Abstract
In theories of social practice, energy consumption is commonly understood to follow from social practices performed by humans. Yet smart home technologies and automation more broadly raise questions about this conceptualisation. This chapter rethinks theories of practice to include automated devices and systems not only as the material arrangements within which humans perform practices (following Schatzki), but as carriers and performers of practices. It takes a historical perspective to describe different types of smart home automation and their co-evolution with the performance of everyday practices. The chapter argues that by bringing Latour’s symmetrical anthropology into theories of practice, humans and non-humans can be included as part of both the material arrangements and as possible performers of practices.
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Notes
- 1.
https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/automation, accessed October 30, 2017.
- 2.
https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/machine_1#machine_1__4, accessed October 30, 2017.
- 3.
https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/smart_home, accessed October 30, 2017.
- 4.
When Schatzki (2010) makes this comparison to ANT, he takes Latour as an example, though he does this in a broad approach, and rather than referring to any single texts from Latour, Schatzki writes in general about what Latour means. In my reference to the arguments from Schatzki, I thus do the same.
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Acknowledgements
This chapter was written as part of the UserTEC project, financed by Innovation Fund Denmark. I am very grateful for comments and discussion during the work with good colleagues in the Research Group of Sustainable Cities and Housing, especially Mette Mechlenborg and Line V. Madsen, as well as very helpful comments from Yolande Strengers and Cecily Maller, as editors of this book.
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Gram-Hanssen, K. (2019). Automation, Smart Homes and Symmetrical Anthropology: Non-humans as Performers of Practices?. In: Maller, C., Strengers, Y. (eds) Social Practices and Dynamic Non-Humans. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-92189-1_12
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-92189-1_12
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