25 Practice Theory: Bourdieu Giddens, Ortner

Chatali Tandon

Contents

1. Situating ‘Practice Theory’ in Anthropology

2. Practice Theory – An Introduction

3. Different Applications of Practice Theory

4. Main Proponents and important works of The Practice Theory

5. Basic premises of Practice Theory

6. Contributions of Perrie Bourdeiu : Outline of A Theory of Practice

7. Anthony Giddens and Theory of Structuration

8. Bourdieu vs Giddens

9. Contributions of Sherry Ortner in the Practice Theory

10. A critique of the practice Theory

Learning Objective

This module will introduce the reader to

the Theory of Practice in Anthropological tradition
situating the theory in Anthropology , along with
the different applications of the practice theory in society
basic premise of the practice theory based on the contributions of the main proponents and their work like Pierre Bourdieu , Anthony Giddens and Sherry Ortner
critique of the practice Theory, following with a conclusion

1. Situating ‘Practice Theory’ in Anthropology

The significant subject of “practices” has been of importance to not only in sociology and other fields of social sciences, but in anthropology too. One can apply the understanding of practices from the most routine activities to the extremely structured behaviors in formally established institutions. There is different nature of practices being studied by anthropologists, some are localized in nature and some are too generalized and are applicable to a wider social reality.

As the nature of practices vary, so does their range of application as some practices are temporary, and some are long-term, some are culture specific and some practices transcends boundaries of cultures, to examine these practices, anthropology developed a new paradigm to understand the meaning and role of these practices of social actors , as a part of social dynamism in the society in which they live.

2. Practice Theory – An Introduction

In anthropology, practice theory is not a coherent theory that is defined in strict sense of the term and has no well-defined theory as such; most often it is used as a loose approach in conjunction with other theories like symbolic anthropology or the functionalism. More than a theory, Practice theory should be considered as a perspective to understand social reality.

Practice theory explores, understands and analyses the dynamics of interaction and conflict between social structure on one hand and human agency on the other hand. Practice theory highlights how there are differences in the motives and intentions of different human beings, and how they adjust, adapt and transform their world where they live.

Practice theory mainly studies how people act in given structures both formal and informal, of their society and culture. The main aim of practice theory is to show that people as social actors affect the structure in which they live and are in turn affected by the structure themselves. Practice theory studies the circular association of social beings and society . It understands the role of structure on the individual and the way individual adapts and affects the structure through ‘practice’.

3. Different Applications of Practice Theory.

Practice theory can be used or applied to a variety of fields to understand the dynamic relationship between the social actors and their respective structures. Based on the four types of practice theorists given by Theodore Schatzki, an philosopher, Below are few examples of how and where can one apply the practice theory to make sense of the social world.

1. Practice theory can be used by philosophers to bridge the gap between the philosophy and the reality around them .

for example , a study could be done using practice theory that deals with “Marxism and Youth Politics of India” where the philosophy of Marxism can be used to analyze the real situation of how and to what degree and in which form , Marxism manifests itself in the political situation where youth of India is involved.
Hurbert Dreyfus and Charles Taylor have been two most important theorists/philosophers who have used philosophy and “practice” as their area of research

2.Social theorists use practice theory to understand the connection between a social being and his or her social structure.

This can be understood by studying the “Behaviour pattern of criminals in Jail”, here the practice theory will see the way a criminal adats himself in an institutionalized and strict environment of a jail .
Pierre Boudieu and Anthony Giddens works have been exceptional in understanding the dynamics of social agency and social structure .

3. Culture Theorists use practice theory to explore social or culturall practices in a given culture. They also use cross cultural comparisions of studying same phenomenon of a respective practice in different cultural settings.

Here , in this case , one can study the ‘Healing effect of Music” in a particular culture or the study can be extended to see how the practice of one particular music is understood in case of multiple cultures .
Michel Foucualt and Jean Francois Lyotard are post structuralists and also post modernists who have used the idea of practice in their work.

4. Theorists in the area of science and technology can use the practice theory to analyze the role and reception of technology by social beings in different social structures.

