Chrisanthi Avgerou
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199263424
- eISBN:
- 9780191714252
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199263424.003.0003
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Organization Studies
This chapter examines the relationship of information systems innovation and organizational context, substantiating theoretically the position that technology innovation is inseparable from the ...
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This chapter examines the relationship of information systems innovation and organizational context, substantiating theoretically the position that technology innovation is inseparable from the social processes of organizational change. It traces relevant theoretical debates in the socio-technical stream of information systems research and the multidisciplinary study of technology and society, drawing mostly from the sociology of translation of the theory of actor-networks. Information systems innovation is seen as a process whereby particular actors in an organization succeed in translating their interests into the development and use of ICT applications. In this way, the outcomes of information system innovation are not determined by the properties of the technology, but result from contested interests in complex networks of actors and intermediaries.Less
This chapter examines the relationship of information systems innovation and organizational context, substantiating theoretically the position that technology innovation is inseparable from the social processes of organizational change. It traces relevant theoretical debates in the socio-technical stream of information systems research and the multidisciplinary study of technology and society, drawing mostly from the sociology of translation of the theory of actor-networks. Information systems innovation is seen as a process whereby particular actors in an organization succeed in translating their interests into the development and use of ICT applications. In this way, the outcomes of information system innovation are not determined by the properties of the technology, but result from contested interests in complex networks of actors and intermediaries.
Tor Hernes
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199594566
- eISBN:
- 9780191595721
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199594566.003.0009
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Organization Studies
In this chapter I present a comparison between Actor-Network Theory (ANT) and process thinking, with the aim of understanding the potential contribution of ANT to process-based process thinking. Such ...
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In this chapter I present a comparison between Actor-Network Theory (ANT) and process thinking, with the aim of understanding the potential contribution of ANT to process-based process thinking. Such a comparison is important, given the increased focus on process thinking and the growing interest in ANT in process thinking. I suggest three topics of comparison between the two, all of which are central to process thinking. They are as follows: the becoming of things, heterogeneous relationality, and contingency and time. It seems clear from the comparison that ANT has much to offer process-based process thinking. Most importantly, ANT works from an ontology of becoming rather than assuming that entities can be defined in terms of pre-given competencies and capabilities. Where ANT has limitations for the study of organization is at the level of actor networks and their conceptualization of meaning making. I seek to address this by introducing the notion of meaning structures. ANT tends to take a flat view of actor networks, where cohesion depends on the strength of associations between actors and the meaning that actors make of their respective connections, rather than the wholeness of the network. I suggest that meaning structures, inherent to the process thinking represented in pragmatism and phenomenology, may be used to adapt ANT, making it more appropriate for process-based process thinking. Meaning structures imply that actors sense both wholeness and parts, enabling meaning making to transcend the level of local connections. Whereas this capacity is reserved to human actors, it does not necessarily violate the ANT principle of symmetry between human and material actors.Less
In this chapter I present a comparison between Actor-Network Theory (ANT) and process thinking, with the aim of understanding the potential contribution of ANT to process-based process thinking. Such a comparison is important, given the increased focus on process thinking and the growing interest in ANT in process thinking. I suggest three topics of comparison between the two, all of which are central to process thinking. They are as follows: the becoming of things, heterogeneous relationality, and contingency and time. It seems clear from the comparison that ANT has much to offer process-based process thinking. Most importantly, ANT works from an ontology of becoming rather than assuming that entities can be defined in terms of pre-given competencies and capabilities. Where ANT has limitations for the study of organization is at the level of actor networks and their conceptualization of meaning making. I seek to address this by introducing the notion of meaning structures. ANT tends to take a flat view of actor networks, where cohesion depends on the strength of associations between actors and the meaning that actors make of their respective connections, rather than the wholeness of the network. I suggest that meaning structures, inherent to the process thinking represented in pragmatism and phenomenology, may be used to adapt ANT, making it more appropriate for process-based process thinking. Meaning structures imply that actors sense both wholeness and parts, enabling meaning making to transcend the level of local connections. Whereas this capacity is reserved to human actors, it does not necessarily violate the ANT principle of symmetry between human and material actors.
