Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Preface
- 1 Introduction: Inhabitation in Nature
- 2 New materialism in housing studies: opportunities and obstacles
- 3 Inhabitation practices
- 4 Analysing inhabitation practices
- 5 Consumption practices
- 6 Production practices
- 7 Out of home inhabitation practices
- 8 Conclusion: Inhabitation research and policy
- References
- Index
3 - Inhabitation practices
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 January 2024
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Preface
- 1 Introduction: Inhabitation in Nature
- 2 New materialism in housing studies: opportunities and obstacles
- 3 Inhabitation practices
- 4 Analysing inhabitation practices
- 5 Consumption practices
- 6 Production practices
- 7 Out of home inhabitation practices
- 8 Conclusion: Inhabitation research and policy
- References
- Index
Summary
In Chapter 1, the first two propositions of the need for a unified view of humans and Nature and the need for the concept of inhabitation were outlined as a basis for devising a framework for the analysis of the interaction between human, animal and material elements that are at the core of the experience and study of house and home or housing policy and research. In Chapter 2, the existing theoretical frameworks of social constructionism and those included under the label of new materialism have been analysed and the obstacles that have hindered their application to housing studies in the past examined. In this chapter it is argued that the strengths of both traditions can be built on by emphasising the concept of social practices and applying it to inhabitation. Therefore, this chapter focuses on the third proposition by expanding on the concept of inhabitation practices as a way of integrating some of the insights generated in previous chapters and providing a focus for analysis. To achieve this, the chapter starts with the concept of social practices, describing its definition and use by different authors and how it has been applied in housing and other fields. This is followed by an examination of the similarities and differences between the new materialist approaches outlined in the previous chapter and social practices. The aim is to find a way forward that integrates the insights from the approaches to provide a conceptual framework for the analysis of inhabitation. The term social practices is used at the outset as this is the term usually used in the literature, however, the adjective social seems limiting when we are here discussing practices that also have animal and material elements. We are also keen to adopt the implication from new materialism and the analysis of the ideas of Wilber in the following chapter that there is no discrete social science and try to move to an approach and terminology that exemplifies the search for a unifying language that includes animal and material as well as human elements. Therefore, as the discussion progresses we will adopt the more general term practices and when we finally relate the concept to our field of enquiry here we will adopt the concept of inhabitation practices.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Inhabitation in NatureHouses, People and Practices, pp. 40 - 63Publisher: Bristol University PressPrint publication year: 2023