For instance , one can study “ Internet and school Education” where one could see the mounting role an effect of internet in the education system of a particular social world
Andrew Pickering and Bruno Latour were famous scholars in this regard.

4. Main Proponents and important works of The Practice Theory

Practice theory in anthropology has a assorted body of advocates, and thus it developed in two phases in history, in the first phase being twentieth century witnessed the protagonists laying the foundation of practice theory. These were,

Pierre Bourdieu is considered pioneer of The Practice Theory. He wrote an exceptional work “The Outline of the Theory of Practice”( 1977) and “The Logic of Practice” (1990)
Michel Foucault on the lines of Bourdieu, worked on “Discipline and Punish: Birth of the Prison “ in 1979. For Foucault , discipline is just like the concept of habitus by Bourdieu , discipline signifies structure and power that is imposed on a human body.

3. Anthony Giddens work “Central Problems in Social Theory: Action , Structure and Contradiction in Social Anaysis (1979) and “The Constitution of Society. Outline of the Theory of Structuration.(1984) were significant works in the theory of practice.

4. Michel De Certeau’s work on “The Practice of Everyday Life” (1984) was important work which displayed the ways in which individuals alter their everyday life like laws, language , rituals and actions according to themselves.

Another phase or probably the second generation of theorists and their respective works extending the paradigm of the practice theory further were as follows.

5. Sherry Otner was one of the very important exponent of the Theory of Practice and her works like a review article on the “Theory in Anthropology since the Sixties” (1984) and “Anthropology and Social Theory : Culture , Power and The Acting Subject” (2006) focus on the ideas of transformation and resistance within a society.

6. Theodore R. Schatzki was another proponent of the theory of Practice and his work “Social Practices : Wittgensteinian Approach to Human Activity and the Social (1996) talks about the vital issues in Social theory like social life , human activity , kinds of individuality , and social structure.

7. Andreas Reckwitz work on “ Towards a Theory of Social Practices : A Development in Culturist Theorizing” (2002) describes the how practice theory can be an alternative to the several other forms of other social and cultural theories. His work is empirical and tries to build on an ‘ideal practice theory’ inspired by works of Giddens , Bourdeiu and Schatzki.

8. Alan Warde used theory of practice in his work “ Consumption and Theories of Practice” (2005). His work uses the theory of practice in analysis of consumption

Therefore, one can see that there has been history of diverse thinkers propagating and using the theory of Practice since the twentieth century. All these theorists understood human body in relationship with the people and their practices, arrangements and engagements in the social world.

5. Basic premises of Practice Theory

As mentioned above that the theory of practice is not coherent and well demarcated and has developed and strengthened over a period of time by works of different scholars, so one needs to understand the various important propositions and concepts that form the theoretical ground for one to understand this theory of Practice.

6. Contributions of Perrie Bourdeiu : Outline of A Theory of Practice

Bourdeui highlighted and explained the practice theory in Anthropological though with his works like “Outline of a Theory of Practice (1977) and “The Logic of Practice (1990). Bourdieu worked with important concepts like Habitus, doxa , and practice , to understand the rules that result in the dynamism of social behavior thus contributing to a theory of practice that can be used by anthropologists.

Concept of Habitus – Bourdieu uses the concept of Habitus as central in the theory of practice. ‘Habitus’ for him is a way of life , a lifestyle , expectations, activities and values of a particular social group that has been developed over a period of time due to past experiences of routine life . Power for bourdeui is created culturally, socially and symbolically and is furthered legitimized through the constant interaction of agency and structure. For bourdieu the habitus is created unconsciously, i.e without any deliberate effort, it’s a more of a social process and not an individual process based on free will or by specific structures. Habitus is not something that is permanent and it keeps on changes over periods of time.

Habitus is both physical and psychological marker of one’s position in society. Habitus is a result of many factors that embody social structures like caste, race, religion, which are reproduced in terms of individual beliefs , attitudes , lifestyle. Habitus can also be regarded as set of attitudes, ideologies, beliefs that have resulted in creation of what an individual becomes in the end. Habitus plays a kep role in the choices of the people.

