The continued growth of aviation poses a major challenge to climate change mitigation. Many argue that absolute reductions in greenhouse gas emissions will not be possible without restricting demand and call for fundamental changes in travel patterns, particularly flying shorter distances. However, research shows that voluntary behaviour change in this area is unlikely: even those who express concern over aviation emissions are unwilling to sacrifice their travel plans for the sake of the environment. It has been argued, therefore, that researchers and policy makers should direct their attention to the collective nature of unsustainable air travel, rather than blaming individual passengers for their “choices”. This thesis provides an in-depth and socially situated understanding of long-haul flying within the gap year context, which is an increasingly popular activity for the British youth. Drawing on Giddens’s structuration theory and using data from a study, which employed a variety of qualitative research methods, this thesis first positions the gap year as a social practice, characterized by shared social meanings, norms and resources; second, it explores factors influencing its current long-haul character; and third, examines the role of agency in gap year participation and mobility decisions. The findings suggest that travel to (often several) long-haul destinations is a particularly desirable, appropriate and convenient way of “doing a gap year” and that opportunities for making more sustainable choices, whilst not completely absent, are constrained. Moreover, the rules and resources that form the terrain for action for prospective gap year takers are shaped by numerous networked agents. As such, this thesis joins the calls for redefining the problem of unsustainable mobility from that of individual “choice” to collective travel practices. Strong structuration is suggested as a particularly useful conceptual framework to study non-routine forms of travel, such as gap years. Policy implications are discussed, specifically potential interventions that could shift the gap year practice into a more sustainable trajectory, or substitute it for a less carbon-intensive equivalent.

Over the past two decades, translation workplaces have been substantially transformed by technological developments (Drugan 2013; Risku et al. 2013), and by the emergence of production networks in which a language service provider (LSP) acts as an intermediary between translator and client (Abdallah and Koskinen 2007; Abdallah 2012). However, there is little research into how technologies are integrated in the various translation workplaces found in production networks. My research aims at enhancing our understanding of translation project management and translation quality in production networks by conceptualising project management as a practice (Shove et al. 2012). For this empirical study, a data set was collected based on 60 hours of workplace observations within a UK-based LSP and 10 semi-structured interviews with four project managers (PMs) and one vendor manager (VM). Drawing on concepts from practice theory, the study analyses routinised enactments of the practice by PMs, their integration of information technologies into such enactments, their understanding of translation quality, and their strategies to achieve quality in the translation production process. I propose that the practice of translation project management is deeply embedded into a larger complex of interdependent translation production practices. A practice-theoretical framework emphasises the socio-material and collective nature of the practice. My study demonstrates that project management is a joint effort between PMs and other actors in translation production. Based on an analysis of how PMs use CAT tools and an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system when they are managing translation projects, I argue that technologies are inextricably linked with enactments of production practices, and that they form part of the social structures surrounding the practice. The application of practice theory affords a new understanding of skills, or competence, in which the engagement in professional activities is vital, and in which building competence is an ongoing process. Finally, I suggest that buyers of translation products, i.e. clients, substantially contribute to translation quality, as PMs carry out project management based on the notion of translation as a service.

The local level has gained prominence in climate policy and governance in recent years as it is increasingly perceived as a privileged arena for policy experimentation and social and institutional innovation. However, the success of local climate governance in industrialized countries has been limited. One reason may be that local communities focus too much on strategies of technology-oriented ecological modernization and individual behavior change and too little on strategies that target unsustainable social practices and their embeddedness in complex socioeconomic patterns. In this paper we assess and compare the strategies of "low-carbon municipalities" (top-down initiatives) and those of "intentional communities" (bottom-up initiatives). We were interested to determine to what extent and in which ways each community type intervenes in social practices to curb carbon emissions and to explore the scope for further and deeper interventions on the local level. Using an analytical framework based on social practice theory we identify characteristic patterns of intervention for each community type. We find that low-carbon municipalities face difficulties in transforming carbon-intensive social practices. While offering some additional low-carbon choices, their ability to reduce carbon-intensive practices is very limited. Their focus on efficiency and individual choice shows little transformative potential. Intentional communities, by contrast, have more institutional and organizational options to intervene in the web of social practices. Finally, we explore to what extent low-carbon municipalities can learn from intentional communities and propose strategies of hybridization for policy innovation to combine the strengths of both models.