Keith Grint
- Published in print:
- 1997
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198775003
- eISBN:
- 9780191695346
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198775003.001.0001
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Organization Studies, HRM / IR
This book is designed for those who find current management orthodoxies inadequate, who are interested in alternative ideas and how they might be applied to management practice, but are not ...
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This book is designed for those who find current management orthodoxies inadequate, who are interested in alternative ideas and how they might be applied to management practice, but are not enthralled by the esoteric world of theoretical books about theory. This book offers a bridge between the ‘esoteric’ world of theory and the practical world of management by exploring and illustrating some current theories (Fuzzy Logic, Actor-Network Theory, Chaos Theory, Constructivism etc.) through discussion of some everyday management issues (strategic decision making, appraisals, negotiation, leadership, culture, and motivation).Less
This book is designed for those who find current management orthodoxies inadequate, who are interested in alternative ideas and how they might be applied to management practice, but are not enthralled by the esoteric world of theoretical books about theory. This book offers a bridge between the ‘esoteric’ world of theory and the practical world of management by exploring and illustrating some current theories (Fuzzy Logic, Actor-Network Theory, Chaos Theory, Constructivism etc.) through discussion of some everyday management issues (strategic decision making, appraisals, negotiation, leadership, culture, and motivation).
Grahame F. Thompson
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780198775270
- eISBN:
- 9780191710513
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198775270.003.0003
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Organization Studies
This chapter compares and analyses three theoretically driven approaches to the analysis of networks: social network analysis (SNA), transaction cost analysis (TCA), and actor-network theory (ANT). ...
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This chapter compares and analyses three theoretically driven approaches to the analysis of networks: social network analysis (SNA), transaction cost analysis (TCA), and actor-network theory (ANT). Each approach makes a claim to analysing hierarchies and markets as well. In the ANT approach, a network is not an intermediate form of organisation, but a set of relations between actors and techniques. Both ANT and SNA view network as an analytical tool that encompasses and explains both markets and hierarchies as variations of network structures. Only TCA offers an explicit defence of networks being intrinsically different from markets or hierarchies—in the way they coordinate and govern—but these differences can be conceptualised using a single analytical technique and transaction costs. This chapter examines the arguments against the ubiquity of TCA for the analysis of socio-economic coordination and governance, along with the ANT approach to market, organisation, and management, and interlocking directorates as an example of the SNA approach.Less
This chapter compares and analyses three theoretically driven approaches to the analysis of networks: social network analysis (SNA), transaction cost analysis (TCA), and actor-network theory (ANT). Each approach makes a claim to analysing hierarchies and markets as well. In the ANT approach, a network is not an intermediate form of organisation, but a set of relations between actors and techniques. Both ANT and SNA view network as an analytical tool that encompasses and explains both markets and hierarchies as variations of network structures. Only TCA offers an explicit defence of networks being intrinsically different from markets or hierarchies—in the way they coordinate and govern—but these differences can be conceptualised using a single analytical technique and transaction costs. This chapter examines the arguments against the ubiquity of TCA for the analysis of socio-economic coordination and governance, along with the ANT approach to market, organisation, and management, and interlocking directorates as an example of the SNA approach.
Paul Langley
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199236596
- eISBN:
- 9780191717079
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199236596.003.0002
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Financial Economics
This chapter sets out four key conceptual themes that provide the tools which help answer the question: how might we conceive of contemporary finance in such a way as to understand qualitative ...
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This chapter sets out four key conceptual themes that provide the tools which help answer the question: how might we conceive of contemporary finance in such a way as to understand qualitative transformations in everyday saving and borrowing routines that forge close relationships between the society and the financial markets? These key conceptual themes are financial networks, financial power, financial identity, and financial dissent. The chapter draws primarily on actor-network theory (ANT) aspects of the scholarship of Michel Foucault, and insights from writers of everyday life.Less
This chapter sets out four key conceptual themes that provide the tools which help answer the question: how might we conceive of contemporary finance in such a way as to understand qualitative transformations in everyday saving and borrowing routines that forge close relationships between the society and the financial markets? These key conceptual themes are financial networks, financial power, financial identity, and financial dissent. The chapter draws primarily on actor-network theory (ANT) aspects of the scholarship of Michel Foucault, and insights from writers of everyday life.
