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
01 Jan 1990
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine the way in which over the past two centuries the social sciences have acquired more-or-less stable forms, and have contributed to structuring specific discourses about society.
Abstract: The various parts of this collective book examine the way in which over the past two centuries the social sciences have acquired more-or-less stable forms, and have contributed to structuring specific discourses about society. Everyone agrees on the importance of the consolidation of these sciences — a consolidation that operates in two dimensions, institutional and cognitive. To consolidate something means to give it the ability to endure, to be transmitted from hand to hand and to resist possible deformations. According to Durkheim, “social facts” can only be “treated as things” to the extent that they possess these attributes, which thus render them comparable to any other scientific object.
124 citations
TL;DR: In this article, it is argued that the function of girl talk derives from the place of females in society, particularly as a function of the domestication of female labor, and that females need to explore and negotiate the norms that govern their behavior and define this character.
Abstract: Differences between male and female participation in speech events are based in differences in gender roles in society as a whole. Fruitful discussion of such differences, therefore, must account for the function of male and female interaction within a social theoretical framework. Such an approach is taken here to girl talk, a typically female speech event involving long and detailed personal discussions about people, norms, and beliefs. It is argued that the function of girl talk derives from the place of females in society, particularly as a function of the domestication of female labor. Deprived of direct power, females are constrained to focus on the development of personal influence. Thus constrained to define themselves, not in terms of individual accomplishments, but in terms of their overall character, females need to explore and negotiate the norms that govern their behavior and define this character. Girl talk is a speech event that provides females with the means to negotiate these norms and t...
124 citations
TL;DR: The authors explored how actors' unique contexts, as encapsulated by their social positions, provide the important "raw materials" for their sensemaking about organizational change and discussed the practical implications of paying closer attention to the social positions of actors engaged as change agents.
Abstract: Traditionally, scholars have examined the influence of actors’ sensemaking on context; in this paper, we explore the reverse. Employing Bourdieu’s theory of practice we explore how actors’ unique contexts, as encapsulated by their social positions, provide the important “raw materials” for their sensemaking about organizational change. Drawing on a case study of three focal actors, located in different social positions in the National Health Service in England, but tasked with enacting a common organizational change, we explore how actors’ capital endowments and dispositions shape their sensemaking about organizational change. We conclude by developing a theoretical model of the influence of social position on sensemaking about organizational change and discuss the practical implications of paying closer attention to the social positions of actors engaged as change agents
124 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, an ethnographic study of a major metropolitan bear community in its social and historical context is presented, with special emphasis on the embodiment of bear masculinity and its effect on sexual practice.
Abstract: Bears comprise a subculture of gay men who valorize the larger, hirsute body. This research interrogates Bear culture as a gendered strategy for repudiating effeminacy that simultaneously challenges and reproduces norms of hegemonic masculinity. In this research, the author situates his ethnographic study of a major metropolitan Bear community in its social and historical context to illuminate this paradox, with special emphasis on the embodiment of Bear masculinity and its effect on sexual practice. The author concludes that through a process of embodied agency, Bear culture yields a number of sexually innovative practices that disperse pleasure across the body and disrupt genitally centered, phallusandreceptacle interpretations of sex. However, the subversive potential of these practices is significantly undermined by an attendant set of practices that reflect heteronormative and hegemonically masculine interpretations of sex.
124 citations
TL;DR: The term "hybrid" has been widely incorporated into recent peacebuilding scholarship to describe an array of peacebuilding endeavors, including hybrid peacekeeping missions, hybrid criminal tribuna, etc.
Abstract: The term ‘hybrid’ has been widely incorporated into recent peacebuilding scholarship to describe an array of peacebuilding endeavors, including hybrid peacekeeping missions, hybrid criminal tribuna...
124 citations