Let's get Practical, or Let's get Theoretical?

This paper sets out to investigate if and how scholarly theoretical knowledge regarding working life differs from practical knowledge, and what can be understood by theory and practice. Theory and practice are often contrasted. However, this paper critiques the contrast in order to explore the relationship between theoretical and practical knowledge in working life and organization in ways that do not assume dichotomies. The article conceptually examines different forms of knowledge production in working life and organizational research in relation to researchers’ objectives as well as ontological, epistemological, and methodological presumptions. It explains how theory and practice have been conceived differently and exemplifies different types of theorizing in contemporary research. Furthermore, this paper demonstrates that researchers have different normative priorities and emphasizes the importance of realizing this in order to better understand the relationship between theoretical knowledge and practice.