Grahame F. Thompson
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780198775270
- eISBN:
- 9780191710513
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198775270.003.0001
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Organization Studies
This book brings some clarity to the discussion of networks. It tests the case as to whether it is possible to construct a clearly demarcated idea of a ‘network’ as a separable form of socio-economic ...
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This book brings some clarity to the discussion of networks. It tests the case as to whether it is possible to construct a clearly demarcated idea of a ‘network’ as a separable form of socio-economic coordination and governance mechanism with its own distinctive logic. In doing this, the primary contrast is to markets and hierarchies as alternative and already well-understood forms of such socio-economic coordination each with its own particular logic. Thus, the focus is on the domain of the socio-economic (which includes political aspects of networks), and it is about the organisational domain of the socio-economic. A distinction is made between network as a conceptual category and network as a social organisation. Three approaches to networks are considered: social network analysis, transaction cost analysis, and actor-network theory. Finally, the book explores the whole area of information and communications technology and networks and how they are argued to be radically transforming the nature of international relations.Less
This book brings some clarity to the discussion of networks. It tests the case as to whether it is possible to construct a clearly demarcated idea of a ‘network’ as a separable form of socio-economic coordination and governance mechanism with its own distinctive logic. In doing this, the primary contrast is to markets and hierarchies as alternative and already well-understood forms of such socio-economic coordination each with its own particular logic. Thus, the focus is on the domain of the socio-economic (which includes political aspects of networks), and it is about the organisational domain of the socio-economic. A distinction is made between network as a conceptual category and network as a social organisation. Three approaches to networks are considered: social network analysis, transaction cost analysis, and actor-network theory. Finally, the book explores the whole area of information and communications technology and networks and how they are argued to be radically transforming the nature of international relations.
KEITH CULVER and MICHAEL GIUDICE
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195370751
- eISBN:
- 9780199775903
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195370751.003.003
- Subject:
- Law, Philosophy of Law
This chapter returns to the method and purpose of analytical jurisprudence. It discusses the way analytical legal theorists have attempted to identify what they claim are necessary features of an ...
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This chapter returns to the method and purpose of analytical jurisprudence. It discusses the way analytical legal theorists have attempted to identify what they claim are necessary features of an admittedly contingent concept of law. It argues that the problems associated with lack of specification of the connection to actual social situations demonstrate how narrowly bootstrapped analytical legal theories are, supposing as they have that adequate data and experience of life under law are in hand such that a general jurisprudence can be advanced. It is not that bootstrapping itself is at fault, but only the way it has been carried out. The chapter offers a renewed view of the perspective of analytical legal theory, which emphasizes the conditions under which bootstrapping must be carried out in order to achieve a general jurisprudence that is balanced in its conceptual elaboration and descriptive-explanatory responsiveness to situations of life under law.Less
This chapter returns to the method and purpose of analytical jurisprudence. It discusses the way analytical legal theorists have attempted to identify what they claim are necessary features of an admittedly contingent concept of law. It argues that the problems associated with lack of specification of the connection to actual social situations demonstrate how narrowly bootstrapped analytical legal theories are, supposing as they have that adequate data and experience of life under law are in hand such that a general jurisprudence can be advanced. It is not that bootstrapping itself is at fault, but only the way it has been carried out. The chapter offers a renewed view of the perspective of analytical legal theory, which emphasizes the conditions under which bootstrapping must be carried out in order to achieve a general jurisprudence that is balanced in its conceptual elaboration and descriptive-explanatory responsiveness to situations of life under law.
Jordi Bascompte and Pedro Jordano
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691131269
- eISBN:
- 9781400848720
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691131269.003.0007
- Subject:
- Biology, Evolutionary Biology / Genetics
This epilogue summarizes key themes and presents some final thoughts. This book examined one of the most intriguing and central components of biodiversity: ecological interactions. The analysis has ...