Cette thèse analyse la fabrication de la décision publique à partir de la politique d’armement de la France de la fin de la Seconde Guerre mondiale au milieu des années 2010. Cet objet d’étude est interrogé par la problématique des trois « variétés » de la décision. Chaque « variété » des décisions prises par la France est située à une échelle d’action publique distincte : nationale, européenne et mondiale. Pourquoi la France choisit-elle d’agir simultanément dans le cadre national et de collaborer avec des acteurs internationaux en Europe et dans le monde pour acquérir du matériel de guerre ? Pour y répondre, un modèle explicatif « configurationnel » est mobilisé selon lequel l’interdépendance sociale génère un effet politique. Ce modèle explicatif est élaboré à deux niveaux. Au niveau local de l’action, l’établissement d’une « pratique » spécifique (l’autarcie, la coopération ou l’importation) conditionne le choix de la France d’acquérir un armement d’une des trois variétés de la décision. Au niveau général de la théorie, un type de « configuration » (« amalgamée », « désencastrée » ou « inclusive ») explique l’établissement de ladite pratique. Le mécanisme causal configurationnel n’est pas considéré comme la variable explicative des trois variétés de la décision mais comme une condition explicative parmi d’autres. Pour vérifier empiriquement la validité de ce mécanisme explicatif, 161 entretiens semi-directifs ont été réalisés et deux méthodes sont utilisées : le « practice tracing » et la comparaison de trois cas d’étude « les plus similaires », l’avion de combat français Rafale, l’avion de transport multinational A400M et le drone militaire américain Reaper. / This thesis analyzes decision-making within the French defense procurement sector from the end of the Second World to the present. The study examines the puzzle of three ‘varieties’ of decision evidenced within the armaments industry during this period. Each variety of decision is instantiated in a separate public sphere: national, regional and international. Why has France made procurement decisions at the national level and collaborated with international actors, both in Europe and globally, to acquire war materiel? In response, a "configurational" model is presented that posits that the varying degree of social interdependence to be found within this sector generates different decision outcomes. This explanatory model is developed at two levels. On a practical level, the establishment of a particular procurement ‘practice’ (autarky, cooperation or importation) conditions whether or not France acquires weapons at the national, regional or international level. On a general theoretical level, the type of ‘configuration’ (‘amalgamated’, ‘disembedded’ or ‘inclusive’) explains the formation of that practice. The configurational causal mechanism is not considered the independent explanatory variable of the three varieties of decision but rather an explanatory condition, among others. To empirically test the validity of this explanatory mechanism, 161 semi-structured interviews were conducted and two methods are used: ‘practice tracing’, a type of process tracing, and a ‘most-similar’ case comparison of three separate acquisitions – the French combat aircraft Rafale, the multinational transportation aircraft A400M and the American Reaper drone.

In this discussion paper we review and contrast alternative theories of consumption in terms of the intellectual basis they provide for understanding sustainable behaviours. A defining aspect of the modern literature in this field is the emphasis on the individual as a volitional agent who engages wilfully in the decision to consume. This is in stark contrast to earlier literature that concentrated on the structural lock-in of individuals to undesirable consumption patterns and the powers of corporations in creating consumer demand for their products and services. We argue that, in order to unravel consumption in its full complexity, and as a matter of utmost importance, understanding must include both the buy-in of individual agents, whose consumption activities contribute to their self-identity, and the structure imposed by the institutions of society, that frame the context of actors' decisions. More than this, any move away from the current unsustainable consumption patterns prevalent in modern societies requires a richer conceptualisation of consumption that involves an awareness and examination of the political economy in which humans live. / Series: SRE - Discussion Papers

In the social sciences, research on black male youth (BMY) experiences in traditional academic settings has been limited to their failure to achieve due to their perceived dysfunctional family structure, gender and ethnic identity, social class, and social structural constraints. Characterized by the anthropological investigation into youth cultural, Legitimate Peripheral Participation (LPP) framework, a theory of practice that includes an alternative framework of learning, and a mixed method approach with an emphasis on capturing the youth perspective through a PhotoVoice process, this research captures a dimension of BMY educational experiences by describing how exclusion from traditional academic settings is produced. Exclusion, as described in this research, is the stage of academic, social and cultural separation leading up to a student dropping out of school. Using case profiles of five BMY who have been traditionally excluded from public schools, this research focuses on how the social forces, such as family structure, gender, ethnicity, social class, and social structural constraints, interact to produce said exclusion. The results of this research indicate that the production of exclusion is an obscure process that is located in and hidden behind: traditional views of learning of BMY and adult stakeholders in education, unexamined assumptions and biases of BMY and adult stakeholders in education, and State sponsored policies and regulations. The implications of this research are discussed, in terms of theory and application. Applied anthropologist in education must take a theoretical role in uncovering ingrained belief systems and unexamined paradigms that control our educational institutions. To move applied anthropology into the next dimension, this study also addresses the need for interdisciplinary collaboration to create and implement sustainable solutions for the various issues present in United States’ educational institutions.

