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This chapter analyzes the causal dimension to multi-level selection theory. Particular attention is paid to the idea that direct selection at one hierarchical level may generate, as a side effect, a character-fitness covariance at a different level, and thus the appearance of direct selection at that level. Such ‘cross-level’ byproducts lie at the heart of the levels of selection problem and show that Price's equation cannot be an infallible guide to determining the level(s) at which selection is acting. The nature of cross-level byproducts in MLS1 and MLS2 is examined, and the statistical technique known as contextual analysis, which can be used to detect cross-level byproducts, is explored.

What explains whether citizens hold the government accountable for its performance in office? In addressing this question, this chapter argues for a broader investigation of how political context shapes the performance-based vote. For one, analyses should take both contextual- and individual-level heterogeneity into account. Second, theory development and empirical research should consider performance-based vote as a component of the voter's calculus overall. And third, in order to control for issue salience, retrospective evaluations should be measured in general rather than specific terms. These principles are put in practice using data from thirty-five electoral contexts. This chapter finds that retrospective assessments of government performance matter more for vote choice when policy responsibility is concentrated and when the party system provides for a range of choices. Yet the chapter also shows that context affects whether voters become informed, with publics better informed in more complex institutional contexts. Finally, results indicate that political information shapes the calculus of voting. Low-informed individuals place more emphasis on performance-based voting, while party policy appeals matter more for the highly informed. Overall, chapter findings illustrate how factors, both macro and micro, condition the performance vote and, by extension, political accountability.

This chapter discusses two new approaches to the analysis of narrative: critical narrative analysis and contextual discursive analysis. It examines each approach in relation to its theoretical orientation, central question, major concepts, and orientation to method. Each approach is illustrated with the work of the scholar who developed the method. Critical narrative analysis draws on psychosocial studies, constructionist theory, and psycho-analytic theory. The commonalities and divergences between critical narrative analysis and psychoanalysis are noted. Contextual discursive analysis emphasizes, by way of comparison, the societal genres and cultural stories on which discourse depends and, drawing on Kristeva's concept of the abject, on the ways in which individuals seek to represent what they cannot say symbolically. The limitations and strengths of each method are also reviewed.

This chapter explores the modeling of multilevel selection (MLS) – and the related concepts of group selection and kin selection – using variance partitioning methods, using the Price equation to elucidate basic issues within MLS theory. An expansion of this theory, based on contextual analysis and direct fitness, is used to show that kin selection and MLS selection have the same mathematical roots, although they are not identical. Kin selection theory is oriented towards identifying the optimal group and individual level traits that maximize the fitness of an organism, while MLS theory is oriented towards identifying the rate of evolution of the group and individual level traits in a specified situation. Because of these differences, kin selection and group selection can be considered as complementary approaches. The chapter also addresses why heritable variation at one level often bears little relation to heritable variation at other levels. It is shown that interactions among units (e.g., individuals) cannot contribute to a response to selection at that level, but can contribute to response to selection at a higher level (e.g., the population). Thus, the response to selection at one level can be qualitatively different than the response to selection at other levels.

This chapter extends many of the results from Chapter 29 on single trait-fitness associations to the multiple trait setting. It examines the estimate of multivariate fitness surfaces, starting with quadratic surfaces and then moving to nonparametric versions (which assume no a prior functional form). It also examines path analysis, the analysis of missing data, and multilevel selection.

The introduction defines the Nueva Figuración movement and gives an overview of the group's shifting reputation, from initial fame in Buenos Aires in the early 1960s to regional importance, limited international recognition in the middle 1960s, and subsequent decline. Frank argues for reconsideration of New Figuration as part of a wider reassessment of the worldwide cosmopolitan development of modern art. The best method for such reassessment, Frank argues, is contextual analysis because many of the Nueva Figuración artists’ works refer both directly and indirectly to contemporary events, cultural products, and sociological trends. Drawing on the work of Carl Schmitt, who first defined Nueva Figuración, and of Giorgio Agamben, who later elaborated on it, Frank describes its temporal backdrop in Argentina as a “state of exception.” The introduction closes on Frank’s summary development of the chronological organization of succeeding chapters.

This chapter traces the genealogy of concepts employed in research on the postcommunist region to uncover the ideological commitments they import into analysis. It first considers some of the ways in which social justice has been understood in postsocialist studies, how this has been shaped by the ethos of Europe, and how social science contributes to the forms of governmentality emerging in postsocialist states. It then offers four methodological principles that help in thinking about postsocialist forms of social justice. These focus on the importance of contingent relations, hinterlands and contextual analysis, subtraction (or keeping things as simple as they need to be but not simpler) and emergence.

At the heart of the debate concerning PCD as an adaptation lies the levels of selection question. PCD can only be selected for if something other than the dying cell is the target of selection. This chapter examines the possibilities. The importance of how terms like ‘gene’ or ‘group’ are defined and interpreted is discussed. In the gene-centric view, PCD is an adaptation only when the PCD gene is also a ‘selfish gene’. In these instances, selfish is used in the narrow sense such as in mobile genetic elements or replicons like plasmids. PCD can also be driven by kin selection or group selection, depending on relatedness and the cost / benefits to relatives or structured groups. The Price equation is used to formulate the question of group selection and PCD. The data from fitness and selection experiments are analyzed using a multilevel selection type 1 (MLS1) framework. A contextual analysis approach is included to separate individual cell selection from group level selection.

This chapter develops a conceptual framework for systematic description and analysis of prime-ministerial leadership. It focuses particularly on the issue of the power of prime ministers. The author proposes that to understand that power and its successful deployment demands far more than an institutional analysis of prime ministers’ authority resources, it also requires an understanding of the personality (motives, world views, skills) and styles of individual office-holders, as well as a systematic analysis of how the (political, economic, cultural) context in which they operate shapes and constrains their power chances. The argument is illustrated by a comparative examination of the prime-ministerial leadership of Gordon Brown (United Kingdom), Stephen Harper (Canada), Kevin Rudd (Australia) and John Key (New Zealand) during the Global Financial Crisis of the late 2000s.

The purpose of this book is to provide an exploration of the role of context and action in the broader field of organization and management theory, illustrated by examples from health care research. In their own right, both context and action are essential theoretical concepts rooted in philosophical reflections. Moreover, they pose potential methodological challenges to research in the fields of organization and management. The context–action relationship deals with issues relating to questions such as what is organizational change and how can we study it empirically? How are macro- and microlevel events or actions connected, and how do they influence and co-constitute each other through their relationships across analytical levels? The book distinguishes between context as a theoretical construct, on the one hand, and as methodological approach (i.e., how we operationalize and use the concept in the research process) on the other.