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This epilogue summarizes key themes and presents some final thoughts. This book examined one of the most intriguing and central components of biodiversity: ecological interactions. The analysis has revealed some patterns in the structure of mutualistic networks that pervade their organization despite the variable environmental settings where they occur. Network theory describes an intermediate scenario to the extremes of highly specific one-on-one coevolution and largely intractable diffuse coevolution. Network theory also provides useful tools aimed at the identification of the key elements supporting these complex networks. Understanding the modular structure of the interaction networks is central to identifying the basic coevolutionary units.Less
This epilogue summarizes key themes and presents some final thoughts. This book examined one of the most intriguing and central components of biodiversity: ecological interactions. The analysis has revealed some patterns in the structure of mutualistic networks that pervade their organization despite the variable environmental settings where they occur. Network theory describes an intermediate scenario to the extremes of highly specific one-on-one coevolution and largely intractable diffuse coevolution. Network theory also provides useful tools aimed at the identification of the key elements supporting these complex networks. Understanding the modular structure of the interaction networks is central to identifying the basic coevolutionary units.
Grahame F. Thompson
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780198775270
- eISBN:
- 9780191710513
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198775270.003.0008
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Organization Studies
This book concludes by summing up the logic and limits of network forms of organisation. It has investigated the contemporary forms of network organisation as seen in the conceptual literature and in ...
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This book concludes by summing up the logic and limits of network forms of organisation. It has investigated the contemporary forms of network organisation as seen in the conceptual literature and in terms of their appearance in concrete empirical settings. The key features of the network model that describe how a certain range of social relations operate that specify a network model of socio-economic coordination and governance have been described. These practices do not operate in the same manner for either hierarchies or markets. The arguments against the actor-network theory of networks have been considered, along with social network analysis and its view of networks as relational organisations.Less
This book concludes by summing up the logic and limits of network forms of organisation. It has investigated the contemporary forms of network organisation as seen in the conceptual literature and in terms of their appearance in concrete empirical settings. The key features of the network model that describe how a certain range of social relations operate that specify a network model of socio-economic coordination and governance have been described. These practices do not operate in the same manner for either hierarchies or markets. The arguments against the actor-network theory of networks have been considered, along with social network analysis and its view of networks as relational organisations.
Louise Potvin and Carole Clavier
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199658039
- eISBN:
- 9780191765780
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199658039.003.0005
- Subject:
- Public Health and Epidemiology, Public Health, Epidemiology
Local, community-based action on the determinants of health that aims to reduce social health inequalities requires coordinated actions, mainly in the form of programmes that bring together actors ...
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Local, community-based action on the determinants of health that aims to reduce social health inequalities requires coordinated actions, mainly in the form of programmes that bring together actors from diverse spheres and with diverse interests. This chapter discusses the contribution and limits of the Actor-Network Theory to understand such issues of participation, partnership and intersectoral cooperation in health promotion research and practice. It draws on a broad range of collaborative research projects that have applied the Actor-Network Theory. Overall, this chapter develops four principles to conceptualize how intersectoral programmes work, and to conceptualize their governance. It shows how we translated this conceptualization into research practices, giving examples of the research methods and tools that we designed, based on the Actor-Network Theory, for actors involved in partnership situations. We then consider the utility and limitations of the theory for promoting reflection on such interventions.Less
Local, community-based action on the determinants of health that aims to reduce social health inequalities requires coordinated actions, mainly in the form of programmes that bring together actors from diverse spheres and with diverse interests. This chapter discusses the contribution and limits of the Actor-Network Theory to understand such issues of participation, partnership and intersectoral cooperation in health promotion research and practice. It draws on a broad range of collaborative research projects that have applied the Actor-Network Theory. Overall, this chapter develops four principles to conceptualize how intersectoral programmes work, and to conceptualize their governance. It shows how we translated this conceptualization into research practices, giving examples of the research methods and tools that we designed, based on the Actor-Network Theory, for actors involved in partnership situations. We then consider the utility and limitations of the theory for promoting reflection on such interventions.
Brian P. Bloomfield (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 1997
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198289395
- eISBN:
- 9780191684692
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198289395.001.0001
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Information Technology
This book is concerned with the ways in which organizations design, build and use information technology (IT) systems. In particular it looks at the interaction between these IT-centred activities ...
