Social Practice Perspective Research Articles

Controlling food, controlling relationships: exploring the meanings and dynamics of family food practices through the diary‐interview approach

Potential merits of a social practice perspective for examining the meanings and dynamics of family food include moving beyond individual behaviour, and exploring how practices emerge, develop and change. However, researchers have struggled to encourage reflection on mundane practices, and how to understand associated meanings. Drawing on a study of families in South Wales, this article reflects on the value of the diary-interview approach in addressing these methodological challenges, and aims to explore and understand the dynamics of control across family contexts. Contemporary practice theories distinguish between practices as 'performances' and practices as 'entities' and the diary-interview method facilitated an examination of these dimensions. Detailed accounts of daily 'performances' (through diaries), alongside reflection on underlying contexts and 'entities' (through interviews), illustrated the entanglement of control, practices and context. The article adds further complexity to the concept of practice 'bundles' which facilitated an understanding of how food was interrelated with other practices - across family contexts and across generations. Sociological approaches with a practices perspective at the core, offer potential for developing public health interventions by acknowledging: the relational meaning of food; the embeddedness of food within everyday practices; and the need to consider interventions across a range of policy areas.

The lived experience of thesis writers in group writing conferences: The quest for “perfect” and “critical”

While group writing conferences have become a popular means of encouraging social interactions among doctoral students, little is known about how these group interactions influence a writer’s learning of the thesis genre. Taking a genre as social practice perspective (Tardy, 2009), this study uses the analytical lens of perezhivanie (lived experience) (Vygotsky, 1994) to investigate how doctoral students perceive group writing conferences. Previous studies of thesis writers’ experiences have suggested the interconnectedness of cognition, emotions, and the social contexts in their learning processes. The study focuses on the role that the oral interactions around the text play within doctoral students’ social situations of learning thesis writing. The participants are two L2 doctoral students in group writing conferences run by the learning centre at an Australian university. Data were collected through observation and audio-recording of group discussions, interviews with students and facilitators, and students’ writing drafts. The findings reveal the students’ ‘models’ in their minds as drivers of their learning thesis writing. Underlying those perceived ‘models’ were some social and ideological forces related to ‘native-speaker’ English. The study illuminates the role of writing conferences in assisting students’ co-constructing processes of the thesis genre in their social situations.

Working with Homeless Populations to Increase Access to Services: A Social Service Providers’ Perspective Through the Lens of Stereotyping and Stigma

ABSTRACTThrough the lens of stereotyping and stigma, this article examines discrimination and prejudice toward homeless families from the perspective of social service providers. Semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted with practitioners. A critical social work practice perspective is used to provide a framework for understanding how social worker knowledge about discrimination and prejudice informs the ways in which the workers engage with clients, build capacities, and advocate for clients in an anti-oppressive manner. The themes found in this study include: a) providers’ awareness of bias, stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination; b) providers’ use of a range of strategies to work with people experiencing homelessness; c) providers’ ideas about strategies that organizations can implement for service provision; and) providers’ belief that additional advocacy and policy are needed in relationship to people experiencing homelessness.

Older People's Experiences in Cultural Volunteering from a Social Practice Perspective

Older People's Experiences in Cultural Volunteering from a Social Practice Perspective

Markets and market boundaries: a social practice approach

PurposeThe paper contributes to the debate on a general theory of markets. The purpose of this paper is to develop a market practice model based on social practice theories, and explore new ways of describing market boundaries.Design/methodology/approachA conceptual analysis of contemporary marketing directions and market theorizations provides a basis for defining markets and market boundaries in terms of social practices and their performances by market actors.FindingsBased on the market performances held in place by institutional practices that define, contextualize and stabilize a market, this paper defines market boundaries by nine specific categories of practices, described here as parameters.Research limitations/implicationsThis is a conceptual paper. Future research using empirical evidence derived from situated investigations should endeavor to refine the model and practices that define market boundaries.Originality/valueThe paper provides a new conceptualization of markets and market boundaries from the social practice perspective, and advances contemporary market theorizing that puts services at the center of exchange. The paper offers managerial implications by describing alternative means for analyzing markets and developing corresponding competitive strategies. Furthermore, the conception of market boundaries as nine parameters provides insights beyond the geographic and price boundaries typically used to describe market limits and exchange processes when developing policy.

