A practice-oriented capabilities perspective for critical social marketing

This study considers the implications for critical social marketing scholarship of a practice-oriented capabilities perspective for reframing social problems and intervention. Following advances in sociology of consumption and health research, practice theory has been noted in social marketing scholarship as having distinct conceptual benefits for reframing societal problems and intervention approaches in a way that avoids responsibilizing individuals and relying on a ‘deficit’ model of behaviour change. However, extant practice theory literature has failed to satisfactorily account for inequalities through a differentiated account of practice exclusion. This paper draws on a capabilities perspective to explore empirical material from a qualitative study of low socio-economic status mothers in the UK and their exclusion from leisure time physical activity (LTPA) practices. Analysis found that temporal, support and energy capabilities are required for recruitment to LTPA, despite opportunities for participation and practitioner desire. This illuminates a novel and expanded role for social marketing in social change and contributes to critical social marketing scholarship seeking to offer alternatives to individualism.