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This book is concerned with the ways in which organizations design, build and use information technology (IT) systems. In particular it looks at the interaction between these IT-centred activities and the broader management processes within organizations. The authors adopt a critical social science perspective on these issues, and are primarily concerned with advancing theoretical debates on how best to understand the related processes of technological and organizational change. To this end, the book examines and deploys recent work on power/knowledge, actor-network theory and critical organization theory. The result is an account of the nature and significance of information systems in organizations, which is an alternative perspective to pragmatic and recipe-based approaches to this topic that dominate much contemporary management literature on IT.Less
This book is concerned with the ways in which organizations design, build and use information technology (IT) systems. In particular it looks at the interaction between these IT-centred activities and the broader management processes within organizations. The authors adopt a critical social science perspective on these issues, and are primarily concerned with advancing theoretical debates on how best to understand the related processes of technological and organizational change. To this end, the book examines and deploys recent work on power/knowledge, actor-network theory and critical organization theory. The result is an account of the nature and significance of information systems in organizations, which is an alternative perspective to pragmatic and recipe-based approaches to this topic that dominate much contemporary management literature on IT.
Nicholas Jardine
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198250395
- eISBN:
- 9780191681288
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198250395.003.0009
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy, Philosophy of Science
This chapter considers other strategies for the legitimation of methods and beliefs whose prevalence and effectiveness cast doubt on the primacy of calibration against precedents and standards as ...
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This chapter considers other strategies for the legitimation of methods and beliefs whose prevalence and effectiveness cast doubt on the primacy of calibration against precedents and standards as arbitrator of methods and practices in the sciences. It looks at recent findings in the sociology and social history of the sciences that suggest that effective methods in securing consensuses in the sciences are generally neither calibrated nor such that they would survive genuine attempts at calibration. The chapter first considers a direct attack on the prevalence of genuine calibration. Then it looks into two sociological approaches to the study of closure of debate in the sciences: interest theory and network theory. Both theories entail major roles in the formation of consensus in the sciences for strategies of appeal to literary and aesthetic sensibilities.Less
This chapter considers other strategies for the legitimation of methods and beliefs whose prevalence and effectiveness cast doubt on the primacy of calibration against precedents and standards as arbitrator of methods and practices in the sciences. It looks at recent findings in the sociology and social history of the sciences that suggest that effective methods in securing consensuses in the sciences are generally neither calibrated nor such that they would survive genuine attempts at calibration. The chapter first considers a direct attack on the prevalence of genuine calibration. Then it looks into two sociological approaches to the study of closure of debate in the sciences: interest theory and network theory. Both theories entail major roles in the formation of consensus in the sciences for strategies of appeal to literary and aesthetic sensibilities.
Luciano Floridi
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- May 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199232383
- eISBN:
- 9780191594809
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199232383.003.0012
- Subject:
- Philosophy, General, Logic/Philosophy of Mathematics
The chapter provides the last necessary ingredient, in terms of a theory of account, in order to upgrade semantic information to knowledge. After an introductory section, Section 12.2 argues that, ...
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The chapter provides the last necessary ingredient, in terms of a theory of account, in order to upgrade semantic information to knowledge. After an introductory section, Section 12.2 argues that, for relevant semantic information to be upgraded to knowledge, it is necessary and sufficient to be embedded in a network of questions and answers that correctly accounts for it. Section 12.3 shows that an information flow network of type A fulfils such a requirement. Section 12.4 illustrates some of the major advantages of such a Network Theory of Account (NTA) and clears the ground of a few potential difficulties. Section 12.5 clarifies why NTA, and an informational analysis of knowledge, according to which knowledge is semantic information for which we can provide an account, is not subject to Gettier-type counterexamples. A concluding section briefly summarizes the results obtained.Less
The chapter provides the last necessary ingredient, in terms of a theory of account, in order to upgrade semantic information to knowledge. After an introductory section, Section 12.2 argues that, for relevant semantic information to be upgraded to knowledge, it is necessary and sufficient to be embedded in a network of questions and answers that correctly accounts for it. Section 12.3 shows that an information flow network of type A fulfils such a requirement. Section 12.4 illustrates some of the major advantages of such a Network Theory of Account (NTA) and clears the ground of a few potential difficulties. Section 12.5 clarifies why NTA, and an informational analysis of knowledge, according to which knowledge is semantic information for which we can provide an account, is not subject to Gettier-type counterexamples. A concluding section briefly summarizes the results obtained.
