Hansen, Anders Rhiger

English

    Aalborg UniversitetIndividuals in practice, practices in individuals: The return of embodied agentsHansen, Anders RhigerPublication date:2023Link to publication from Aalborg UniversityCitation for published version (APA):Hansen, A. R. (2023). Individuals in practice, practices in individuals: The return of embodied agents. Abstractfrom Midterm meeting of ESA RN5, Sociology of consumption , Helsingborg, Sweden.General rightsCopyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright ownersand it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights.            - Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research.            - You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain            - You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal -Take down policyIf you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us at vbn@aub.aau.dk providing details, and we will remove access tothe work immediately and investigate your claim.Downloaded from vbn.aau.dk on: October 28, 2023INDIVIDUALS IN PRACTICES, PRACTICES IN INDIVIDUALS A n d e r s  R h i g e r  H a n s e n  A a l b o r g  U n i v e r s i t yE S A  R N 5  S o c i o l o g y  o f  C o n s u m p t i o n :  B o n d i n g  b e y o n d  b o u n d a r i e s2 0 2 3  M i n i  M i d t e r m  M e e t i n g s  i n  H e l s i n g b o r g  A u g u s t  2 8 ,  2 0 2 3T H E  R E T U R N  O F  T H E  E M B O D I E D  A G E N T  Individuals in practice (theory)Reckwitz, 2002: practitioners… “...are body/minds who ‘carry’ and ‘carry out’ social practices”“...’consist in’ the performance of practices [as body/minds]” are ”.[.. ]the unique crossing point of practices”Warde, 2005: agents…… have personal trajectories within practices (practice careers)  ...in different situations do the same activity differently, and thereby practices become ”[...] internally differentiated”... ”[c]ontrasting understandings, levels of practical competence, and degrees of involvement generate behavioural variation”... ”[…]recruitment to a practice becomes a principal explanatory issue”Shove et al., 2012: individuals… ”[…] are constantly taking up and dropping out of different practices as their lives unfold” , therefore transferable skills: mastered in one setting and carried over and reproduced in others P A G E3The fellowship of the ‘ring’(Ring = practices)Action is routinizedMateriality shaping practices Distributed agency (objects and human bodies)Decentering individualsSocial practices as study objectsEtc. The two ‘towers’ Embedded in materiality(Latour legacy)  emphazising practices as embedded in things, technology and infrastructure(e.g. Shove et al, 2012; Shove et al., 2015).    (Jacobsen & Hansen, 2019; Reckwitz, 2002a; Sahakian & Wilhite, 2014)EMBEDDED UNDERSTANDINGEMBODIED UNDERSTANDINGEmbodied in humans(Bourdieu legacy) emphazising practices as embodied in human (bodies), also know as habits/habitus and dispositions (Warde 2005; Lizardo 2021a+b; Wilhite & Wallenborn 2013; Lahire 2011)5 EMPHAZISING THE EMBODIED (E)INDIVIDUAL AGENTSEMBODIED EXPERIENCESEMBODIED LEARNING  INTERNALISATIONHABITUSSOCIAL PRACTICES PRACTICE TRANSFORMATIONPRACTICE INTELLIGIBLITYPRACTICAL UNDERSTANDING LEE STRASBERG  FULLY INHABITING THE ROLE OF THE CHARACTER  MEISNER  ROOTED IN REPETITION AND CONCENTRATING ON IMMEDIATE ENVIRONMENTEMPHAZISING PRACTICES (P)“There is only one way to learn. It’s through action. Everything you need to know you have learned through your journey.”STANISLAVSKI  EXPERIENCING THE ROLE”There is no such thing as learning […] the only thing see is the transformation in practices” (Practice Theory Podcast #3)”Action (practice, behaviour, etc.) is […] the meeting point of individual past experiences, of habits, of manners, and of a present social situation” (p. 66). I I I I   Star Wars: A New HopeHABITUS: Acquired (and accumulated) system of dispositions (Bourdieu, 1990; Lizardo, 2004, Lahire, 2020, 2011)EMBODIED UNDERSTANDING(S) (or knowledge) (Hansen & Jacobsen, 2020; Jacobsen & Hansen, 2019; Wallenborn & Wilhite, 2014; Wilhite, 2016; Warde, 2005)MEANINGS and COMPETENCE (Shove et al., 2012 + others)EMBODIED PRACTICE(S) (Hansen, 2018; Macnaghten,2003; Niewöhner and Beck, 2017).PRACTICE MEMORIES (Maller and Strengers, 2018, 2013) EPIGENETIC MEMORY (Maller, 2016), see also ‘bodies as more-than-human assemblages’ (Maller, 2019)So… “The return of the embodied agent”, but ‘return’ is too much and not the right word New title: Revisiting embodied learningEMBODIED LEARNINGUnconscious imitations of the actions of others can result in sharing the same bodily automatisms and practical skills as well as shared practices (Lizardo, 2009, 2004, with reference to e.g.Bourdieu, 1990, and Piaget 1970).