A Proposed Social Work Generalist Practice Perspective Approach to Developing Mechanisms for Raising Women’s Awareness of Voluntary Work

This research attempted to access a future vision of generalist practice of social work for developing mechanisms to develop women’s awareness of voluntary work. This research came in four sections. The first section included the problem of research, aims, and methodology. The second dealt with the concept of generalist practice of social work, as well as dealing with the theoretical framework of generalist practice and its professional operations. The third section dealt with many concepts such as: voluntary work, awareness, as well as the concept of women’s awareness of voluntary work. It also displays the current conditions and their effects on voluntary work such as: globalization, Arab Spring as a chance to change, and the limited participation of women in voluntary work. Finally the paper concluded by presenting of women’s participation in some fields of voluntary work. The research followed the descriptive methodology, which relies on Documentary Approach, and depended on the content analysis method of some of the previous scientific studies. Finally, the fourth section presented a future vision of generalist practice of social work for developing mechanisms to develop women’s awareness of voluntary work.

A Proposed Social Work Generalist Practice Perspective Approach to Developing Mechanisms for Raising Women’s Awareness of Voluntary Work

This research attempted to access a future vision of generalist practice of social work for developing mechanisms to develop women’s awareness of voluntary work. This research came in four sections. The first section included the problem of research, aims, and methodology. The second dealt with the concept of generalist practice of social work, as well as dealing with the theoretical framework of generalist practice and its professional operations. The third section dealt with many concepts such as: voluntary work, awareness, as well as the concept of women’s awareness of voluntary work. It also displays the current conditions and their effects on voluntary work such as: globalization, Arab Spring as a chance to change, and the limited participation of women in voluntary work. Finally the paper concluded by presenting of women’s participation in some fields of voluntary work. The research followed the descriptive methodology, which relies on Documentary Approach, and depended on the content analysis method of some of the previous scientific studies. Finally, the fourth section presented a future vision of generalist practice of social work for developing mechanisms to develop women’s awareness of voluntary work.

University students’ drinking as a social practice and the challenge for public health

In this paper, we explore the relational dynamics of alcohol consumption by university students, drawing on qualitative interviews with fifty undergraduates in Victoria, Australia. We argue that university drinking is a social practice comprised of a bundle of activities that operate together to reinforce excessive consumption. Drawing on a distinct version of social practice theory, we conceptualise drinking as an organising principle of university social life with interacting elements – meanings, materials and competences. The meanings of drinking include cultural conventions, expectations and socially shared meanings that alcohol is central to student life. Materials of drinking include objects and infrastructures such as, beverage choice, drinking venues and mobile phones. Drinking competences include managing bodily effects of alcohol but also social relationships while consuming alcohol. The distinct social practice perspective we utilise can assist public health to address the interrelated dynamics of alcohol consumption as a social practice, with its own trajectory into which students are recruited and become carriers of the practice while at university.

Academics' experiences of networked professional learning

This paper explores academics' writing practices, focusing on the importance of digital platforms in their processes of collaborative learning. It draws on interview data from the first phase of a research project working closely with academics across different disciplines and institutions to explore their writing practices. The project is framed within a social practice perspective on literacy, which sees reading and writing as practices developed and maintained through participation in a social context, shaped by aspects of people's purposes, histories and institutional positionings (Barton & Hamilton, 2000; Barton, 2007). The role of an academic in higher education is diverse, and almost every aspect of this role involves specialised forms of writing and knowledge creation in a very wide range of genres for many different kinds of audiences (Hyland, 2011). Transformations in the social and institutional structuring of higher education in recent years have changed the nature of the writing demands faced by academics. At the same time, information and communications technologies have proliferated in the higher education setting. As the demands of academic life have changed in recent years, so the writing practices have changed too. Learning how to engage with these new kinds of genres and practices goes on throughout academics' careers, much of it in an informal way, collaborating with other people on particular projects and learning as they go along. The paper outlines characteristics of academics' ongoing professional learning, demonstrating the importance of collaborations on specific projects in generating learning in relation to intellectual and disciplinary aspects of writing, writing strategies and structures, and using digital platforms. A very wide range of digital platforms have been identified by these academics, enabling new kinds of collaboration across time and space on writing and research; but challenges around online learning are also identified, particularly the dangers of engaging in learning in public, the pressures of 'always-on'-ness, and the different values systems around publishing in different forums.

