexpected observations to generate new knowledge. Furthermore, as Lewin is regarded as the “practical theorist,” revisiting his work will show how theoretical concepts can influence organizational practices. Specifically, we discuss how Lewin’s ideas can improve design thinking, which is a modern team-based approach to generate innovations.

Janelle Monáe, Dirty Computers, and Embodied Posthumanism

Abstract Janelle Monáe has been a driving force in Afrofuturism and a practical theorist of Black embodiment for the past fifteen years, and with her 2018 album and (e)motion picture, Dirty Computer, she has cemented herself as a pop sensation. While many critics have celebrated Dirty Computer for its embrace of queer identity and assertion of Black humanity, they have often done so by pitting it against her earlier work, which often features her cyborg alter-ego and riffs on iconic imagery from the films Metropolis (1927) and Blade Runner (1982), aligning her with speculative traditions concerned with the enmeshment of human and machine. I argue that the formulation of the “dirty computer” is not a departure but an intensification and distillation of her commitment to deconstructing the category of the human and disrupting the human/machine divide. The body as dirty computer interrogates the efficacy of Donna J. Haraway’s version of cyborg being for Black women, whose bodies have been scripted as less-than-human for so long, by calling on Black feminist traditions from Hortense J. Spillers onward that center fleshy materiality as a means of resistance to the hegemonic construction of the human body. In conversation with scholars such as Alexander Weheliye and Uri McMillan, who argue that Blackness is itself a technics, the dirty computer performs an always already virtual Black body materialized through technologies of the voice and citational practices that disrupt linear temporality. Monáe articulates an Afrofuturist feminist vision for embodiment that rejects transhumanism by embracing the messiness of the body as an essential tool for testifying.

An integrative approach to investigating longstanding organisational phenomena; opportunities for practice theorists and historians

We add to the ongoing call for greater integration between organisational and history scholarship. Specifically, we contribute by identifying reciprocal opportunities for practice theorists and historians interested in the unfolding of socio-historic patterns over space and time. Through contrasting two studies of ‘relationship’ in the international reinsurance industry – one an ethnographic, practice-based study, the other an archival, historic analysis – we illuminate the differences between and also complementarities of the two approaches. Understanding such differences provides the foundation for a more reflexive construction of future research design. Using the insights gained by contrasting the two studies we show how a more integrative approach allows the extension of organisational constructs and theories.

Prime-time on TV and radio stations

At present, technology is developing at an incredible speed, and this has affected television and radio stations. The number of channels for getting information has increased with the arrival of such platforms as Instagram, TikTok, and Telegram. In fact, these social networks have taken most of the audience of young people and quickly gained momentum in different age categories. The advertisers must let people know about their products. One can spend millions of dollars on advertising, but miss a great flow of customers and consider it an unforgivable mistake to launch ads not in primetime, which is called "the best time" for this reason. In the article, the author examines what prime-time is, the characteristics of television prime-time, the characteristics of prime-time of radio stations, identifies the functions of prime-time, the cost of advertising on TV channels, the evolution of prime-time with time and the arrival of new technologies. The author of the article, a well-known practical scientist, director, and theorist of the art of directing, analyzes the problem of prime-time (the best time) on Russian television and radio stations in the framework of a scientific approach. The material of the article, which contains a significant share of novelty, can be used in the educational process in the fields of "TV Journalism" and "Public Relations".

Applying a Practice Lens to Local Government Climate Change Governance: Rethinking Community Engagement Practices

Governments commit substantial time and resources engaging individuals and households to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. These approaches, based largely upon behaviour change theories, have been criticised for their limited reach and effectiveness by practice theorists who have offered an alternative approach, broadening the focus beyond individuals. While practice theory has provided valuable insights into the energy consuming activities of households it has gained limited traction as a way to analyse and inform government practices and policy making. We address this by applying a practice lens to climate change community engagement practices performed by Australian local governments. Drawing on 29 interviews with practitioners and analysis of 37 Australian local government climate strategies, we examine the bundle of practices that constitute climate change community engagement: recruitment, engagement and evaluation. We consider how these practices are situated vis-a-vis other climate governance practices (regulation, service delivery, infrastructure provision and advocacy) as well as internal local government processes. Using a practice lens reveals the weaknesses in current engagement approaches which we contend are limiting efficacy. We draw upon Spurling et al.’s conceptualisation of re-crafting, re-integrating and substituting practices to consider how climate change community engagement practices might be reconfigured to improve their effectiveness.

Acessibilidade Virtual em Destinos Turísticos Inteligentes: os Casos de Curitiba [Brasil] e Málaga [Espanha

Intelligent tourist destinations are characterized by be innovative where technology is used as an instrument of management and planning, providing information to managers, community and tourists. The pursuit of sustainable development occurs through participatory and decentralized management with the use of governance, in spaces where the mobility, accessibility and quality of life are experience at destination allied to meet residents and tourists. Therefore, this work has as objective: to evaluate Curitiba and Malaga comparatively as intelligent tourist destination based on criteria of virtual accessibility. For both made use of qualitative methods, descriptive and exploratory, whose main data collection techniques were the bibliographical and documentary research, record in field through a script of official websites of tourism. The analyses were by means of pairing practical theorist. It was observed that both cities, Curitiba and Malaga, are developing actions to be recognized as intelligent tourist destinations.