“[...] mirror neurons appear to encode practical information about objects in the world (i.e.not what objects “are” [...] but instead “what they are for” [...] in a practical embodied sense”  ”In […] each ‘new’ situation that presents itself, the actor will act by ‘mobilizing’´embodied schemes that the situation calls forth” (p. 66) ”it seems that the new situation induces them (occupants) to feel that their habits have become strange to them” BOURDIEULizardo(Lahire 2003:340) But there’s more…”There are indications that mirror mechanisms do not just happen when you observe other people, but also when you experience art and architecture. Scientists call these processes inside our brains and bodies ‘embodied simulation’”Certain processes in the brain are identical whether you reach for a peanut or observe visually someone else doing it (Rosa, 2019 with reference to Rizzolatti & Sinigaglia (2008) and Bauer (2006): Acts (such as grasping, holding, crushing etc.) are not inherent, but learned or acquired.  Processes of resonance apply not only to movements, but also feelings (e.g. disgust, fear, pain etc.), actions and their underlying intentions.”Humans are hard-wired to get caught in a mutual focus of intersubjective attention, and to resonate emotions from one body to another in common rhythms””We have evolved to be hyper-attuned to each other emotionally, and hence to be especially susceptible to the dynamics of interactional situations” Randall Collins (2009)P A G E99How do practices reproduce?A) Human “interactions” B) Object “relations”(Likely) mental processes1) Reflexive(conscious interaction)2) Non-reflexive (unconscious/ ‘mirror’ neuron mechanisms)P A G E1 010How do practices reproduce?A) Human “interactions” B) Object “relations”(Likely) mental processes1) Reflexive(conscious interaction)A1) Social interaction (interpersonal)E.g., processes of learning, education and nurtureB1) Interacting with objects E.g., handling or using technology, infrastructure, and things in practices2) Non-reflexive (unconscious/ ‘mirror’ neuron mechanisms)P A G E1 111How do practices reproduce?A) Human “interactions” B) Object “relations”(Likely) mental processes1) Reflexive(conscious interaction)A1) Social interaction (interpersonal)E.g., processes of learning, education and nurtureB1) Interacting with objects E.g., handling or using technology, infrastructure, and things in practices2) Non-reflexive (unconscious/ ‘mirror’ neuron mechanisms)A2) Embodied imitation (Motor representations)E.g., observing parents or peers perform practices in a certain wayP A G E1 212How do practices reproduce?A) Human “interactions” B) Object “relations”(Likely) mental processes1) Reflexive(conscious interaction)A1) Social interaction (interpersonal)E.g., processes of learning, education and nurtureB1) Interacting with objects E.g., handling or using technology, infrastructure, and things in practices2) Non-reflexive (unconscious/ ‘mirror’ neuron mechanisms)A2) Embodied imitation (Motor representations)E.g., observing parents or peers perform practices in a certain wayB2) Embodied simulationE.g., performing practices in particular architecture, infrastructure or buildingsAlmost final slide ... how do we investigate the importance of processes of ‘mirroring’ (embedded and embodied) in reproducing energy practices?  ... how do we convince policy makers etc. about the importance of unconscious processes of “learning” (or practice transformation)? (answer = through solid empirical studies, preferable experimental designs, longitudinal designs or lifecourse analysis)Energy research tends to ... ... overlook “unconscious learning” ... overstate the importance of “individual learning”CHILDHOOD BORN 1965 – 1970 EARLY ADULTHOOD  1990 – 1995 (20 – 30 ÅR)ADULTHOOD (TODAY)  2019 – 2021 (49 – 56 ÅR)SIBLINGSQUAL: RELATIONS TO ENVIRONMENT (KENNEDY, 2022)TRANSITIONPHASEP A G E1 515Thanks for l istening

The return of the embodied agent:Discussing (individual) learning and transmission of energy practices

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Individuals in practice, practices in individuals: The return of embodied agents

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