Bourdeui’s concept of ‘Captial’- Bourdeui’s concept of capital is not limited to the material assets one possesses, for him, there is an extension to this ‘material’ definition of capital. For him, Capital along with being material and economic in nature, is also cultural , social and symbolic. These forms of capital are equally important and are capable of being accumulated and also transferred from one generation to another.

In societal dynamics of power relations, cultural capital plays a very important role, it organizes cultural authority, it results in domination of one group over the and also the cultural capital helps in setting levels of hierarchy in society.

For instance ,in case of India , in earlier times m the societal division on the basis of caste, led the upper caste (Brahmins) earn respect, enjoy dominance and higher position in hierarchy whereas the lower castes ( shudras) suffered as they had no societal and cultural capital. This cultural/social capital of the higer castes is accumulated and transferred from generation to generation. Even in contemporary modern society, the cultural capital lies in the hand of groups those who are educated.

Bourdieu studied this conceopt at length in his classic work ‘Distinction’ (1986) based on the study of the inequalities in French society based on the unequal access to ‘cultural products’ like language, education values, skills, and daily routine activities.

Bourdeiu’s Idea of the ‘Fields’ – Another important concept in Bourdeiu’s Practice theory is the idea of fields. Fields for bourdeiu are social and institutional grounds where the individual develop their habitus with the interplay of human action and societal structure. Differences in the level of power depend on the differences in the; fields’ individuals are placed into. The field in terms of its context and environment has a direct bearing on the development or creation of ‘habitus’.

For instance, a women may feel very liberated, outspoken and independent in her work atmostphere outside four walls of her house , but at the same time , the same women can feel passive and subjugated in her family where her husband dominates and takes control of everything . Therefore in any given society, there is a distinction between one’s private and public life because there is a difference in the kind power structure and socialization process for both men and women in terms of two different fields’ i.e public and private.

For Bourdieu , field exists only in relation to habitus and vice versa. Field is considered the objective reality and habitus is considered the subjective reality , according to Bourdieu there is constant reconciliation between these two forms of realities.

Bourdeiu’s Concept of ‘Doxa’ – Bourdeiu in his work “Outline of a theory of Practice’ used the tern doxa for the taken for granted truths in a society. for him , doxa is experience of the social and natural world as it appears to oneself. It is set of values , beliefs and attitudes in a given society that no one questions rather one accepts them the way they are.

Bourdeiu explains the term doxa with reference to an example of the most common belief in school. He asked students what was achievement for them . the children who scored less considered themselves as inferior and incapable of excelling. Hence, achievement in schools was just confined to scoring best scores or excelling in examinations, here is where the use and understanding of bourdeiu’s concept of doxa comes into play. Society pushes everyone to believe that only children who score good a, excel achieve and others are less intelligent, inferior and not smart. Doxa for bourdeiu is not mere a common belief but has the potential of resulting in common practices and actions.

Doxa is like, understanding of power made up of orthodoxy and heterodoxy, beliefs and attitudes that we accept by default , without questioning its foundation and source. Doxa is seen as a self-defensive scheme that avoids any questioning related to one’s habitus.

Bourdieu and his term ‘misrecognition’ – This concept by Bourdieu is similar to the Marxian concept of ‘false consciousness’. This concept is much deeper in the sense that it results in constant and conscious influence and manipulation of one group by the other. Misconception is a more of a cultural and less of an philosophical phenomenon as it constitutes dynamic social developments and active social processes.

Therefore, Bourdieu’s theory of practice thus takes into account all of these theoretical and methodological concepts of Habitus, capital , field , doxa and misrecognition . this theory shows how social actors develop ways and strategies to adapt and adjust themselves to the social structures they inhabit. These strategies are unconscious in nature.

7. Anthony Giddens and Theory of Structuration

He was a prominent modern thinker, and produced important works like “Central Problems in Social Theory” (1979),” The Constitution of Society: Outline of the Theory on Structuration” (1984). His practice theory was given the name of theory of Structuration. Theory of structuration was not a methodology, it just exposed the hermeneutic aspect of empirical research and renounced absolute positivism, functionalism and evolutionism. He was against the pursuit of abstract laws.