Assessment in clinical simulation

Clinical simulation is a well-established practice in health professional education programs employing technologies to replace or amplify real experiences with guided experiences representing certain key characteristics or behaviours of selected physical or abstract systems. Educators generally employ collaborative debriefing as an integral part of clinical simulation for reflexive and experiential learning. A movement in higher education towards using simulation for competency-based assessment for high stakes testing such as certification or licensure of health professions has been observed. In face of such a complex evolution in educational practice, social practice theory may be useful to gain an understanding of the ways in which contextual factors affect how assessment practices become embedded into higher education contexts. Therefore, in this paper we take a social practice perspective and contend that these pressures are externally derived requirements. We note that in health professional education these requirements are often observed to be mandated by professional regulatory bodies and discipline-specific accrediting agencies.Debate over the appropriateness of each of the various purposeful approaches to assessment (assessment ‘of’, ‘for’, and ‘as’ learning) are not novel. However, our examination of how a potential move from assessment ‘for’ and ‘as’ learning towards adoption assessment ‘of’ learning practices in clinical simulation brings to light concerns over this contemporary pedagogical movement. To now, the body of literature that demonstrates the pedagogic advantages of employing clinical simulation in health professional education has been informed by research into learning environments that are highly supportive of reflexive and collaborative debriefing. Through review of the literature on assessment in clinical simulation we identify several important social elements of that learning environment, including trust and ontological security. We suggest these social elements may be at risk in the face of these evolving assessment practices, and that they warrant deeper investigation in this context.Lastly, we compare themes that emerge through this review of the literature with the essential values of networked learning. With connectivity and co-production of knowledge at the fore, the parallels between these themes and values suggest the utility in adoption of networked learning theory as a pedagogical framework in clinical simulation. Networked learning theory offers the area of assessment practices in clinical simulation, an at once undertheorized yet highly technologically enhanced and connected approach to learning, with a pedagogical framework upon which to build deepened understanding of an important social learning phenomenon.

Extending the Contested Spaces of the Modern Kitchen

AbstractThis essay seeks to broaden understandings of the domestic kitchen in the global North which consign its significance to the preparation or cooking of food, an activity assumed to be undertaken chiefly by women. Here, I take a social practice perspective, examining ‘the kitchen’ not as a monolithic physical ‘site’ (in the spatial sense) occupied primarily by women users, but as one where a range of practices cohere, reflecting multiple meanings and uses among those individuals who inhabit them. Exploring how the domestic kitchen has – over the last century – been conceptualised as a barometer of ideological dialectics, as an orchestrating concept and as the symbolic heart of the home, I reveal how this most humble of domestic spaces is both material and symbolic, figurative and substantive, rendering it a serious – but often neglected – object of academic inquiry.

Community of assessment practice or interests: The case of EAP writing assessment

Setting, disseminating and applying assessment standards are part of university academic programmes of study. Nowadays, assessment is increasingly viewed from a social practice perspective, and so doing entails exploring how the quality of assessment is shaped by interaction and co-participation with different communities of practice. Therefore, based on this perspective, the study reported here aimed to examine the assessment policies and practices of laboratory report writing of first year students in credit-bearing, English for Special Purposes programmes at a university in the Sultanate of Oman. Interviews of programme administrators and the instructors plus institutional and programme documents were examined to investigate these assessment policies and practices. The programme administrators were asked about how they planned the written assessment in their programmes, and the instructors were asked about their experiences of these assessments. The data were then analysed thematically using community of practice framework, namely in relation to (1) a shared repertoire of communal resources, (2) mutual engagement, and (3) a sense of joint enterprise. It was found that instead of community of practice, there were (sub)communities of practices wherein interaction, negotiation and communication amongst members and non-members were punctuated by control, power and autonomy, all working with the aim of narrowing the range between the personal goals of the academic and the communal goals of the institution. The overarching conclusion is that in their assessment practices, the two instructional programmes exhibited varying degrees of community of practice based on the above three attributes.

