This book addresses key issues in social theory such as the basic structures of social life, the character of human activity, and the nature of individuality. Drawing on the work of Wittgenstein, the author develops an account of social existence that argues that social practices are the fundamental phenomenon in social life. This approach, while respecting the multiplicity and heterogeneity emphasized in recent social thought, offers new insight into the social constitution of individuals, surpassing and critiquing the existing practice theories of Bourdieu, Giddens, and Lyotard. The author thereby shows the relevance of Wittgenstein's work to a range of social theoretic issues to which it hitherto has not been applied. The book will be of particular interest to social and continental philosophers, philosophers of the social sciences, a wide range of social theorists in sociology and political science, as well as some literary theorists.

Abbreviations; Preface and acknowledgements; 1. The emergence of practice; 2. Mind/action/body; 3. The social constitution of mind/action and body; 4. Social practices; 5. Dimensions of practice theory; 6. Practices and sociality; Postscript: individual and totality; Notes; References; Index.