Giddens tried the synthesis of two polarized concepts of human agency and social structure and its affect on human behavior. He generated the concept of structuration. According to him, Individual and his autonomy was influenced and affected by structure , human agency helps in maintain and adaptiong to these tructures , therefore , structuration was defined as this interface of structure and human agency.

Theory of Giddens was very different from the classical theories. For him, there were three types of structures in any social system, these were ,

Signification : Here the codification of meanings take place with practice of language
Legitimation – This structure compromises of established societal norms
Domination – Here application of power comes into play to control resourses.

Process or praxis occurs when there is repetition of the individual activities or practices in a social structure over a period of time. Randon meaningless acts do not constitute social life. Social structure is always made up of traditions, values , morals and standardized ways of doing things which can be challenged by means of proper action and when people will try to transform the existing social structure by reproducing a new one .

His work developed on the basis of interplay of agency and structure. His theory explains the way social systems are created, reproduced with the help interaction of human agency and social structure. Anthony Giddens studied the abstract categories in social relations

Theory of Structuration by Giddens was used as a device to understand the internal logical coherence of concepts within a particular theoretical system. This theory was more used as a mechanism to understand the internal meanings and dichotomies of concepts used in any theory. For Giddens , social theory could only give few concepts to investigate the process among social actors or human agency

8. Bourdieu vs Giddens

Bourdieu was a French anthropologist and Giddens was a British sociologist /Anthropologist, both of their work in practice theory, deal with the relationship between human agency and social structure. Their use of the term “social structure” encapsulates the durkheminan, Marxian and Levi Strausian meanings of the term social structure for both, social structure compromises of material and symbolic aspect. For Bourdieu practices and for Giddens human actions of human beings formed the social structure.

Apart from all these similarities, the two theorists differ in terms of conscious intention in the process of reproduction of social structure. For Bourdieu , practice is the key word , but for Giddens, action. Nonetheless, his theory of structuration is considered as part of the Practice theory.

The main difference between the work of Bourdieu and Gidden lies in the kind of importance both give to conscious intention in their work. For Giddens, reflexivity of the actors is important, its essential part of social action and structuration whereas for Bourdieu, it is possible to consciously reflect on one’s habitus but again it’s not a obligatory part of the social process. Contrary to Bourdieu, for Giddens reflexivity is both important and potential in the change of social structure or social process.

9. Contributions of Sherry Otner in the Practice Theory

Sherry Otner is an American Cultural Anthropologist and a well-known proponent of the Practice Theory. Unlike the work of Bourdeiu and Giddens, her work does not talk about the societal reproduction , rather the work is centralized on the idea of “serious games” on the lines conflict and transformation within a society.

In her work on the Practice Theory, she gave three important aspects of practice which are as follows

i. Power shift – the view of power has to changed, power should no longer be seen in terms of dominance of one class over the other, rather power as a concept should be understood in terms of the relationships between individuals. Power is created by human agency and is not an objective force in society. Habitus is a concept important in understanding how people habituate power in their social structure.

ii. Historic Turn – as the name suggests, it was a anthropological movement where, philosophers turned away from the conventional theories dealing with universal theories, rather , they started studying the individual cultures. This phase laid emphasis in the study of history and time as key factors in understanding any cultural practice in a better way. Studying history of a particular culture helps in understanding its effects on the contemporary culture.

iii. Re-interpretation of Culture – Unlike previous interpretations of culture, people were defined by their culture, which lead to stereotyping. On the contrary Practice theory interprets culture as dynamic and mobile , so now culture no more defines people rather it’s the people that define it by giving it sense according to their lives.-

In her work “Anthropology and social theory: Culture, Power and the Acting Subject” (2006) she provides solution to contemporary problems like that of social class and explains the dynamics in the relationship of power and agency. According to her, Practice theory restores the social actor to social processes without ignoring larger structures in society that both constrain and permit social action for social change in society. In this book, she tries reassessment of important concepts of anthropology in twenty first century like the concept of culture, subjectivity and agency with the help of practice theory. She gives importance to human agency in her work and shows that social theories should be formulated in conjunction to one another in order to be meaningful and useful in modern times.

