The Dynamics of Social Practice

Professor Elizabeth Shove teaches Sociology at Lancaster University.  Mika Pantzar is currently Research Director in the Consumer Society Research Centre, based at the University of Helsinki.  Dr Matt Watson is Senior Lecturer in Human Geography at the University of Sheffield.

Recent discussions of research "impact" tend to assume that moving from theory to practice is easy. In fact, it is often very hard. Hence it is unsurprising, if apparently paradoxical, that the theory of practice usually appears abstruse and even impractical. Hence, too, the tremendous achievement of The Dynamics of Social Practice. The book not only takes us confidently through the thickets of theory. But, more importantly, with examples that are thoroughly concrete (both metaphorically and quite literally), it allows us to understand how such theory can be brought to bear directly on such pressing and practical problems as climate changePaul DuguidAdjunct Professor, School of Information, University of California, Berkeley The Dynamics of Social Practice, through a series of clever and courageous analytic moves, sets out an innovative framework for understanding the complexities of contemporary social processes. Written in a clear, accessible style and illustrated with a wealth of engaging examples, Shove, Pantzer and Watson successfully accomplish that rare trick of making an important contribution to social theory while also providing a major resource for social policyMike MichaelProfessor of the Sociology of Science and Technology, Goldsmiths This remarkable book provides the best available analysis-theoretically trenchant and empirically illuminating-of the dynamics of social life construed as a field of practices and inaugurates the needed process of developing practice-oriented public policyTheodore SchatzkiProfessor of Philosophy, University of Kentucky

• The Dynamics of Social PracticeIntroducing Theories of PracticeMaterials and ResourcesSequence and StructureMaking and Breaking LinksMaterial, Competence and MeaningCar-Driving: Elements and LinkagesMaking LinksBreaking LinksElements Between PracticesStandardization and DiversityIndividual and Collective CareersThe Life of ElementsModes of CirculationTransportation and Access: MaterialAbstraction, Reversal and Migration: CompetenceAssociation and Classification: MeaningPacking and UnpackingEmergence, Disappearance and PersistenceRecruitment, Defection and ReproductionFirst Encounters: Networks and CommunitiesCapture and Commitment: Careers and CarriersCollapse and Transformation: The Dynamics of DefectionDaily Paths, Life Paths and Dominant ProjectsConnections Between PracticesBundles and ComplexesCollaboration and CompetitionSelection and IntegrationCoordinating Daily LifeCircuits of ReproductionMonitoring Practices-as-PerformancesMonitoring Practices-as-EntitiesCross-Referencing Practices-as-PerformancesCross-Referencing Practices-as-EntitiesAggregationElements of CoordinationIntersecting CircuitsRepresenting the Dynamics of Social PracticeRepresenting Elements and PracticesCharacterizing CirculationCompetition, Transformation and ConvergenceReproducing Elements, Practices and Relations between ThemTime and PracticeSpace and PracticeDominant Projects and PowerPromoting Transitions in PracticeClimate Change and Behaviour ChangeBasis of ActionProcesses of ChangePositioning PolicyTransferable LessonsPractice Theory and Climate Change PolicyConfiguring Elements of PracticeConfiguring Relations between PracticesConfiguring Careers: Carriers and PracticesConfiguring ConnectionsPractice Oriented Policy Making