Robert A. Beauregard
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780226297255
- eISBN:
- 9780226297422
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226297422.001.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Occupations, Professions, and Work
City and regional planners talk constantly about the things of the world from highway interchanges, retention ponds, and affordable housing units to zoning documents, conference rooms, and ...
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City and regional planners talk constantly about the things of the world from highway interchanges, retention ponds, and affordable housing units to zoning documents, conference rooms, and consultants’ reports. The material world of planning is acknowledged but insufficiently theorized. In Planning Matter, Robert Beauregard offers a new materialist perspective on planning practice that relies heavily on actor-network theory and science and technology studies to reveal the many ways in which the non-human things of the world mediate what planners say and do. In order to emphasize the importance of planners constantly imagining themselves “in the world,” the argument is illustrated with numerous empirical examples from planning practice in the United States. The result is a theoretical approach that recognizes the vibrancy of non-human matter and the fact that planners neither act alone nor solely with other human beings.Less
City and regional planners talk constantly about the things of the world from highway interchanges, retention ponds, and affordable housing units to zoning documents, conference rooms, and consultants’ reports. The material world of planning is acknowledged but insufficiently theorized. In Planning Matter, Robert Beauregard offers a new materialist perspective on planning practice that relies heavily on actor-network theory and science and technology studies to reveal the many ways in which the non-human things of the world mediate what planners say and do. In order to emphasize the importance of planners constantly imagining themselves “in the world,” the argument is illustrated with numerous empirical examples from planning practice in the United States. The result is a theoretical approach that recognizes the vibrancy of non-human matter and the fact that planners neither act alone nor solely with other human beings.
Irad Malkin
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199734818
- eISBN:
- 9780199918553
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199734818.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, World History: BCE to 500CE, European History: BCE to 500CE
Greek civilization and identity crystallized not when Greeks were close together but when they came to be far apart. It emerged during the Archaic period, when Greeks founded coastal city-states and ...
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Greek civilization and identity crystallized not when Greeks were close together but when they came to be far apart. It emerged during the Archaic period, when Greeks founded coastal city-states and trading stations in ever-widening horizons from the Ukraine to Spain. No center directed their diffusion, and the settlements (“colonies”) originated from a multitude of mother cities. The “Greek center” was virtual, at sea, created as a back-ripple effect of cultural convergence following the physical divergence of independent settlements. “The shores of Greece are like hems stitched onto the lands of Barbarian peoples” (Cicero). Overall and regardless of distance, settlement practices became Greek in the making, and Greek communities far more resembled each other than any of their particular neighbors, such as the Etruscans, Iberians, Scythians, or Libyans. The contrast between “center and periphery” hardly mattered (all was peri-, “around), nor was a bipolar contrast with barbarians of much significance. Rather, not only did Greek civilization constitute a decentralized network, but it also emerged, so this book claims, owing to its network attributes. Following a section on networks and history, it demonstrates its approach through case studies involving Rhodes, Sicily, the Far West (Phokaians), and the Phoenicians. The book concludes that it was a network dynamics of small worlds that rapidly foreshortened connectivity and multiplied links and hubs, thus allowing the flows of civilizational content and self-aware notions of identity to overlap and proliferate. Drawing on Mediterranean studies, ancient history, archeology, and network theory (especially in physics and sociology), this book offers a novel approach to historical interpretation.Less
Greek civilization and identity crystallized not when Greeks were close together but when they came to be far apart. It emerged during the Archaic period, when Greeks founded coastal city-states and trading stations in ever-widening horizons from the Ukraine to Spain. No center directed their diffusion, and the settlements (“colonies”) originated from a multitude of mother cities. The “Greek center” was virtual, at sea, created as a back-ripple effect of cultural convergence following the physical divergence of independent settlements. “The shores of Greece are like hems stitched onto the lands of Barbarian peoples” (Cicero). Overall and regardless of distance, settlement practices became Greek in the making, and Greek communities far more resembled each other than any of their particular neighbors, such as the Etruscans, Iberians, Scythians, or Libyans. The contrast between “center and periphery” hardly mattered (all was peri-, “around), nor was a bipolar contrast with barbarians of much significance. Rather, not only did Greek civilization constitute a decentralized network, but it also emerged, so this book claims, owing to its network attributes. Following a section on networks and history, it demonstrates its approach through case studies involving Rhodes, Sicily, the Far West (Phokaians), and the Phoenicians. The book concludes that it was a network dynamics of small worlds that rapidly foreshortened connectivity and multiplied links and hubs, thus allowing the flows of civilizational content and self-aware notions of identity to overlap and proliferate. Drawing on Mediterranean studies, ancient history, archeology, and network theory (especially in physics and sociology), this book offers a novel approach to historical interpretation.
