Abstract
This developmental paper takes issue with (hubristic?) approaches to practice theory that argue that analysis of social settings such as organisations may be understood and explained solely through the concept of practices, without inclusion of human persons as agentic. After listing various problems with such a view, the paper goes on to sketch an alternative conceptual and theoretical framework, that include both practices and human persons as key concepts. The key conceptual elements are: the human Umwelt, the nature of human persons, the construal of socially significant behaviour by reference to practices and dialectically emergent social identities, and the concept of ‘hinges’ in Wittgenstein’s On Certainty. The paper concludes with discussion of key areas in organisation and management studies where the framework has potential utility, including the analysis of corporate and societal scandals such as that of the UK’s Post Office-Horizon case.