Social life and the material world: a reappraisal of practice theory in Archaeology
Social life and the material world: a reappraisal of practice theory in Archaeology

Summary/Abstract: This paper revisits the role of practice theory in shaping archaeological understandings of sociality and materiality. It argues that theories of practice, as developed by Giddens, Bourdieu and subsequent scholars, remain indispensable for analysing the interplay between society and the material world. Against the background of recent post-humanist and symmetrical approaches that decentre human agency and promote distributed or material agencies, this study maintains a critical stance towards such ‘turns’ that risk dehumanising archaeology. Instead, it emphasises the enduring relevance of practice-based perspectives that view social life as constituted through human activities intertwined with material arrangements, without dissolving the distinctive richness of human intentionality and agency. By engaging with both classical and contemporary debates, the paper highlights archaeology’s long-standing yet often overlooked contribution to theorising material culture and critiques the recurrent reinvention of these concerns within the broader ‘material turn’. Ultimately, it calls for reaffirming the critical and interpretive potential of practice theory as a humanist framework for understanding the social and material conditions of past life.

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