Andreas Wimmer
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- May 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199927371
- eISBN:
- 9780199980536
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199927371.003.0006
- Subject:
- Sociology, Race and Ethnicity, Social Theory
The most often noticed feature of social networks in U.S. society is their high degree of racial homogeneity, which has been attributed to the preference for individuals of the same racial background ...
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The most often noticed feature of social networks in U.S. society is their high degree of racial homogeneity, which has been attributed to the preference for individuals of the same racial background (i.e., racial boundary making or “racial homophily”). This chapter unpacks racial homogeneity using a theoretical framework that distinguishes between various tie formation mechanisms and their effects on the racial composition of networks, exponential random graph modelling that can disentangle them empirically, and a rich new dataset based on the Facebook pages of a cohort of college students. It first shows that racial homogeneity results not only from racial homophily proper, but also from homophily among co-ethnics of the same racial background (an aggregation effect) and from balancing mechanisms such as the tendency to reciprocate friendship or to befriend the friends of one’s friend that generate homogeneity without homophily (and amplification effect). In a second step, the importance of racial homophily is put further into perspective. Modelling the overall network structure, we demonstrate that balancing mechanisms, propinquity mechanisms based on co-residence, and homophily among elite students or those hailing from particular states are more important in the tie formation process than is racial homophily.Less
The most often noticed feature of social networks in U.S. society is their high degree of racial homogeneity, which has been attributed to the preference for individuals of the same racial background (i.e., racial boundary making or “racial homophily”). This chapter unpacks racial homogeneity using a theoretical framework that distinguishes between various tie formation mechanisms and their effects on the racial composition of networks, exponential random graph modelling that can disentangle them empirically, and a rich new dataset based on the Facebook pages of a cohort of college students. It first shows that racial homogeneity results not only from racial homophily proper, but also from homophily among co-ethnics of the same racial background (an aggregation effect) and from balancing mechanisms such as the tendency to reciprocate friendship or to befriend the friends of one’s friend that generate homogeneity without homophily (and amplification effect). In a second step, the importance of racial homophily is put further into perspective. Modelling the overall network structure, we demonstrate that balancing mechanisms, propinquity mechanisms based on co-residence, and homophily among elite students or those hailing from particular states are more important in the tie formation process than is racial homophily.
Bradley Cardinale, Emmett Duffy, Diane Srivastava, Michel Loreau, Matt Thomas, and Mark Emmerson
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199547951
- eISBN:
- 9780191720345
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199547951.003.0008
- Subject:
- Biology, Ecology, Biodiversity / Conservation Biology
While one of the most striking features of our planet is its great variety of life, studies show that ongoing biodiversity loss could reduce the productivity of ecosystems by as much as 50%. However, ...
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While one of the most striking features of our planet is its great variety of life, studies show that ongoing biodiversity loss could reduce the productivity of ecosystems by as much as 50%. However, evidence comes largely from experiments that have used highly simplified communities with on average seven species, all from a single trophic group. In contrast, natural communities have dozens, if not hundreds, of species spanning a variety of trophic levels. Would this additional complexity alter our conclusions about the functional consequences of diversity loss? This chapter reviews five hypotheses about how the fluxes of energy and matter through food-webs might depend on the diversity of species interacting within, as well as across trophic levels. After outlining the empirical support for or against each hypothesis, this chapter discusses several avenues of research that may prove useful as ecologists move towards a food web perspective on biodiversity and ecosystem functioningLess
While one of the most striking features of our planet is its great variety of life, studies show that ongoing biodiversity loss could reduce the productivity of ecosystems by as much as 50%. However, evidence comes largely from experiments that have used highly simplified communities with on average seven species, all from a single trophic group. In contrast, natural communities have dozens, if not hundreds, of species spanning a variety of trophic levels. Would this additional complexity alter our conclusions about the functional consequences of diversity loss? This chapter reviews five hypotheses about how the fluxes of energy and matter through food-webs might depend on the diversity of species interacting within, as well as across trophic levels. After outlining the empirical support for or against each hypothesis, this chapter discusses several avenues of research that may prove useful as ecologists move towards a food web perspective on biodiversity and ecosystem functioning
Ferenc Jordán
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520253476
- eISBN:
- 9780520934313
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520253476.003.0014
- Subject:
- Biology, Evolutionary Biology / Genetics
This chapter presents similarities between ecological and social networks and outlines how our knowledge in one field may help in better understanding the other. It focuses on how ecological network ...