10. A critique of the practice Theory

Unlike grand theories of evolutionism and functionalism, the practice theory does not study universal cultures or pass universal laws rather it examines the daily mundane activities/practices of the people.

Stephen Turner in his book “Social Theory of Practices: Tradition, Tacit Knowledge and Presupposition” highlights the limitations of the practice theory. For him, any knowledge of human agency or social structure cannot lead to a holistic understanding of cultures. Turner further criticized practice theory , as it never explained the means by which ‘practice’ were shared, transferred or recreated, for this , the practice theory has to depend upon the idea of tacit knowledge without which , practice theory would be impossible. For Turner, Practiced theory was criticized by being too general in approach, and there was a lack of universal construct so there cannot be universal practices which can be transferred to other generations

Raymond William, who is a novelist, and a cultural Marxist, too critiqued practice theory, as it lacked the acknowledgement of hegemony and power roles. But lately, anthropologists have realized the need to include the hegemony and power roles in studies of any given society.

Despite all the criticisms, practice theory has been successful in breaking down all the boundaries between the social and the biological, as it studies interplay of human agency and social structure.

Conclusion

The Practice Theory is a loose set of theories or conceptual frameworks or approaches to social theory that takes human body to be at the nexus of all practices. It deals with the work of human body in all the activities one does as being part of a social structure. This theory is spread across time and space and is used by variety of fields of political anthropology, neuroscience, study of material culture, consumption studies.

Summary

This lecture will introduce you to the practice theory in Anthropological tradition. So, let us start with situating the theory in Anthropology. The significant subject of “practices” has been of importance to not only in sociology and other fields of social sciences, but in anthropology too. One can apply the understanding of practices from the most routine activities to the extremely structured behaviors in formally established institutions. Anthropology developed a new paradigm to understand the meaning and role of these practices of social actors, as a part of social dynamism in the society in which they live.

Let me now give you a detailed introduction to the Practice theory. In anthropology, practice theory is not a coherent theory that is defined in strict sense of the term and has no well-defined theory as such; most often it is used as a loose approach in conjunction with other theories like symbolic anthropology or the functionalism. More than a theory, Practice theory should be considered as a perspective to understand social reality. Practice theory explores, understands and analyses the dynamics of interaction and conflict between social structure on one hand and human agency on the other hand. Practice theory highlights how there are differences in the motives and intentions of different human beings, and how they adjust, adapt and transform their world where they live. Practice theory mainly studies how people act in given structures both formal and informal, of their society and culture. The main aim of practice theory is to show that people as social actors affect the structure in which they live and are in turn affected by the structure themselves. Practice theory studies the circular association of social beings and society. It understands the role of structure on the individual and the way individual adapts and affects the structure through ‘practice’.

There are different applications of the Practice Theory. According to Theodore Schatzki, there are four types of practice theorists. 1. Philosophers 2. Social theorists. 3. Culture theorists and theorists of science and development. Practice theory in anthropology has a assorted body of advocates , and thus it developed in two phases in history, in the first phase being twentieth century witnessed the protagonists laying the foundation of practice theory. These were,

Pierre Bourdieu “The Outline of the Theory of Practice”( 1977) and “The Logic of Practice” (1990), Michel Foucault on the lines of Bourdieu, worked on “Discipline and Punish: Birth of the Prison “ in 1979. Anthony Giddens work “Central Problems in Social Theory: Action , Structure and Contradiction in Social Anaysis (1979) and “The Constitution of Society. Outline of the Theory of Structuration.(1984) Michel De Certeau’s work on “The Practice of Everyday Life” (1984)

Another phase or probably the second generation of theorists and their respective works extending the paradigm of the practice theory further were as follows. Sherry Otner “Theory in Anthropology since the Sixties” (1984) and “Anthropology and Social Theory: Culture , Power and The Acting Subject” (2006) ,Theodore R. Schatzki was another proponent of the theory of Practice and his work “Social Practices : Wittgensteinian Approach to Human Activity and the Social (1996).,Andreas Reckwitz work on “ Towards a Theory of Social Practices : A Development in Culturist Theorizing” (2002) ,Alan Warde used theory of practice in his work “ Consumption and Theories of Practice” (2005).

