Vol. 1 (2025)
Practice Theory: Past, Present, Future

Columns

On War and Practice Theory: Difficulties, Dangers, and Unease

Published 01-03-2025

  • Torik Holmes

Torik Holmes
Sociology and the Sustainable Consumption Institute, University of Manchester

A picture of a column with a green background.

Abstract

In this short piece for the Columns section of the journal, Torik Holmes considers war as under-explored terrain and asks what the potential might be for a practice theoretical analysis of armed conflict. In doing so, he discusses how a conceptual focus on practices rather than individuals unsettles conventional narratives of blame and responsibility and raises difficult ethical questions about the uses and consequences of social theories.

Keywords

ethics, ontology, social theory, unease, war

PDF HTML

Author Biography

Torik Holmes

Torik Holmes is Hallsworth Research Fellow at the Sustainable Consumption Institute and Sociology Department at the University of Manchester. His research focuses on sustainable transitions. He is currently examining the manifold concerns and challenges wrapped up with plastics recycling. Torik has written about practices in relation to plastics recycling, energy demand and infrastructure, the sociology of markets, and the unsustainable consequences of responses to the COVID-19 pandemic.