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Social patterning of consumption

Q: Agency and the 'homo economicus'

'The model of the homo economicus explains action by having recourse to individual purposes, intentions and interests; social order is then a product of the combination of single interest' - Reckwitz, 2002

Q: Structure and the 'homo sociologicus'

'The model of the homo sociologicus explains action by pointing to collective norms and values, i.e. To the rules which express a social 'ought'; social order is then guaranteed by a normative consensus' - Reckwitz, 2002

Q: What is a practice ?

'A practice is a routinized type of behaviour which consists of several elements, interconnected to one another: forms of bodily activities, forms of mental activities, things and their use, a background knowledge in the form of understanding, know-how, states of emotion and motivational knowledge.' (Reckwitz, 2002:249)

Q: Social practices are made of three types of element (Elisabeth Shove et al 2012)

Materials : objects, tools and infrastructures (context to shopping, as well as the things to buy) Competence : knowledge and embodied skills (how to do stuff) Meanings : cultural conventions, expectations and socially shared meanings For example with tennis: Materials: tennis ball, racket, somewhere to play Competence: how to play tennis, skills Meanings: competitive sports, relaxation, cultural ideas of what tennis is and what it means

16 important questions on Social patterning of consumption

Where do practice theories locate ‘the social’?

Practices

Agency and the 'homo economicus'

"The model of the homo economicus explains action by having recourse to individual purposes, intentions and interests; social order is then a product of the combination of single interest" - Reckwitz, 2002

Structure and the 'homo sociologicus'

"The model of the homo sociologicus explains action by pointing to collective norms and values, i.e. To the rules which express a social 'ought'; social order is then guaranteed by a normative consensus" - Reckwitz, 2002

Theories that combine structure and agency

No theory totally disregards (negeert) structure or agency
Many approaches do not recognize structure/agency debate
Sociology tends to be more explicit about this

In the USA in the 1900s the practive of driving involved mechanical expertise, maintenance, repairing and using tools, as well as steering and braking. Which of shove et al.’s (2012) three elements of practice do these things belong to?

competencies

Practice theory - structure & agency

Theories of human behaviour that emphasizes either structure OR agency assume that they are literally distinct things
The source of human behaviour is the one or the other

How does practice theory understand social life?

- Social life is the result of technological innovations or social structures affecting human activity.
- In social life, human activity is shaped by structures of rules and meanings, and these structures are reproduced in the flow of human action.
- Social life arises from an accumulation of millions of decisions about how best to act

What is a practice?

"A practice is a routinized type of behaviour which consists of several elements, interconnected to one another: forms of bodily activities, forms of mental activities, things and their use, a background knowledge in the form of understanding, know-how, states of emotion and motivational knowledge." (Reckwitz, 2002:249)

How do Keane et al. conceptualise the rise in popularity of vaping?

People are becoming recruited to the practice of vaping

It also moves the focus from smoking cessation, that is, the idea that vaping is primarily about ‘giving up’ something, and instead understands vaping as a specific practice in its own right. p. 466

Social practices are made of three types of element (Elisabeth Shove et al 2012)

Materials: objects, tools and infrastructures (context to shopping, as well as the things to buy)
Competence: knowledge and embodied skills (how to do stuff)
Meanings: cultural conventions, expectations and socially shared meanings

For example with tennis:

Materials: tennis ball, racket, somewhere to play
Competence: how to play tennis, skills
Meanings: competitive sports, relaxation, cultural ideas of what tennis is and what it means

For practice theory, what is the basic unit of analysis?

Social practices

In this context, a social practice is understood as a routinised or patterned type of behaviour which brings together forms of bodily activity, forms of mental activity, objects and their handling, types of knowledge and emotional states. p467

Smoking is part of a ‘bundle’ of other practices. In recent years, how has this affected cigarette consumption?

Smoking has decreased, because the practice of smoking has become gradually detached from other social practices.

(Decline in smoking because they have unravelled the bundling of smoking with other social practices such as working, eating and socialising (a process otherwise referred to as denormalisation)) p.468

Which form of consumption has helped to establish vaping as a successful social practice?

Online shopping

Invitations to participate in the survey were distributed through online vaper forums, e-cigarette vendors and word of mouth. p 468
In Australia, online purchasing, often from overseas vendors, has also allowed vaping to flourish and spread. p470
It highlights the way vaping has been established as a practice through a range of factors including the increasing burdens of smoking and the online availability of e-cigarettes and vaping information and advice. (abstract)

Consumption as 'appropriation' (toe-eigening)

"Consumption is a process, whereby agents engage in appropriation of a good, service, performance, information or ambience, and which is a product of human work." (Warde, 2017)
Appropriation: "what people do with goods, services and experiences after they have acquired them ... How objects of commercial exchange can be given meaning or incorporated into people's daily lives." (Evans, 2018)

Practices and sustainable consumption

These points are well-illustrated by the case of sustainable consumption
Certain consumption behaviour is 'bad' in environmental terms:

E.g. Meat, petrol cars

For some this shows 'incorrect' decisions or 'irrational' behaviour...
...but reality is more complex

Using Shove et al.’s (2012) three elements of practice, describe the practice of cycling.

Materials: het hebben van een fiets, tire pump, bike racks bike paths and broader road infrastructure; specialised clothing, bags and accessories.
Meanings : A key meaning is the idea of cycling as ‘normal’ – that is, a feasible and appropriate mode of transportation or recreation. Other meanings: framing of cycling as healthy, easy or inexpensive.

Social practices are made of different elements. Shove et al (2012: 23) suggest there are three types of element: material, competence and meaning. They form a block of interconnected elements. Elements shape each other.

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Social patterning of consumption

16 important questions on Social patterning of consumption

Where do practice theories locate ‘the social’?

Agency and the 'homo economicus'

Structure and the 'homo sociologicus'

Theories that combine structure and agency

In the USA in the 1900s the practive of driving involved mechanical expertise, maintenance, repairing and using tools, as well as steering and braking. Which of shove et al.’s (2012) three elements of practice do these things belong to?

Practice theory - structure & agency

How does practice theory understand social life?

What is a practice?

How do Keane et al. conceptualise the rise in popularity of vaping?

Social practices are made of three types of element (Elisabeth Shove et al 2012)

For practice theory, what is the basic unit of analysis?

Smoking is part of a ‘bundle’ of other practices. In recent years, how has this affected cigarette consumption?

Which form of consumption has helped to establish vaping as a successful social practice?

Consumption as 'appropriation' (toe-eigening)

Practices and sustainable consumption

Using Shove et al.’s (2012) three elements of practice, describe the practice of cycling.

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