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This chapter presents similarities between ecological and social networks and outlines how our knowledge in one field may help in better understanding the other. It focuses on how ecological network theory might help us in thinking about homeland security and understanding modern terrorism in a globalized and interconnected world. It describes network analysis, a tool for studying many types of networks that play a key role in security analysis. It calculates to what extent elements are connected to other elements within a network and measures the complexity and the quantitative relationship between the parts and the whole.Less
This chapter presents similarities between ecological and social networks and outlines how our knowledge in one field may help in better understanding the other. It focuses on how ecological network theory might help us in thinking about homeland security and understanding modern terrorism in a globalized and interconnected world. It describes network analysis, a tool for studying many types of networks that play a key role in security analysis. It calculates to what extent elements are connected to other elements within a network and measures the complexity and the quantitative relationship between the parts and the whole.
Ronen Shamir and Dana Weiss
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199658244
- eISBN:
- 9780199949915
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199658244.003.0005
- Subject:
- Law, Public International Law
This chapter explores actor-network theory — also called material semiotics — in the context of ‘corporate human-rights responsibility.’ It studies the symbolic representation of indicators within ...
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This chapter explores actor-network theory — also called material semiotics — in the context of ‘corporate human-rights responsibility.’ It studies the symbolic representation of indicators within diagrams, maps, and even social-branding labels, and argues that indicators have a tendency to create secondary and even third-tiered indicators. It then analyses the ‘corporate human-rights responsibility’ as a social performance that is performed through regions and networks, which are two interacting social modalities.Less
This chapter explores actor-network theory — also called material semiotics — in the context of ‘corporate human-rights responsibility.’ It studies the symbolic representation of indicators within diagrams, maps, and even social-branding labels, and argues that indicators have a tendency to create secondary and even third-tiered indicators. It then analyses the ‘corporate human-rights responsibility’ as a social performance that is performed through regions and networks, which are two interacting social modalities.
Jon Stobart
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199577927
- eISBN:
- 9780191744884
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199577927.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Early Modern History, Economic History
This chapter begins by examining the operations of three key intermediaries in the groceries trade: the auctions of the East India Company; the illicit trade in tea, and provincial merchants, who ...
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This chapter begins by examining the operations of three key intermediaries in the groceries trade: the auctions of the East India Company; the illicit trade in tea, and provincial merchants, who supplied perhaps a narrower range, but significant quantities of goods. Shifts in the relative importance of these can tell us much about the changing supply options open to grocery retailers, but much more is revealed by a detailed examination of the business networks through which individual shopkeepers connected into these wider systems of supply. Drawing on network theory and new institutional economics, the chapter assesses the nature and durability of business relationships, and the role played by reputation and trust in establishing and maintaining such links. This provides a clearer insight the ability of established systems of supply to match growing demand with increasingly global networks of trade.Less
This chapter begins by examining the operations of three key intermediaries in the groceries trade: the auctions of the East India Company; the illicit trade in tea, and provincial merchants, who supplied perhaps a narrower range, but significant quantities of goods. Shifts in the relative importance of these can tell us much about the changing supply options open to grocery retailers, but much more is revealed by a detailed examination of the business networks through which individual shopkeepers connected into these wider systems of supply. Drawing on network theory and new institutional economics, the chapter assesses the nature and durability of business relationships, and the role played by reputation and trust in establishing and maintaining such links. This provides a clearer insight the ability of established systems of supply to match growing demand with increasingly global networks of trade.
