Practice theory and process theory
Instructor(s)
Prof. Davide Nicolini & Prof. Jeanne Mengis
The course will provide an overview of practice and processes theoretical explanations of consumption and organisational life, building on the theoretical frameworks of Schatzki, Reckwitz, Whitehead, Warde, and Bourdieu. Unlike institutionalism and discourse-centric approaches, practice and process theories locate ‘culture’ in everyday practices, which mediate between structure and agency and do so in more practical, material ways. These approaches constitute the third key tradition shaping socio-cultural analysis today in organisational and marketing scholarship. In organisational studies, they have gained significant attention in the literature on strategy-as-practice, practice-based view of organisational knowledge and learning, among others. In marketing, practice-based approaches are hugely influential in current theorizations of consumption practices and taste regime theory, while process approaches inform the Market System Dynamics approach and a large part of Consumer Culture Theory approaches.
More details will be provided at a later date.
