Global ComplexityGlobal Complexity, by UrryJohn. Malden, MA: Polity, 2003. 172 pp. $59.95 cloth. ISBN: 0-7456-2817-6. $23.95 paper. ISBN: 0-7456-2818-4.
About: This article is published in Contemporary Sociology.The article was published on 2004-05-01. It has received 358 citations till now.
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TL;DR: In this paper, the potential of one interpretive framework (the global production networks (GPN) perspective) for analysing the global economy and its impacts on territorial development is evaluated.
Abstract: Understanding and conceptualizing the complexities of the contemporary global economy is a challenging but vitally important task. In this article, we critically evaluate the potential of one interpretive framework—the global production networks (GPN) perspective—for analysing the global economy and its impacts on territorial development. After situating the approach in relation to other cognate chain/network approaches, the article proceeds to review and evaluate a number of underdeveloped areas that need to be understood and incorporated more fully if the framework is to deliver on its early potential. The article concludes with a consideration of the key research issues facing work in this area.
1,247 citations
TL;DR: The authors argue that both the sample survey and the in-depth interview are increasingly dated research methods, which are unlikely to provide a robust base for the jurisdiction of empirical sociologists in coming decades.
Abstract: This ar ticle argues that in an age of knowing capitalism, sociologists have not adequately thought about the challenges posed to their expertise by the proliferation of `social' transactional data which are now routinely collected, processed and analysed by a wide variety of private and public institutions. Drawing on British examples, we argue that whereas over the past 40 years sociologists championed innovative methodological resources, notably the sample survey and the in-depth interviews, which reasonably allowed them to claim distinctive expertise to access the `social' in powerful ways, such claims are now much less secure. We argue that both the sample survey and the in-depth interview are increasingly dated research methods, which are unlikely to provide a robust base for the jurisdiction of empirical sociologists in coming decades. We conclude by speculating how sociology might respond to this coming crisis through taking up new interests in the `politics of method'.
781 citations
TL;DR: Car cultures have social, material and, above all, affective dimensions that are overlooked in current strategies to influence car-driving decisions as mentioned in this paper, and car consumption is never simply about rational consumption.
Abstract: Car cultures have social, material and, above all, affective dimensions that are overlooked in current strategies to influence car-driving decisions. Car consumption is never simply about rational ...
678 citations
Cites background from "Global ComplexityGlobal Complexity,..."
...It is automobility that has both enabled and constrained the complex orchestration of such schedules, and contributed to the blurring of boundaries between public and private activities (Sheller and Urry 2003)....
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...Intersecting with current developments in social theory (Clark 2001; Law 2002; Urry 2003a), this embrace of the baroque and the complex signals a new kind of modernity in which high culture and mass culture, art and marketing, French hightheory and Anglo-American know-how are mixed....
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...At stake in such debates is not simply the future of the car, but the future of the entire car culture (and wider transportation system) in Urry 2003b)....
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TL;DR: A flock of birds sweeps across the sky in a well-choreographed dance troupe, veering to the left in unison as mentioned in this paper... The flock is organized without an organizer, coordinated without a coordinator.
Abstract: A flock of birds sweeps across the sky. Like a well-choreographed dance troupe, the birds veer to the left in unison. . . . The flock is organized without an organizer, coordinated without a coordinator. Bird flocks are not the only things that work that way. Ant colonies, highway traffic, market economies, immune systems – in all of these systems, patterns are determined . . . by local interactions among decentralised components. (Resnick, 1997: 3)
504 citations
01 Jun 2006
TL;DR: This paper argued that sustainable development had for some time been a property of different discourses, and that today sustainable development needs to be linked to new material realities, the product of our science and technology.
Abstract: The essay began by arguing that ‘sustainable development’ had for some time been a property of different discourses. The term ‘sustainable development’ was an oxymoron, which prompted a number of discursive interpretations of the weight to attached to both ‘development’ and ‘sustainability’. Only by exposing the assumptions, and conclusions, of these discourses could we hope to clarify the choices, and trade-offs, which beset environmental policy, and the environmental social sciences. Today ‘sustainable development’ needs to be linked to new material realities, the product of our science and technology, and
487 citations
References
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TL;DR: In this paper, the potential of one interpretive framework (the global production networks (GPN) perspective) for analysing the global economy and its impacts on territorial development is evaluated.
Abstract: Understanding and conceptualizing the complexities of the contemporary global economy is a challenging but vitally important task. In this article, we critically evaluate the potential of one interpretive framework—the global production networks (GPN) perspective—for analysing the global economy and its impacts on territorial development. After situating the approach in relation to other cognate chain/network approaches, the article proceeds to review and evaluate a number of underdeveloped areas that need to be understood and incorporated more fully if the framework is to deliver on its early potential. The article concludes with a consideration of the key research issues facing work in this area.
1,247 citations
TL;DR: The authors argue that both the sample survey and the in-depth interview are increasingly dated research methods, which are unlikely to provide a robust base for the jurisdiction of empirical sociologists in coming decades.
Abstract: This ar ticle argues that in an age of knowing capitalism, sociologists have not adequately thought about the challenges posed to their expertise by the proliferation of `social' transactional data which are now routinely collected, processed and analysed by a wide variety of private and public institutions. Drawing on British examples, we argue that whereas over the past 40 years sociologists championed innovative methodological resources, notably the sample survey and the in-depth interviews, which reasonably allowed them to claim distinctive expertise to access the `social' in powerful ways, such claims are now much less secure. We argue that both the sample survey and the in-depth interview are increasingly dated research methods, which are unlikely to provide a robust base for the jurisdiction of empirical sociologists in coming decades. We conclude by speculating how sociology might respond to this coming crisis through taking up new interests in the `politics of method'.
781 citations
TL;DR: Car cultures have social, material and, above all, affective dimensions that are overlooked in current strategies to influence car-driving decisions as mentioned in this paper, and car consumption is never simply about rational consumption.
Abstract: Car cultures have social, material and, above all, affective dimensions that are overlooked in current strategies to influence car-driving decisions. Car consumption is never simply about rational ...
678 citations
[...]
TL;DR: A flock of birds sweeps across the sky in a well-choreographed dance troupe, veering to the left in unison as mentioned in this paper... The flock is organized without an organizer, coordinated without a coordinator.
Abstract: A flock of birds sweeps across the sky. Like a well-choreographed dance troupe, the birds veer to the left in unison. . . . The flock is organized without an organizer, coordinated without a coordinator. Bird flocks are not the only things that work that way. Ant colonies, highway traffic, market economies, immune systems – in all of these systems, patterns are determined . . . by local interactions among decentralised components. (Resnick, 1997: 3)
504 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors make use of complexity theory for the analysis of multiple intersecting social inequalities, and apply it to the theory of intersectionality in social theory as well as to the philosophy of social science.
Abstract: This article contributes to the revision of the concept of system in social theory using complexity theory. The old concept of social system is widely discredited; a new concept of social system can more adequately constitute an explanatory framework. Complexity theory offers the toolkit needed for this paradigm shift in social theory. The route taken is not via Luhmann, but rather the insights of complexity theorists in the sciences are applied to the tradition of social theory inspired by Marx, Weber, and Simmel. The article contributes to the theorization of intersectionality in social theory as well as to the philosophy of social science. It addresses the challenge of theorizing the intersection of multiple complex social inequalities, exploring the various alternative approaches, before rethinking the concept of social system. It investigates and applies, for the first time, the implications of complexity theory for the analysis of multiple intersecting social inequalities.
435 citations