Understanding health through social practices: performance and materiality in everyday life

Abstract

The importance of recognising structure and agency in health research to move beyond methodological individualism is well documented. To progress incorporating social theory into health, researchers have used Giddens' and Bourdieu's conceptualisations of social practice to understand relationships between agency, structure and health. However, social practice theories have more to offer than has currently been capitalised upon. This article delves into contemporary theories of social practice as used in consumption and sustainability research to provide an alternative, and more contextualised means, of understanding and explaining human action in relation to health and wellbeing. Two key observations are made. Firstly, the latest formulations of social practice theory distinguish moments of practice performance from practices as persistent entities across time and space, allowing empirical application to explain practice histories and future trajectories. Secondly, they emphasise the materiality of everyday life, foregrounding things, technologies and other non-humans that cannot be ignored in a technologically dependent social world. In concluding, I argue the value of using contemporary social practice theories in health research is that they reframe the way in which health outcomes can be understood and could inform more effective interventions that move beyond attitudes, behaviour and choices.

A day in the life of a Ménière's patient: understanding the lived experiences and mental health impacts of Ménière's disease

“…According to Blue et al . (), the enactment of social practices involves the ongoing interaction of at least three types of elements: (1) socio‐culturally shared meanings about how and why to do things; (2) the specific materials required, including objects, bodies and infrastructures; and (3) tacit and explicit competences (knowledge and embodied skills) (Maller ).…”

The Political Matters: Exploring material feminist theories for understanding the political in health, inequalities and nursing

“…Other public health scholars are exploring the active materiality of environments or technologies involved in constructing, enabling or shaping the so‐called healthy subject or subjectivities (Maller & Stengers, ; Maller, ), as well as the role of materials in reconceptualized notions of resilience as socio‐material practices, and how these relate to tackling inequalities (Aranda & Hart, ). Next, I examine more specifically the potential these theories may offer in terms of revised understandings of the body.…”

Exchanging implements: the micro‐materialities of multidisciplinary work in the operating theatre

“…There has been there has been a growing interest in re‐conceptualising health and illness in terms of practice, treating practice as the ‘primary unit of enquiry’ (see for example Mol , Mol and Law , and more recently Carmel , Cohn , and Twine ). Notwithstanding the important, but very different contributions of Giddens and Bourdieu to our understanding of practice, these initiatives have been largely informed by the contributions of Latour (, ) and others within science and technology studies, and the commitment to taking the non‐human, the material, and its agency seriously; to consider the interdependencies and interconnectedness of the human and non‐human in action (see for example Maller ). Despite the very different theories of practice found within contemporary social science, practice and its performance increasingly encompasses the material – objects, bodies, artefacts, tools, technologies etc.…”

“…It is not surprising however to find that the emphasis on interdependency and interconnectedness has given analytic priority to the idea of networks, variously conceptualised, as the vehicle through which practice is instantiated and institutionalised. The performance of practice has received less attention and yet there is a longstanding recognition that how practices emerge and how they change over time is of some importance (see for example Mol , Maller ). In turn these questions raise issues concerning how particular practices are applied on actual occasions with regard to the particular circumstances at hand, ‘the isolated moments in the performance of a practice’ (Maller : 59).…”