Now lets come to discussing, the Basic premises of Practice Theory . As mentioned above that the theory of practice is not coherent and well demarcated and has developed and strengthened over a period of time by works of different scholars, so one needs to understand the various important propositions and concepts that form the theoretical ground for one to understand this theory of Practice.

Let is start with studying the Contributions of Perrie Bourdeiu : Outline of A Theory of Practice Bourdeui highlighted and explained the practice theory in Anthropological though with his works like “Outline of a Theory of Practice (1977) and “The Logic of Practice (1990). Bourdieu worked with important concepts like Habitus, doxa , and practice , to understand the rules that result in the dynamism of social behavior thus contributing to a theory of practice that can be used by anthropologists. Concept of Habitus iscentral in the theory of practice. ‘Habitus’ for him is a way of life , a lifestyle , expectations, activities and values of a particular social group that has been developed over a period of time due to past experiences of routine life . Habitus is not something that is permanent and it keeps on changes over periods of time. Habitus is both physical and psychological marker of one’s position in society. Habitus plays a key role in the choices of the people. Bourdeui’s concept of capital is not limited to the material assets one possesses, for him, there is an extension to this ‘material’ definition of capital. For him, Capital along with being material and economic in nature, is also cultural , social and symbolic. These forms of capital are equally important and are capable of being accumulated and also transferred from one generation to another. Another important concept in Bourdeiu’s Practice theory is the idea of fields. Fields for bourdeiu are social and institutional grounds where the individual develop their habitus with the interplay of human action and societal structure. Differences in the level of power depend on the differences in the; fields’ individuals are placed into. The field in terms of its context and environment has a direct bearing on the development or creation of ‘habitus’.For Bourdieu , field exists only in relation to habitus and vice versa. Field is considered the objective reality and habitus is considered the subjective reality , according to Bourdieu there is constant reconciliation between these two forms of realities. Bourdeiu in his work “Outline of a theory of Practice’ used the tern doxa for the taken for granted truths in a society. for him , doxa is experience of the social and natural world as it appears to oneself. It is set of values , beliefs and attitudes in a given society that no one questions rather one accepts them the way they are. The concept of misconception by Bourdieu is similar to the Marxian concept of ‘false consciousness’. This concept is much deeper in the sense that it results in constant and conscious influence and manipulation of one group by the other. Misconception is a more of a cultural and less of an philosophical phenomenon as it constitutes dynamic social developments and active social processes.

After Bourdieu, lets study Anthony Giddens and hisTheory of Structuration .Giddens tried the synthesis of two polarized concepts of human agency and social structure and its affect on human behavior. He generated the concept of structuration. According to him, Individual and his autonomy was influenced and affected by structure , human agency helps in maintain and adaptiong to these tructures , therefore , structuration was defined as this interface of structure and human agency.

Theory of Giddens was very different from the classical theories. For him, there were three types of structures in any social system, these were ,

Signification : Here the codification of meanings take place with practice of language
Legitimation – This structure compromises of established societal norms
Domination – Here application of power comes into play to control resourses.

He tried developing an alternate theoretical framework, by developing what he calls as ‘sensitizing concepts’ where one could understand the process of interaction by the motives and structure with the help of social actors. For him. There is a relation between human agency and the social structure. Theory of Structuration by Giddens was used as a device to understand the internal logical coherence of concepts within a particular theoretical system. This theory was more used as a mechanism to understand the internal meanings and dichotomies of concepts used in any theory. For Giddens , social theory could only give few concepts to investigate the process among social actors or human agency

It becomes essential to understand Bourdieu in relation with Giddens and vive versa. Both of their work in practice theory, deal with the relationship between human agency and social structure. Their use of the term “social structure” encapsulates the durkheminan, Marxian and Levi Strausian meanings of the term social structure for both , social structure compromises of material and symbolic aspect. For Bourdieu practices and for Giddens human actions of human beings formed the social structure. Apart from all these similarities, the two theorists differ in terms of conscious intention in the process of reproduction of social structure. for Bourdieu , practice is the key word , but for Giddens, action. Nonetheless, his theory of structuration is considered as part of the Practice theory. The main difference between the work of Bourdieu and Gidden lies in the kind of importance both give to conscious intention in their work. For Giddens, reflexivity of the actors is important, its essential part of social action and structuration whereas for Bourdieu, it is possible to consciously reflect on one’s habitus but again it’s not a obligatory part of the social process. Contrary to Bourdieu, for Giddens reflexivity is both important and potential in the change of social structure or social process

