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Journal ArticleDOI

Outline of a Theory of Practice.

01 Mar 1980-Contemporary Sociology-Vol. 9, Iss: 2, pp 256
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.
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This article analyzed qualitative interviews with first-generation, working-class students at a Canadian university to analyze the ways in which these students discuss their reasons to attend and their expectations for university, and the implications of their attitudes for their future success at university.
Abstract: Labor market conditions, a pervasive public discourse about the benefits of higher education, and parental hopes push many young working‐class people into university. The institutional culture and demands of university, however, often remain elusive and fraught with uncertainty. In this paper, I draw on qualitative interviews with first‐generation, working‐class students at a Canadian university to analyze the ways in which these students discuss their reasons to attend and their expectations for university, and the implications of their attitudes for their future success at university. Analysis of the interview data shows how the relatively high and risky investment of working‐class youth in education leads to strong utilitarian and vocational orientations toward university. Although a narrow focus on the career potential of university is generally perceived as problematic, I argue that it may also help working‐class students in their transition to university. Nonetheless, a critical educational process ...

152 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors reviewed the relationship between applied linguistics and social and political power and argued that applied linguistic research, in its efforts to build a theory of practice, should reflect on its own conditions of possibility and openly discuss with practitioners not only the categorization, but also the framing, of real-world problems.
Abstract: This paper reviews briefly the close relationship that foreign language research has sustained with social and political power since the emergence of applied linguistics as a field of scientific inquiry and, more recently, with the demands of economic competitiveness and national security. It examines two debates that capture well the conflicting demands currently placed on foreign language researchers and educators: the demand by a global economy for both communicative and intercultural competence, and the demand by the U.S. government for speakers with 'advanced levels' of language proficiency to serve the needs of national security. It argues that applied linguistic research, in its efforts to build a theory of practice, should reflect on its own conditions of possibility and openly discuss with practitioners not only the categorization, but also the framing, of real-world problems.

152 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The Family and Medical Leave Act requires employers to provide job-protected leave, but little is known about how these leave rights operate in practice or how they interact with other normative systems to construct the meaning of leave as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: The Family and Medical Leave Act requires employers to provide job-protected leave, but little is known about how these leave rights operate in practice or how they interact with other normative systems to construct the meaning of leave. Drawing on interviews with workers who negotiated contested leaves, this study examines how social institutions influence workplace mobilization of these rights. I find that leave rights remain embedded within institutionalized conceptions of work, gender, and disability that shape workers’ perceptions, preferences, and choices about mobilizing their rights. I also find, however, that workers can draw on law as a culture discourse to challenge these assumptions, to build coalitions, and to renegotiate the meaning of leave. Until recently, the United States was virtually the only major industrialized country without a family leave policy. Employers could legally fire workers who needed time off to care for seriously ill children, ill or injured spouses, or aging and dying parents. Employers could also legally fire workers unable to work due to temporary serious illnesses or injuries. And employers could legally fire women who needed time off for pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions so long as they also denied time off to nonpregnant employees who were unable to work. Time off after the birth of a child remained a benefit provided at employers’ discretion, a benefit primarily available to well-paid professional or management workers (Kamerman, Kahn, & Kingston 1983).

152 citations

Book
24 Dec 2001
TL;DR: A history of ceramics in Neolithic Orkney can be found in this paper, with a focus on making people and things in the Neolithic: pots, food and history.
Abstract: Contents 1. The archaeology of ‘two cultures’; 2. Science as culture: creating interpretative networks; 3. Archaeology observed; 4. Materials, science and material culture: practice and narrative; 5. Material culture and materials science: a biography of things; 6. A biography of ceramics in Neolithic Orkney; 7. Making people and things in the Neolithic: pots, food and history; 8. Before and after science.

152 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, an approach to social analysis/human geography taking off from a social ontology of practice is presented, focusing on embodied or practical knowledges and their formation in people's everyday lives, to the world of experiences and emotions, and to the infinitude of encounters through which we make the world and are made by it in turn.
Abstract: Practice, Spatiality and Embodied Emotions: An Outline of a Geography of Practice The paper outlines an approach to social analysis/human geography taking off from a social ontology of practice. This means a focus of attention to embodied or practical knowledges and their formation in people's everyday lives, to the world of experiences and emotions, and to the infinitude of encounters through which we make the world and are made by it in turn. The paper proceeds in three parts. First, considering the way in which subjectivity and identity are created in and through practices sets the ground. The two following sections are extensions from that discussing \"embodiment and spatiality\" and \"affectivity and emotion\" respectively. The purpose is threefold; to develop the sensuous character of practice, to consider the spatialities involved in that character, and to discuss possible developments including power and the social differentiation of bodies. The paper is concluded by a short discussion of the geographies following from the suggested account.

152 citations