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The Complex Systems of Practice

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Practice, Learning and Change

Part of the book series: Professional and Practice-based Learning ((PPBL,volume 8))

Abstract

Complexity, as it is usually understood, is based on non-linear but reductive Newtonian relations. This formulation of complexity limits its value to social theorising, including the theorising of human practices. However, if complexity is understood to be based on non-linear but complex relations, for which Deweyan trans-actions can stand as an exemplar, it can provide an onto-epistemological framework for the consideration of living systems, including those of practice. This framework allows for a non-reductive conceptualisation of practice that encompasses both individual and social aspects of human functioning. In this chapter, it is used to focus on the workings of the co-present group, that nexus of complex relations where meaning is produced from affective processing and where the social, including practice, is created and individuals learn.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences, University of Technology, Sydney, Sydney, Australia

    Jeanette Lancaster

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  1. Jeanette Lancaster
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Correspondence to Jeanette Lancaster .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. , Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, University of Technology, Sydney, Broadway 15, Ultimo, NSW, 2007, Australia

    Paul Hager

  2. , Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, University of Technology, Sydney, Broadway 15, Ultimo, NSW, 2007, Australia

    Alison Lee

  3. , Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, University of Technology, Sydney, Broadway 15, Ultimo, NSW, 2007, Australia

    Ann Reich

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Lancaster, J. (2012). The Complex Systems of Practice. In: Hager, P., Lee, A., Reich, A. (eds) Practice, Learning and Change. Professional and Practice-based Learning, vol 8. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4774-6_8

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