Journal ArticleDOI
Consumers, Producers and Practices: Understanding the Invention and Reinvention of Nordic Walking
Elizabeth Shove,Mika Pantzar +1 more
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TLDR
In this article, the authors suggest that Nordic walking, a form of speed walking with two sticks, arise through the active and ongoing integration of images, artifacts and forms of competence, a process in which both consumers and producers are involved.Abstract:
The idea that artifacts are acquired and used in the course of accomplishing social practices has important implications for theories of consumption and innovation. From this point of view, it is not enough to show that goods are symbolically and materially positioned, mediated and filtered through existing cultures and conventions. Twisting the problem around, the further challenge is to explain how practices change and with what consequence for the forms of consumption they entail. In this article, we suggest that new practices like Nordic walking, a form of ‘speed walking’ with two sticks, arise through the active and ongoing integration of images, artifacts and forms of competence, a process in which both consumers and producers are involved. While it makes sense to see Nordic walking as a situated social practice, such a view makes it difficult to explain its growing popularity in countries as varied as Japan, Norway and the USA. In addressing this issue, we conclude that practices and associated cultures of consumption are always ‘homegrown’. Necessary and sometimes novel ingredients (including images and artifacts) may circulate widely, but they are always pieced together in a manner that is informed by previous and related practice. What looks like the diffusion of Nordic walking is therefore better understood as its successive, but necessarily localized, (re)invention. In developing this argument, we explore some of the consequences of conceptualizing consumption and consumer culture as the outcome of meaningful social practice.read more
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The early days of shared micromobility: A social practices approach
Helen Fitt,Angela Curl +1 more
TL;DR: The early days of shared micromobility in New Zealand cities has been the topic of much conversation as discussed by the authors, particularly in relation to appropriate spaces for e-scooter use, and the safety of scooter users and pedestrians.
Journal ArticleDOI
Green consumption practices for sustainability: an exploration through social practice theory
TL;DR: In this paper, social practice theory is applied to green consumption processes beyond linear decision-making, including the purchase and disposal of household products, in order to understand consumers' insight on green consumption.
Journal ArticleDOI
‘Fractures’ in food practices: exploring transitions towards sustainable food
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors adopt a sociotechnical approach to compare the food consumption practices in North West England with two differing consumer groups, supermarket shoppers embedded in the mainstream food regime and self-identifying as sustainable food practitioners.
Book
Consuming Mobility: A Practice Approach to Sustainable Mobility Transitions
TL;DR: In this article, a practice-based approach is developed as a novel framework to analyse, understand and influence transition processes to sustainable mobility at the level of everyday life by incorporating the viewpoint of consumption patterns and everyday life routines.
Journal ArticleDOI
Seven questions around interdisciplinarity in energy research
Margot Pellegrino,Marjorie Musy +1 more
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explore interdisciplinarity in energy research through seven questions (corresponding to seven sections): "what does it mean?", "why", "who's involved", "how, how, what, why, what barriers, and what prospects".
References
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TL;DR: For instance, in the case of an individual in the presence of others, it can be seen as a form of involuntary expressive behavior as discussed by the authors, where the individual will have to act so that he intentionally or unintentionally expresses himself, and the others will in turn have to be impressed in some way by him.
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TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present a very different view of the arts of practice in a very diverse culture, focusing on the use of ordinary language and making do in the art of practice.
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TL;DR: In this article, the Imaginary Anthropology of Subjectivism is described as an "imaginary anthropology of subjectivism" and the social uses of kinship are discussed. And the work of time is discussed.
Journal ArticleDOI
Toward a Theory of Social Practices A Development in Culturalist Theorizing
TL;DR: The main characteristics of practice theory, a type of social theory which has been sketched by such authors as Bourdieu, Giddens, Taylor, late Foucault and others, are discussed in this paper.