Tacit transmission. Towards a praxeological account of transmission process in socialization

The article deals with Bourdieu's concept of bodily and practical transmission of schemes and dispositions in processes of socialization. This concept is being discussed against the backdrop of a current debate on theories of social practices. In this debate empirical, methodical and methodological questions concerning the concrete acts and processes of conferring schemes, dispositions and patterns take center stage. How do they get into individuals? Whereas praxeological approaches like Bourdieu's are accused of only metaphorically dealing with this questions, actually leaving them unanswered, some of his most vital analytical ideas like 'implicit learning', Practical mimesis' and 'unconscious imitation' seem to be corroborated by current research in neurophysiology ("mirror neurons"). The article traces some of the basic arguments of this criticism and anti-criticism. Relating to practice-theoretical approaches a concept of structure-transmission by participating in social practices is sketched out. With regard to the analysis of concrete bodily and practical processes of transmission the article pleads for more ethnography in research on socialization.