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This paper presents a theory of literacy as social practice in the form of six propositions about the nature of literacy. The starting-point is that literacy is best understood as a set of social practices ; these are observable in events which are mediated by written texts. This offers a powerful way of conceptualizing the link between the activities of reading and writing and the social structures in which they are embedded. This means that, within a given culture, there are different literacies associated with different domains of life. Literacy practices are patterned by social institutions and power relationships, and some literacies are more dominant than other more vernacular ones. This framework was used in an ethnographic study carried out by the authors in Lancaster, England (Barton, D. & M. Hamilton, 1998. Local literacies : reading and writing in one community, London : Routledge). The concept of vernacular literacies provides a useful summary term for much of what was uncovered in that study. The paper then identifies radical changes in the organization of social life and technologies of communication which are affecting contemporary practices.