After Bourdieu and Giddens, lets come to Contributions of Sherry Otner in the Practice Theory. Unlike the work of Bourdeiu and Giddens , her work does not talk about the societal reproduction , rather the work is centralized on the idea of “serious games” on the lines conflict and transformation within a society. In her work on the Practice Theory, she gave three important aspects of practice which are as follows

Power shift -is created by human agency and is not an objective force in society. Habitus is a concept important in understanding how people habituate power in their social structure. , Historic Turn This phase laid emphasis in the study of history and time as key factors in understanding any cultural practice in a better way. Studying history of a particular culture helps in understanding its effects on the contemporary culture. and Re-interpretation of Culture – Unlike previous interpretations of culture, people were defined by their culture, which lead to stereotyping. On the contrary Practice theory interprets culture as dynamic and mobile , so now culture no more defines people rather it’s the people that define it by giving it sense according to their lives.She gives importance to human agency in her work and shows that social theories should be formulated in conjunction to one another in order to be meaningful and useful in modern times.

Let us now do a critique of the practice Theory . Unlike grand theories of evolutionism and functionalism, the practice theory does not study universal cultures or pass universal laws rather it examines the daily mundane activities/practices of the people.Stephen Turner in his book “Social Theory of Practices : Tradition, Tacit Knowledge And Presupposition” highlights the limitations of the practice theory. For him, any knowledge of human agency or social structure cannot lead to a holistic understanding cultures. Turner further criticized practice theory , as it never explained the means by which ‘practice’ were shared, transferred or recreated, for this , the practice theory has to depend upon the idea of tacit knowledge without which , practice theory would be impossible. For Turner, Practiced theory was criticized by being too general in approach, and there was a lack of universal construct so there cannot be universal practices which can be transferred to other generationsRaymond William, who is a novelist, and a cultural Marxist, too critiqued practice theory, as it lacked the acknowledgement of hegemony and power roles. But lately, anthropologists have realized the need to include the hegemony and power roles in studies of any given society. Despite all the criticisms, practice theory has been successful in breaking down all the boundaries between the social and the biological, as it studies interplay of human agency and social structure.

In the end, I would conclude by saying that the The Practice Theory is a loose set of theories or conceptual frameworks or approaches to social theory that takes human body to be at the nexus of all practices. It deals with the work of human body in all the activities one does as being part of a social structure. This theory is spread across time and space and is used by variety of fields of political anthropology, neuroscience, study of material culture, consumption studies.

you can view video on Practice Theory: Bourdieu Giddens, Ortner

References :

Bohman, James. (1997).Do Practices Explain Anything? Turner’s Critique of the Theory of Social Practices. History and Theory. Volume 36. Issue 1, 93-107.
Bourdieu , Pierre .(1977). Outline of A Theory of Practice. Cambridge and New York : Cambridge University Press.
Bourdieu , Pierre.(1990).The Logic Of Practice . TR. Richard Nice.Cambridge. Cambridge University Press.
Foucault , M. (1982). The Subject and Power. In Dreyfus and Rabinow, Michel Focault , Beyond Structualism and Hermenuetics. Chicago. University of Chicago press.
Giddens, A.(1984).The Constitution of Society : Outline of The Theory of Structuration . Cambridge : Polity Press
Giddens, A. (1993).Central Problems in Social Theory : Action , Structure and Contradiction in social analysis. Los Angeles.LA.University of California Press.
Otner, Sherry.(2006). ) Anthropology and Social Theory : Culture, Power and the Acting Subject . Durham, NC : Duke University Press.
Turner, S.P.(1994), The Soial Theory of Practices.: Tradition , Tacit Knowledge and Presuppositions. University of Chicago Press.