Основні аспекти діяльності благодійних організацій у спадщині Мері Елен Річмонд

The article is devoted to the analysis of the scientific heritage of Mery Elen Richmond. A cornerstone of building the social work profession, Mary Richmond was known for her ability to organize communities, her development of casework practice, as well as her ability to teach and speak intelligently on a wide array of subjects. The subject of the article is the provisions on the activities of charitable organizations in the United States during the life and work of the researcher. The article describes the main problems in the activities of charitable organizations of the late 19th - early 20th centuries During this time Richmond was connected to the COS, she demonstrated her qualities as a leader, teacher, and practical theorist; ; revealed the functions of charitable organizations in the theory and practice of M. E. Richmond; described possible provisions for improving the activities of charitable organizations in accordance with the legacy of Mary Ellen Richmond, who is considered a principle founder of the profession of social work and the importance of professional education. Her first principle was that care had to focus on the person within their situation. Building on extensive research, she developed what she labelled ‘social diagnosis’. Her famous circle diagram visualized the correspondence of client and environment. Richmond identified six sources of power that are available to clients and their social workers: sources within the household, in the person of the client, in the neighborhood and wider social network, in civil agencies, in private and public agencies. This is a precursor of the system theory that was so popular in 1970’s social work.

Incomegetting and Environmental Degradation

Drawing on Alfred Schütz’s thought, as well as on a number of modern pragmatists and practice theorists, we theorize incomegetting—referring to practices of getting income, typically salaried work—as the paramount structurer of everyday life and, therefore, also the chief mediator of the human–nature metabolism. Even though the pragmatics of everyday life as an aggregate underlie the bulk of environmental impacts, these insidious impacts impose little immediate influence on everyday life, in particular in the urban Global North. In other words, the pragmatic dimension of everyday activities—principally, work—that takes place within a vastly complex and globally interlinked productive world system, has most often no immediate connection to the “natural” environment. While parts of the populations are directly dependent in terms of livelihoods on the “natural” environment, these populations are typically pushed to the margins of the global productive system. The understanding formulated in this essay suggests that in environmental social sciences there is a reason to shift the epicenter of the analysis from consumption to everyday life, to the varied practices of incomegetting. Against the backdrop of this paper, universal basic income schemes ought to have radical impacts on the way we relate also to the “natural” environment and such schemes necessitate understanding the essence of money in our contemporary realities.

Diplomatic Control, Foreign Policy, and Change under Xi Jinping: A Field-Theoretic Account

This article outlines how Xi Jinping has exercised control over diplomatic actors, particularly China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and draws out the effects of this control for the ministry and for Chinese foreign policy. Leveraging Bourdieu's (1984) concept of “field,” I demonstrate how Xi has – through processes of socialisation, restriction, and displays of fealty – bred local diplomatic field incentives in which actors exhibit more loyal, assertive, and disciplined behaviour. Next, I introduce the idea of “transversal disruption” – the potential of local fields to disrupt and introduce change on and in overlapping fields, and vice versa. Practice theorists have relatively little to say about inter-field effects, and this article seeks to fill this gap by showing how field rules in the transnational diplomatic space can change when fields meet. I illustrate the above through three cases of field encounters: the multilateral Track II diplomacy field; the transnational fields of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN); and, the China–Malaysia bilateral diplomatic field.

Teorias da prática social para pesquisas em contabilidade gerencial: possibilidades a partir de Pierre Bourdieu e Anthony Giddens

Recentes estudos sobre pesquisas em contabilidade no Brasil evidenciam sua baixa diversidade e uma certa incapacidade de repensar sua orientação positivista e de perceber possíveis incompletudes, desordens, contradições e a complexidades do fenômeno contábil. Considerando esse cenário, o objetivo deste ensaio teórico bibliográfico é apontar as possibilidades de investigação fenômenos organizacionais a partir da lente de teóricos da prática, em especial, Giddens e Bourdieu. Inicialmente, o ensaio posiciona-os diante das diferentes escolas da prática social e sintetiza os modos de engajamento sob as abordagens da prática social e apresenta os elementos centrais de suas teorias. Adicionalmente, o ensaio revela que, no Brasil, estes teóricos ainda são subutilizados em contabilidade gerencial e, na sequência, traz exemplos de como algumas poucas pesquisas operacionalizaram alguns de seus conceitos. Por fim, o estudo evidencia como as teorias de Giddens e Bourdieu podem fornecer pluralidade teórica no desenvolvimento da pesquisa em contabilidade gerencial no Brasil.

