The social practice theory and the practice as study unit

Abstract

In the last 50 years the idea of turning in social sciences has become recurrent: interpretive, discursive, affective turn. The turn towards practices adds to the mentioned movements. It is a development approach shaped by heterogeneous traditions, which converge in thinking of practice as an alternative study unit to think socially. The look on the practice, shows a growing development in the social sciences to offer a particular reading of micro social phenomena, nevertheless it is a still incipient discussion in the Latin American scene. This article presents an inquiry into the theories of social practices (TPS) and in particular about practice as a unit of study of the social. At the beginning, the contemporary debate and the turn of the practice are reviewed, to then deepen in the concept itself, reviewing the elements that make up a practice: competences, materialities and meanings. As well as its attributes as a unit: social, recursive and rhizomatic. Finally, a set of research strategies pertinent to the approach is reviewed and illustrated and the possibilities and limitations of the social studies of the practice are reflected.