Abstract
In concert with transactionalism, we argue in this chapter that occupational science must pay greater attention to the complex ways that occupation is situated within contexts. Working from previous critiques that Dewey did not adequately attend to the ways that power relations impact on various actors’ possibilities for action, we present two theoretical lenses that can be drawn upon to consider how social power relations shape transactions and, in turn, how occupations are always politically, socially, culturally and historically situated. In particular, we delineate concepts from two bodies of critically located social theories, specifically, governmentality studies and Bourdieu’s theory of practice, and subsequently apply them to examine the situated nature of occupation in relation to the contemporary governing of retirement and the negotiation of integration following international migration. Both of these theoretical lenses emphasize the productive nature of power and how its enactment differentially shapes what people and collectives come to take for granted regarding what they themselves and others should do. We argue that these lenses can be applied, in concert with transactionalism, to develop complex understandings of the situated nature of occupation and contribute to social change aimed at creating more equitable possibilities for occupation.
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Rudman, D.L., Huot, S. (2013). Conceptual Insights for Expanding Thinking Regarding the Situated Nature of Occupation. In: Cutchin, M., Dickie, V. (eds) Transactional Perspectives on Occupation. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4429-5_5
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