“Take a gap year!” A social practice perspective on air travel and potential transitions towards sustainable tourism mobility

ABSTRACT It is widely recognized that contemporary tourism mobility, notably flying, is incompatible with sustainability goals. Fundamental changes in travel behaviour are required. Research shows that environmental values have little impact on tourists' travel decisions and that voluntary behaviour change is unlikely. Therefore, policies encouraging transitions to sustainable tourism require a deeper and more context-specific understanding of factors influencing current carbon-intensive travel patterns. This paper responds to this need by adopting a social practice perspective to explore the gap year phenomenon, an increasingly popular activity for the British youth, often involving multiple long-haul flights. The social practice approach positions young people's travel decisions as not being simply individual, but shaped by existing conventions, normative expectations and facilitated/constrained by available resources. The paper draws on the findings from a multi-sited ethnographic study in England, which involved over 30 in-depth interviews with students and other relevant actors, content analysis of gap year materials and participant observation at gap year-related events. Social influences that shape the current long-haul character of gap year travel are examined, and a number of important actors involved in developing, sustaining and reproducing unsustainable behaviours are identified. The implications for policy strategies aimed at changing mobility behaviour are discussed.

Vehicle Writings in an Iranian Context: The Interplay of Habitus and Field

The main objective of this paper is to problematize writings on vehicles in an Iranian context. Previous studies have indicated that vehicle stickers can be employed to express emotions and social status, political views, ideology and identity, and religious beliefs. However, very little has been done on this discursive practice in Iran. This study is the result of the content analysis of 122 vehicle writings collected from April 2011 to March 2012. This paper will draw on six of the most frequent themes: religion, humor, playing pessimism, didactic expressions, ethnic-geographic identification, and love. Employing Bourdieu's conceptual frameworks of “habitus,” “field,” and “doxa,” and Heath and Street's social practice perspective on literacy, it will be argued that vehicle writings in this study can be regarded as situated literacy practices reflecting the dominant undisputed discourses in the context, but at the same time displaying the dynamic interplay of power relations, the relationship of cultural structures and individual customized versions of those structures in vehicle writings.

EPS社工介入模式

本文主要介紹筆者始創的一個名為EPS的社工介入模式。這個介入模式主要是運用充權(Empowerment)、參與(Participation)和強項角度(Strengths Perspective)三個概念去推行社工的介入方法。本文首先介紹這個模式的三個基本信念，包括：(一) 社會工作的重要目標是去幫助服務對象達致充權；(二) 透過參與才能讓服務對象獲得充權；及(三) 極度相信服務對象有能力及有強項。本文分別闡述充權的概念和作用，分析為何要促進服務對象的參與，剖析達致有意義及高度參與的方法，以及檢視強項角度的信念和重要性。EPS模式認為，社工實踐中一定要將這三個概念 (E、P、S) 緊扣在一起，才能達到社工的理想目標。無論在哪個服務範疇，社工都應該以強項角度去看事物，鼓勵服務對象的參與，從而令他們得到充權。充權是要達到的目標，參與是一個方法，而強項是一個重要的基礎。目標，方法，基礎三樣缺一不可。這個模式指出社工介入的核心元素是採用強項角度去運用參與以達致充權作用。本文最後探討若忽略這三個重要概念或其中一個，社工的介入會出現甚麼問題，並剖析三個概念的互動如何促進社工介入的成效，以及介紹EPS模式在不同領域的應用。 This article introduces a social work intervention model which is called EPS Model and is newly developed by the author. The EPS Model is to apply the following three concepts in social work practice, including Empowerment (E), Participation (P) and Strengths Perspective (S).The article firstly presents the three basic beliefs of the model: (1) the main goal of social work practice is not just to provide services and help people solve problems, but to help people empower themselves; (2) the empowerment goal can be actualized through promoting service user participation and (3) we have to strongly believe that people have strengths and abilities. The article then introduces the concept of empowerment and its functions, discusses why service user participation should be promoted and the effective means of promoting meaningful and greater participation, and examines the faith and importance in strengths perspective. The main characteristics of the EPS Model is to affirm that these three concepts (E, P and S) are inter-related and need to be closely inter-linked. Empowerment should be regarded as the aim of social work practice. Participation is the effective means to achieve empowerment. Strengths perspective is thus regarded as the important basis for social work intervention. The aim, the means and the basis are equally important and neither one can be excluded. This model suggests that social work practice should be based on the strengths perspective and should make use of participation to achieve service users' empowerment. The article finally examines the problems arising from the neglect of any one of the three important concepts, the impact of the interplay of the three concepts on the effect of social work practice and the application of the EPS Model in different service settings.

