Content and structure of social practices

Abstract

The article is devoted to the problem of defining social practices and their content, in which a comprehensive approach to the study of social practices is justified. To this end, it is necessary to adhere to the following methodological guidelines: first, the postmodern vision of reality, which emphasizes pluralism as a worldview and methodological guideline for understanding social processes; secondly, the study of social practices in the aspect of everyday life, based on the methodological guidelines of background knowledge and the concept of the "revealing" nature of practices; thirdly, theories of social action that exist in modern sociology, since the core of any social practice is social activity. The article notes the fact that today in science, three levels of social practices are distinguished depending on the role of the subject, namely, social practices of subjects in everyday activities, social practices of groups and communities, social practices of institutions and organizations. The nature of social practices is explained by two approaches - the background character of the practice and the "revealing" nature of the practices. Background practice is the context against which utterances and behavior are interpreted. The "revealing" nature of practices is related to the problem of identities. Practices constitute and reproduce identities or reveal basic modes of social existence at a specific historical moment. Meaningfully, social practices have spatial and temporal localization and may differ depending on the historical period, cultural features of the country or region, and the state system. The article provides a description of social time and social space, analyzes the space-time continuum - the chronotope. The third element of social practices is social action, which acts as the nucleus around which all social life revolves. Social practices are implemented in routine acts of practical actions of individuals in everyday life, existence and functioning of social groups and communities, functioning of social institutions.