Outline of a Theory of Practice.
About: This article is published in Contemporary Sociology.The article was published on 1980-03-01. It has received 14683 citations till now. The article focuses on the topics: Practice theory.
Citations
More filters
TL;DR: The authors explored the thinking of senior executives of leading German and Japanese firms about the ideal structure of the economy and found considerable variation in rationale across the two countries and in comparison with the shape of the business system of the United States.
Abstract: This paper contributes rare primary empirical evidence to one of the major research questions in the social sciences today, namely, the linkage between national cultures and institutional structures of national business systems. Drawing on the work of Redding, we explore the thinking, or “rationale”, of senior executives of leading German and Japanese firms about the ideal structure of the economy. We find considerable variation in rationale across the two countries and in comparison with the shape of the business system of the United States. Our study has implications for our understanding of the meaning of economic activity in different countries and of the evolutionary trajectories of national business systems.
161 citations
TL;DR: The idea of knowledge-creation and knowledge management has become an important area of research in management studies as discussed by the authors, underpinned by the epistemological priorities of an alphabetic-literate culture that takes written knowledge as the only reliable basis for effective action.
Abstract: The idea of knowledge-creation and knowledge management has become an important area of research in management studies. This preoccupation with the creation and accumulation of knowledge in its explicit representational form is underpinned by the epistemological priorities of an alphabetic-literate1 culture that takes written knowledge as the only reliable basis for effective action. Documented knowledge necessarily precedes and hence determines action and performance. Such a metaphysical orientation precludes the possibility of attaining a form of direct unmediated knowing through the relentless perfecting of action. In traditionally based oral-aural communities or in non-alphabetic East Asian cultures knowing is more often achieved directly through the immediate engagement of tasks rather than through the acquisition of abstract written signs and symbols: learning by direct observation and doing is the order of the day. Consequently, there is little systematic documenting and recording of knowledge in t...
161 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a multimethod investigation of middle-class men who are performing the emergent gender role of at-home fatherhood is presented, which profiles and theoretically elaborates upon a set of capitalizing consumption practices through which at home fathers seek to enhance the conversion rates of their acquisitions of domesticated (and subordinate) cultural capital and to build greater cultural legitimacy for their marginalized gender identity.
Abstract: Consumer researchers have primarily conceptualized cultural capital either as an endowed stock of resources that tend to reproduce socioeconomic hierarchies among consumer collectivities or as constellations of knowledge and skill that consumers acquire by making identity investments in a given consumption field. These studies, however, have given scant attention to the theoretical distinction between dominant and subordinate forms of cultural capital, with the latter affording comparatively lower conversion rates for economic, social, and symbolic capital. To redress this oversight, this article presents a multimethod investigation of middle-class men who are performing the emergent gender role of at-home fatherhood. Our analysis profiles and theoretically elaborates upon a set of capitalizing consumption practices through which at-home fathers seek to enhance the conversion rates of their acquisitions of domesticated (and subordinate) cultural capital and to build greater cultural legitimacy for their marginalized gender identity.
161 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explored the influence of gender in the work and career experiences of women and whether the advantages accrued from professional status might challenge gender disadvantage within self-employment.
Abstract: Research investigating female self‐employment has often highlighted gender‐based differences in the performance of women‐owned firms. Some studies have linked the under‐performance of women‐owned firms to the lower levels of capitalisation used at business inception, associating this with disadvantages accrued in waged work and occupational segregation more generally. Drawing on this association, there has been a tendency to treat self‐employed women as an undifferentiated group, failing to recognise heterogeneity therein. Considers the impact of the possession of professional qualifications on self‐employment and to what degree they might have the potential to mobilise substantial business capital. The discussion explores the influence of gender in the work and career experiences of women and whether the advantages accrued from professional status might challenge gender disadvantage within self‐employment. Results are presented from an exploratory study of male‐owned and female‐owned accountants in independent practice, which suggest that gender disadvantage persists, even within the context of professional practice.
161 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the relevance of Pierre Bourdieu's conceptions of the body to the development of disability theory is discussed, and a focus group with disabled people explores aspects of disabled people's corporeal identities, feelings, and experiences in a range of social settings.
Abstract: This paper considers the relevance of Pierre Bourdieu's conceptions of the body to the development of disability theory. We begin by discussing the limitations of reductive conceptions of disability. In so doing, we consider how far Bourdieu's (1990) concept of habitus offers a way of bringing an analysis of the body to bear upon an understanding of the social inequalities which are core to the lives of disabled people. Through focus groups with disabled people, the paper explores aspects of disabled people's corporeal identities, feelings, and (embodied) encounters in a range of social settings. The research shows that disabled people's lives are connected to different 'valuations' attributed to corporeal forms, and to systems of signification and representation which underpin them. We conclude by reaffirming the need to consider Bourdieu's ideas in helping in the development of disability theory.
160 citations