Understanding ecodesign through a communities of practice perspective

Despite many years of tool development and legislative initiatives, companies are still challenged by ecodesign. This article applies Etienne Wenger's communities of practice approach to the existing environmental and product development practices of two Danish case companies. It is a contribution to the current ecodesign discussion and emphasises the social structures and practice perspectives when implementing ecodesign. The case studies reveal the importance of various social elements, which include the participatory role brokers play in organising, facilitating and negotiating meaning with different community members; the use of boundary objects for establishing dialogue and encouraging participation; and the balance between participation and reification in the process of continuously negotiating meaning. In conclusion, ways in which ecodesign can be strengthened using Wenger's principles for cultivating communities of practice are suggested. A diversified approach to ecodesign whereby existing communities can expand their current practices and transform into ecodesign communities is also suggested.

Mainstreaming fair trade: the role of retailers

In just two decades, fair trade has evolved from a niche market supplying products for a small group of dedicated consumers to a well-established market in several European countries, including the Netherlands. This transition has led to important changes in the dynamics in the fair-trade supply chain and the role of different participating actors. The success of this provisioning model depends upon producers and consumers as well as on the engagement of retailers, but to date researchers have not actively investigated their role. This article helps fill this gap by applying a social practices perspective to analyze the role of retailers in the fair-trade supply chain in the Netherlands. Our empirical research shows that Dutch retailers may apply different strategies when selling fair-trade products, but also that many of them are interested in supplying these goods for reasons other than economic advantage. The main challenge that retailers face is how to balance actively promoting fair-trade products to consumers and presenting their outlet as unique by selling such items in a consumer-silent manner and contributing to a broader transition toward sustainable production and consumption.

Brief Report #3: Building a Rural Community Caregiver Network: Student Learning in Small Town America

The Rural Caregiver Network Project in Eastern Maine is a prime example of indigenous coalition-building in a region struggling to ensure that vulnerable older adults can age-in-place and manage with scarce resources. Through this innovative initiative, a range of elder caregiver interventions were mobilized, coordinated, and sustained in a rural two-county region in Maine, including navigator services, adult day care, information and referral, caregiver support groups, a caregiver resource center, and caregiver skills-building workshops. The endorsement of participatory research, evaluation, and programming principles enabled undergraduate and graduate social work students to assume major roles in all aspects of project planning, implementation, and assessment while remaining grounded in the realities of rural life. Competence in such a generalist gerontological social work practice perspective is critical in small towns and nonmetropolitan communities.

On ‘Gun Culture’ and ‘Civil Statehood’ in Yemen

This paper addresses ‘gun culture’ from a double perspective, arguing that the term needs to be understood both as an element of political discourse as well as from a social practice perspective that takes into account habitual practices in relation to guns and how these practices are informed by collectively shared schemes of social knowledge. Focusing on tribal practices in relation to small arms I demonstrate that these artifacts play further roles in the tribal context that exceed their sheer function as instruments of violence. I conclude that a state-tribe dichotomy created through the ‘gun culture’ debate cannot be upheld. Instead of essentializing assumed cultural differences, this paper argues, proponents of ‘civil statehood’ need to bring forward concrete suggestions addressing the provision of security in a country in which the state is either not willing or not able to provide security to all its citizens.

The Common Core State Standards and the Great Divide

This article contextualizes recent developments around issues of language and the new Common Core State Standards (CCSS) in terms of the classic distinction between literates and non-literates in the Great Divide debate. Using a social practices perspective to frame the issues, the authors argue that the CCSS reiterate the debate, and reflect an autonomous, deficit orientation. The authors argue that the deficit orientation embedded in language-related proposals around the CCSS hold negative consequences for policy and practice. The authors note the absence of critical engagement of these issues in the CCSS literature, and review major criticisms of the construct of academic language, a cornerstone of the new standards.