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.
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TL;DR: For example, the authors pointed out that "academics strive explicitly and implicitly to influence those criteria (or lists of characteristics) that determine research quality as well as to perform well against them" (p 422).
Abstract: Introduction In any research study, the questions of quality, namely validity, reliability and generalisability crop up Such discussions have a tendency to descend into a series of convoluted arguments which essentially is not particularly productive since each research study is derived from different epistemological and ontological paradigms Seemingly, this debate about the research quality is akin to that of "micropolitics"--"those strategies by which individuals and groups in organizational contexts seek to use their resources of power and influence to further their interests" (Hoyle, 1982, p 88) Smith and Hodkinson (2008) attest to this analogy They state in no uncertain terms that "academics strive explicitly and implicitly to influence those criteria (or lists of characteristics) that determine research quality as well as to perform well against them;" in other words, "academics are micropolitical" (p 422) For researchers who are operating from the non-traditional research paradigms (which is essentially non-positivist or non-postpositivist), that is, they are perceived to be pushing the boundaries of the established doxa which Bourdieu (1990) defines as: the coincidence of the objective structures and the internalized structures which provides the illusion of immediate understanding, characteristic of practical experience of the familiar universe, and which at the same time excludes from that experience any inquiry as to its own conditions of possibility (p 20) Essentially, doxa is a way of doing things, and a way of understanding Doxa is commonly found in all communities, as communities create a set of practices and conceptual understanding that has become familiar and comfortable, and that will be disseminated and transmitted within those communities In such a scenario, "the dominant classes have an interest in defending the integrity of doxa" (Bourdieu, 1977, p 169) The doxa must be perpetuated, and hence the mavericks must be sidelined or transformed; resistance shall not go unchallenged An excellent example of this reality was when Donmoyer (1996) spoke of his role as a "gatekeeping" editor of Educational Researcher, a highly esteemed journal in education Donmoyer (1996) stated that "(g)atekeepers cannot normally widen the gates they monitor; they simply get to decide which sorts of people can walk through them" (p 20) Even more telling was when he declared that "if I decide to publish non-traditional manuscripts, there will be less space for traditional scholarly work" (p 20) Similarly, Smith and Hodkinson (2008) listed the Shavelson and Towne's (2002) report in the United States and the Spencer, Ritchie, Lewis, and Dillon's (2003) Cabinet Office's report in the United Kingdom as examples of strong government pressures for "measured and supposedly objective performance criteria for research" (p 431) in the two countries Thus, many who embark on qualitative research in the form of narrative study, which is situated within the interpretive-constructivist paradigm, are regularly queried for its rigour and its quality Within such a background, it is thus vital for a narrative researcher to ask the following: How valid is this narrative approach? How valid is the analysis of the data? How valid and reliable is the collection of these "stories," and how can a story be valid as an analysis? If the data is collected through the participants' telling of their "storied experiences," how do I know if they are being truthful? What if they made up a story or embellish the retelling? Will the research be valid then? As I pondered over these questions of quality in my narrative study of beginning teachers, I referred to the influential text on narrative inquiry (Clandinin & Connelly, 2000) for answers However, these queries were not given a comprehensive, nor a conclusive response …
352 citations
TL;DR: The authors conceptualizes populism as a mode of political practice and proposes a new, practice-based approach that is not beholden to pejorative common sense understandings, which can be applied to mid-twentieth-century Latin American politics.
Abstract: Sociology has long shied away from the problem of populism. This may be due to suspicion about the concept or uncertainty about how to fit populist cases into broader comparative matrices. Such caution is warranted: the existing interdisciplinary literature has been plagued by conceptual confusion and disagreement. But given the recent resurgence of populist politics in Latin America and elsewhere, sociology can no longer afford to sidestep such analytical challenges. This article moves toward a political sociology of populism by identifying past theoretical deficiencies and proposing a new, practice-based approach that is not beholden to pejorative common sense understandings. This approach conceptualizes populism as a mode of political practice—as populist mobilization. Its utility is demonstrated through an application to mid-twentieth-century Latin American politics. The article concludes by sketching an agenda for future research on populist mobilization in Latin America and beyond.
350 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigated the relationship between adolescents and the media and found that adolescents appropriate and transform media messages and images to help them make sense of their lives and construct their identities and personal worlds.
Abstract: For the past several years, the authors have been investigating adolescent room culture in order to learn more about the relationship between teens and the media. The bedroom, they have found, is an important haven for most teenagers, a private, personal space often decorated to reflect teens' emerging sense of themselves and where they fit in the larger culture. Teens listen to music, read magazines, watch television, do homework, and consider the events of the day in their rooms. They appropriate and transform media messages and images to help them make sense of their lives. By looking closely at how teens draw from the media as they construct their identities and personal worlds, the authors have come to see adolescent media use as a dialectical process played out through everyday practices. Their Adolescents' Media Practice Model highlights the connections between adolescents' identities and media selection, interaction, and application.
349 citations
TL;DR: This paper explore the logic of habit and its consequences for several fundamental puzzles in IR theory, and propose a different interpretation of cooperation, security dilemmas, enduring rivalries, and security communities in international politics.
Abstract: IR theory is dominated by the logics of consequentialism and appropriateness. But Max Weber offered four logics of choice, not just two. Beyond the instrumental rationality of Zweckrationalitat and the normative rationality of Wertrationalitat are affect and habit. Drawing on Weber, James, Dewey, and Bourdieu, and habit’s microfoundations in neurocognitive psychology, I explore the logic of habit and its consequences for several fundamental puzzles in IR theory. The logic of habit necessarily precludes rationality, agency, and uncertainty, and so offers a different interpretation of cooperation, security dilemmas, enduring rivalries, and security communities in international politics. The logic of habit also fills a gap in mainstream constructivism’s theorization of intersubjective structures, returning the taken-for-granted lifeworld to the center of attention.
348 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present a framework for analysing wellbeing in development practice, drawing on the work of the Wellbeing in Developing Countries Research Group (WeD), and consider potential hazards in taking wellbeing as focus, and conclude by considering what real difference such a focus could make.
Abstract: This article presents a framework for analysing wellbeing in development practice, drawing on the work of the Wellbeing in Developing Countries Research Group (WeD). Wellbeing is viewed as a social process with material, relational, and subjective dimensions. Wellbeing may be assessed at individual and collective levels, but at base is something that happens in relationship – between individual and collective; between local and global; between people and state. The article considers potential hazards in taking wellbeing as focus, and concludes by considering what real difference such a focus could make.
347 citations