Practice Theory and the Biosocial

Practice Theory and the Biosocial - Microbes, Matter and Milieu shows what recent developments in social theory bring to questions about how bacteria, viruses, microscopic materials and societies develop in tandem. The examples discussed - from urban infrastructures to the medieval plague and from antibiotic resistance to epigenetics -develop an account of how previous and present arrangements make some futures more likely than others and how unequal patterns of exposure and entanglement arise. This book aims to demonstrate the relevance of social and practice theories by overcoming classic distinctions between the very small and the very large, between agency and structure, and between nature and culture.

Elizabeth Shove is Professor of Sociology at Lancaster University and Fellow of the British Academy. She was co-director of the DEMAND Centre (Dynamics of Energy, Mobility and Demand) from 2013-2019. Elizabeth has written, co-authored or edited numerous books and papers, including Connecting Practices: Large Topics in Society and Social Theory, the Nexus of Practices (Taylor and Francis, 2022), and The Dynamics of Social Practice: Everyday Life and How It Changes (SAGE, 2012).