Pitching Perspectives on Disability: Voyage Experiences of Disabled Sailors on Tall Ships

This paper explores the experiences of disabled sailors on board a tall sailing ship, adapted for accessibility. Eight disabled sailors kept audio diaries and created artwork during the voyages, as well as taking part in interviews afterwards. In reporting their accounts, we explored what it meant for participants to go to sea. We became particularly interested in embodied activities on board ship, the ways in which sailing created and highlighted new identities, and the social aspects of sailing in a team. Our account brings together some of the central concerns in Disability Studies with the perspectives of social practice theorists, and seeks to add layers of meaning to both approaches. Since this is a nautical project, the paper is structured by following the stages of going to sea, and in the words of one participant, we seek to ‘join the dots between medical, academic and anecdotal knowledge’.

Social practice theory and the study of how we drink.

Social practice theory and the study of how we drink.

Diplomacy, agency, and the logic of improvisation and virtuosity in practice

Immersed in the flow of activities, diplomats and other international practitioners are simultaneously influenced by past experiences and constantly innovating in response to situations that are never exactly the same. The conceptual tools of International Relations scholars must be capable of capturing this practical reality. To that end, I introduce in this article a relational approach to agency that can make sense of practitioners’ innovative ways of doing things in practice. Practice theorists in IR often emphasize hierarchies, struggle, and the role of habitus in shaping practices. Both building on and departing from them, I dig into the logic of practical sense and discuss Pierre Bourdieu’s concepts of regulated improvisations, virtuosos/amateurs, and illusio to grasp agency in practice. I develop the idea that international actors are primarily practical and put improvisations and virtuosity — rather than rationality, cognitive processes, emotions, norm-compliance, path-dependency or even habits/habitus — in the foreground. I contend that this approach holds broader promise for the analysis of international politics than existing conceptions. We have much to gain by focusing on how international practitioners in their local contexts actually improvise in the moment. These improvisations in specific sites are constitutive of the ‘big picture’ of international politics. I take diplomatic practices in embassies and in permanent representations as an illustration.

Change in international practices

This article builds on the practice turn’s welcome move to redirect our attention to the unconscious habitual practices that constitute most of daily social life, including in world politics. Since International Relations practice theorists continue to resort to arguments that include deliberate reflection, I try to clarify the relationship between going on in the world automatically and proceeding with conscious reflection. Beyond providing scope conditions for reflection during ongoing practice, which increase the probability of a change in practices, I also elaborate mechanisms by which ongoing practices may yield an endogenous source of change. I illustrate some of these conditions for change from recent International Relations scholarship on practices in world politics.

P.W.S. Andrews' Manufacturing Business Revisited

ABSTRACTP.W.S. Andrews (1914–1971) was a remarkable industrial economist at Oxford University, prominently as a member of the Oxford Economists’ Research Group (OERG) and Nuffield College. In the final few years of his life, he held a professorship at Lancaster University. As a self-described ‘practical theorist’, Andrews thought economists, particularly in the 1930s, inappropriately extended Marshall in a more formal, technical manner whereby the detailed reality of industrial economics was overshadowed. Such a ‘methodological mistake’ of a priori reasoning trumping the inductive method was countered by the OERG’s emphasis on grounded empiricism featuring extensive primary research on real businesses. A product of this research was Andrews’ Manufacturing Business that proffers a novel theory of the business firm. This article revisits Andrews’ signature book, paying particular attention to its apparent curiously harsh reviews by Austin Robinson and Arnold Plant, two distinguished Marshallian industrial economists. Moreover, Manufacturing Business is considered as a possible precursor of business strategy, a nascent discipline in the 1960s.

A practice approach to the study of news production

Among news production scholars, interest in the theories of Bourdieu, Giddens, Latour, and related authors has grown in the last 20 years. However, few have recognized that these theories contribute to a broader practice perspective in social theory that traces back to the writings of Heidegger, and more directly, to Wittgenstein. In this essay, I outline four basic elements of this approach that are shared across these theories. Among these elements is the notion that social action is organized into discrete practices, and that these practices are produced and reproduced in their performance by individuals. I then assess the practice scholarship in the sociology of news in the context of these elements. I show that while a great deal of research has focused on news practices, relatively little has investigated journalistic performance. Thus, the field has not exploited, as well as it might, the panoply of tools and concepts developed by practice theorists.

Routines Disrupted: Reestablishing Security through Practice Alignment

Routines are the taken-for-granted practices that form the rhythm of everyday life, making people feel secure. How do consumers manage when their routines are disrupted? Practice theorists assert that practices are important to understanding consumption and stress their shared, repetitive, and conventional nature. When practices are stable, they are performed effortlessly, producing feelings of ease and trust in a predictable world. People are often unaware of the embodied competencies, or practical understandings, involved in the performance of these practices. However, practical understandings become apparent when elements of practices are misaligned. Our findings advance Giddens’s (1984) theorization of ontological security by showing how the interplay between practical and discursive understandings and material configurations works to produce different ontological states that we call embedded security, embedded insecurity, discursive insecurity, acclimating security, and new embedded security. We also show how households subtly rework the underlying constitutive rules that anchor important practices in place within practice alignment.