This study explores the relationship between tourism, the nutrition transition, and prenatal dietary practices in the Monteverde Zone, Costa Rica. This rural tourism community, located in the central highlands of Costa Rica, has seen rapid growth and development since the tourism boom in the early 1990s, leading to changes in the local food system and increased food insecurity. This investigation added to this work by identifying the ways that prenatal dietary practices have shifted over time in the context of increased tourism and the concomitant nutrition transition, and by describing the relationship between food insecurity and nutritional status among pregnant women. In applying a critical biocultural approach, this study drew on both quantitative and qualitative methods. Pregnant women were recruited to participant in twenty-four hour diet recalls (n=21), the Household Food Insecurity and Access Scales (n=20), and semi-structured interviews (n=22). Women who had older children were also recruited for semi-structured interviews (n=20) to explore prenatal dietary practices and decision-making over time. Focus groups (N=2, n=15) and surveys with a free listing component (n=52) were administered to better understand the cultural construction of nutrition in this region, and how tourism and the nutrition transition have interacted with the local dietary norms. Overall this study found that there was a relationship between tourism, the nutrition transition, and diet, although findings suggest that pregnant women may be buffered from these effects by cultural factors. Food insecurity was present in the sample (n=7) and was associated with numerous variables, including saturated fat and zinc intake.

Abstract The present study develops our understanding of consumers’ emerging interest in novel mobile services by adopting two approaches. First, structural equation modeling is used as a statistical tool to create a context-sensitive model for consumer acceptance of novel mobile services. Secondly, the study creates an interpretive framework of contemporary consumer culture to help understand how consumers construct their emerging practices in novel mobile services based on their actual experiences. The empirical data was gathered at a Housing Fair, where a Mobile Fair Diary was piloted, and it is that Mobile Fair Diary application that provides the selected tool of the empirical study. Therefore, real user experience played a significant role in how our consumers perceived mobile services and the way the cultural discourse was produced. The model developed indicates that performance expectancy, effort expectancy, anxiety, trust and attitude have an impact on consumers’ intention to use mobile services. Furthermore, the various representations related to mobile services were identified in order to understand emerging practices. Consumers are likely to change the routines involved in the management of information if useful alternatives are available to them. An ongoing insecurity emerging from technology change is often a characteristic of the contemporary life of consumers. On the one hand, consumers are dependent on technology, but on the other hand, do not fully understand it. Therefore, consumers have to be active to keep up with the continuous changes going on around them. Furthermore, consumers need support from the service provider and their social context. Consumers should also believe in their own capability to learn and their power to make choices, which will result in changes to their practices.

The world faces human-made hazardous weather events such as heat waves, droughts, floods andwildfires in dimensions which have never been seen before. A crucial contributor to this negative trendis the constantly growing transportation sector. In addition, most urban regions suffer from trafficcongestions which lead among others to local emissions, the loss of time and noise pollution. Onepromising approach to reduce the amount of transport related emissions is ride-sharing. This paperfocuses on the possibilities and barriers of ride-sharing for the daily commute to and from work. To gainreliably results, a real-life test trial was implemented at a Swedish corporation. The gatheredquantitative and qualitative datasets were analysed with the framework of Social Practice Theory, whichsplits up the practice into its three elements of materials, meanings and competences and therebydevelops revealing insights. The reason for the low participation rate during the test trial can be tracedback to the potential loss of flexibility. Despite a high environmental awareness and a deep trust relationto colleagues, the potential loss of flexibility was for most participants the crucial factor to not start ridesharing.Even though individuals’ opinions were very positive towards the idea of ride-sharing, theparticipation rate during the real-life study shows that the perception of ride-sharing highly derivatesfrom the action.

There has been much enthusiasm over the power of online brand communities (OBCs). Ensuring that OBCs achieve their potential, however, is a challenge. Adopting the view that an OBC is a social entity at its core, this study examines consumers’ perceptions of OBCs and how consumers manage the continuous tension between social-related and brand-related aspects of OBCs through brand-related and non-brand-related social practices. The researcher took a symbolic interactionist approach and qualitative data were collected using ethnography and in-depth interviews from OBC participants in South Korea. The study was divided into two phases: the exploratory phase and the main study. In the first stage the researcher inspected OBCs and focused on understanding the social context by investigating four OBCs in the fashion and digital camera categories. Evidence of an OBC as a virtual third place (VTP) in the consumer’s mind was revealed. A typology was developed and social practices were revealed and defined. In the main study the researcher developed the framework of brand meaning negotiation and revealed how consumers symbolically interact and negotiate brand meaning through social practices. The tension between social-related and the brand-related aspects during this process was illustrated. The key contributions of this research are as follows. Firstly, the study reveals that an OBC has a strong VTP quality, whereby consumers hate to leave. Second, the study extends our understanding of an OBC by categorising consumers’ different perceptions of OBCs according to their attachment to the brand, the OBC and other participants. Third, the study reveals underlying social practices within OBCs that show the characteristics of a collectivistic culture. The study also fills the research gap by examining the brand meaning negotiation process and suggesting a framework that shows how underlying practices link brand and social-related aspects of an OBC together, which was formerly a “black box”. Lastly, it demonstrates that social bonds, regardless of their importance for making an OBC thrive, can be a double-edged sword and should be balanced carefully with brand-related practice.