The concept of “site” is at the center of current debates in theories of social practices as well as in cultural anthropology. It is unclear, however, how to assess the associated methodological assumption that overriding social structures or cultural formations can manifest themselves in sites. The article draws on the conception of social practices and introduces the notion of “publicness” in order to explicate how and why sociality and social structures can be accessed through “siting”. Sites as well as social (...) practices, it is claimed, have to be conceptualized as essentially public and thus principally observable phenomena. This assumption of publicness implicit to both site ontology and theories of social practices is unfolded on the basis of a praxeological reformulation of the paradigm of joint attention elaborated in developmental psychology. To avoid presentist misinterpretations, we then conceptualize sociality as chains of practices across time and space, drawing on the works of Theodore Schatzki, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Anthony Giddens and Bruno Latour. The public carriers of practices (artifacts, symbols, media, bodies) and the translocal structures they establish acquire particular significance in these approaches. In a further step, we present some methodological consequences of the “publicness assumption” and support our arguments by referring to Pierre Bourdieu's study on Distinction. (shrink)

We discuss the astronomical underpinning of the improved calendar of 1700. Starting from the astronomical motivation of the Gregorian calendar of 1582 and the rejection of this reform in Protestant states in Europe, we describe how the astronomical Easter reckoning based on Kepler’s Rudolphine tables led to the foundation of Berlin Observatory and enabled the founding of the Electoral Brandenburg Society of Sciences, which had to finance itself through a calendar monopoly.

Zusammenfassung Der Beitrag beschäftigt sich in einer praxeologischen Perspektive mit den Wirkungen, die compu­ter- und videogestützte Spielanalysen im professionellen Fußball entfalten können. Es werden Wis­senspraktiken skizziert, die sich mit dem Einsatz von Spielanalysesoftware herausgebildet haben und es werden daran anknüpfend konzeptionelle Überlegungen präsentiert, die in zwei Richtungen weitergeführt werden: Zum einen werden sie auf zentrale Grundannahmen der Praxeologie bezo­gen. Dabei zeigt sich, dass die Analyse der Wirkungen und Potentiale reflexiver Wissens- und Kön­nensformen in Praktiken ein Desiderat der praxissoziologischen Perspektive darstellt. (...) Zum anderen werden aus den konzeptionellen Überlegungen zum softwaregestützten accounting Ideen zu den damit induzierten Veränderungen des Fußballspiels und des professionellen Fußballs entwickelt. (shrink)

Roland Allen’s emphasis on the ministry in missionary churches opens the door to a number of ways in which the church can work to change society, and he makes some very important connections between the promises of the prophets, Jesus announcement of the coming kingdom, and Paul’s missionary methods. In doing so, he again invites the church to bring the good news of the Kingdom of God to the modern world.

This article outlines a culture-analytical alternative in, and to, decision science. In contrast to the predominant individualistic and mentalistic conceptions of decision making an empirical and praxeological perspective is proposed. Beginning with empirical processes and situated practices of decision-making, this perspective aims to decenter the decision-making subject. The author revisits Harold Garfinkel’s analyses of actual decision-making behavior amongst jurors in court proceedings and Ludwig Wittgenstein’s reflections on rule-following to develop this critical perspective on decision-making necessities in contemporary culture and everyday (...) life. (shrink)