Nudge(ography) and practice theories: Contemporary sites of behavioural science and post-structuralist approaches in geography?

Abstract

Within geography there has been considerable debate about the reasons, patterns and consequences of human behaviour. Behavioural science, specifically Nudge, and practice theories are fashionable fields of enquiry, reflecting a long history of conversation between behavioural and poststructuralist approaches. The purpose of this paper is to foster further engagement with and between these perspectives, bringing to the fore the relevant ontologies from which they arise. The paper is thus largely concerned with the ‘ontological politics’ of approaches seeking to understand human action and concludes with some reflections on an agenda for geography, a discipline well placed to unite disparate concepts.