In the context of seemingly intractable social challenges such as climate change, environmental destruction, youth unemployment and social exclusion, social innovation has emerged as a potentially sustainable solution. It is often assumed that social innovation can lead to social change (see, for example, Cooperrider and Pasmore, 1991; Mulgan et al., 2007; BEPA, 2010). However, the relationship between social innovation and social change remains underexplored: 
Rather than being used as a specifically defined specialist term with its own definable area of studies, social innovation is used more as a kind of descriptive metaphor in the context of phenomena of real world problems, social change, and the modernisation of society. (Howaldt and Schwarz, 2010, p. 49)

/pdf/social-innovations-as-drivers-of-social-change-exploring-45kq5f78xl.pdf

Social innovations as drivers of social change - exploring Tarde's contribution to social innovation theory building

Kann man dafur votieren, dass die weitere Entwicklung von Gesellschaft und Wirtschaft den menschlichen Zivilisationen auf dieser Erde die naturlichen Lebensgrundlagen irreversibel entzieht? Kann man also gegen Nachhaltigkeit sein? Gewiss: Man kann ihren Prinzipien zuwider handeln, ja fallweise scheint es annahernd unmoglich, dies nicht zu tun. Aber diese Prinzipien von Nachhaltigkeit mit Grunden bestreiten zu wollen, das durfte kaum gelingen – und zwar aus moralischen Grunden.

Zur Politik der Transformativen Wissenschaft

This paper evaluates current stakeholder involvement (SI) practices in science through a web-based survey among scholars and researchers engaged in sustainability or transition research. It substantiates previous conceptual work with evidence from practice by building on four ideal types of SI in science. The results give an interesting overview of the varied landscape of SI in sustainability science, ranging from the kinds of topics scientists work on with stakeholders, over scientific trade-offs that arise in the field, to improvements scientists wish for. Furthermore, the authors describe a discrepancy between scientists’ ideals and practices when working with stakeholders. On the conceptual level, the data reflect that the democratic type of SI is the predominant one concerning questions on the understanding of science, the main goal, the stage of involvement in the research process, and the science–policy interface. The fact that respondents expressed agreement to several types shows they are guided by multiple and partly conflicting ideals when working with stakeholders. We thus conclude that more conceptual exchange between practitioners, as well as more qualitative research on the concepts behind practices, is needed to better understand the stakeholder–scientist nexus.

https://www.pnas.org/content/pnas/114/50/E10648.full.pdf

Ideals, practices, and future prospects of stakeholder involvement in sustainability science.

The paper attempts to shed some light on the kind of role equity norms play in German sustainable development policy and the related discourse, focusing on the issue of global climate change. Especially the tensions between the public discussion of equity among and within nations are investigated. Attitudes and commitments of the general public and the main actor groups towards global climate change policies and related equity issues are analyzed. One of the central findings of the analysis is that the norm of global fairness enjoys broad (rhetorical) support by all actor groups and the public. However, the support by the public must be characterized as uninformed consent because the effects of the various global climate policies within Germany are either not discussed or played down by the proponents of a progressive climate change policy. The debates are framed by two different but overlapping discourses informed by the concepts of sustainable development or ecological modernization. While with respect to global climate change policy the sustainable development discourse dominates at the programmatic level (concerned with norms, values and fairness principles), it is clearly the concept of ecological modernization that underlies the concrete policies.

https://econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/49603/1/502237945.pdf

A. Epiney

Papers

Welt im Wandel: Armutsbekämpfung durch Umweltpolitik : Zusammenfassung für Entscheidungsträger