Theory Of Practices: What Is Practice Theory?
3.4.1 What is Practice Theory?
“Theory of Practices” (TP) is a social sciences theory based on the ideas that “individual behaviors are primarily performances of social practices,” and that practices are not conceivable as a set of individual actions that lie just in the minds of the actors, but modes of social relations.
There is not one shared understanding of what practice theory is, but that many different contributions are originating in philosophy, social science, cultural theory, and science & technology studies. What they have in common is that practice theories place practices at the center of the understanding of the society where other theories may emphasize actions, language, system, or structure in their definition of the social. Practice theory is thus not just a theory of practice; it is a challenge to the understanding of cultural and social theory up till now …show more content…
Teleoaffective structures are not individual-based like rational intelligibility; instead, they are properties of practices. This means that a person does not have to be aware of the teleological end of practice to take part in the practice. The practice thus contributes to the construction and reproduction of the teleoaffective structure, which at the same time also takes part in the linking together of sayings and doings into practices. Teleoaffective structures do not govern individual activity, as practical intelligibility governs this. The practical intelligibility, however, is also formed during the learning processes of how to carry out the practices. It then follows that the normativity in the teleoaffective structures of practice does shape what makes sense for people to do. Furthermore, teleoaffective structures and the ends, tasks, and projects that they guide are open-ended and subject to discussion and
“Theory of Practices” (TP) is a social sciences theory based on the ideas that “individual behaviors are primarily performances of social practices,” and that practices are not conceivable as a set of individual actions that lie just in the minds of the actors, but modes of social relations.
There is not one shared understanding of what practice theory is, but that many different contributions are originating in philosophy, social science, cultural theory, and science & technology studies. What they have in common is that practice theories place practices at the center of the understanding of the society where other theories may emphasize actions, language, system, or structure in their definition of the social. Practice theory is thus not just a theory of practice; it is a challenge to the understanding of cultural and social theory up till now …show more content…
Teleoaffective structures are not individual-based like rational intelligibility; instead, they are properties of practices. This means that a person does not have to be aware of the teleological end of practice to take part in the practice. The practice thus contributes to the construction and reproduction of the teleoaffective structure, which at the same time also takes part in the linking together of sayings and doings into practices. Teleoaffective structures do not govern individual activity, as practical intelligibility governs this. The practical intelligibility, however, is also formed during the learning processes of how to carry out the practices. It then follows that the normativity in the teleoaffective structures of practice does shape what makes sense for people to do. Furthermore, teleoaffective structures and the ends, tasks, and projects that they guide are open-ended and subject to discussion and