Locating the 17th Book of Giddens@@@The Constitution of Society: Outline of the Theory of Structuration.
TL;DR: Giddens as mentioned in this paper has been in the forefront of developments in social theory for the past decade and outlines the distinctive position he has evolved during that period and offers a full statement of a major new perspective in social thought, a synthesis and elaboration of ideas touched on in previous works but described here for the first time in an integrated and comprehensive form.
Abstract: Anthony Giddens has been in the forefront of developments in social theory for the past decade. In "The Constitution of Society" he outlines the distinctive position he has evolved during that period and offers a full statement of a major new perspective in social thought, a synthesis and elaboration of ideas touched on in previous works but described here for the first time in an integrated and comprehensive form. A particular feature is Giddens' concern to connect abstract problems of theory to an interpretation of the nature of empirical method in the social sciences. In presenting his own ideas, Giddens mounts a critical attack on some of the more orthodox sociological views. "The Constitution of Society" is an invaluable reference book for all those concerned with the basic issues in contemporary social theory.
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TL;DR: In this article, a meta-theory of paradox has been used to argue that paradox can be viewed as a metatheory, which can be used to guide the practice of paradox research.
Abstract: Organizations are rife with tensions—flexibility versus control, exploration versus exploitation, autocracy versus democracy, social versus financial, global versus local. Researchers have long responded using contingency theory, asking “Under what conditions should managers emphasize either A or B?” Yet increasingly studies apply a paradox perspective, shifting the question to “How can we engage both A and B simultaneously?” Despite accumulating exemplars, commonalities across paradox studies remain unclear, and ties unifying this research community weak. To energize further uses of a paradox perspective, we build from past reviews to explicate its role as a metatheory. Contrasting this lens to contingency theory, we illustrate its metatheoretical nature. We then dive deeper to sharpen the focus and widen the scope of a paradox perspective. Identifying core elements viewed from a paradox perspective—underlying assumptions, central concepts, nature of interrelationships and boundary conditions—offers a guide, informing the practice of paradox research. Next, we illustrate diverse uses of this lens. We conclude by exploring implications and next steps, stressing the rising need for paradox research, as complexity, change, and ambiguity intensify demands for both/and approaches in theory and practice.
360 citations
Cites background from "Locating the 17th Book of Giddens@@..."
...Structuration theory posits a dynamic, mutually constitutive relationship between structure and actions (Giddens, 1984)....
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TL;DR: The authors examined how actors in two California urban areas, over approximately 100 years, responded differently to the same exogenous forces and showed how unlike elements conjoin to produce a particular character at any given moment and how this character travels through time to constitute a local tradition.
Abstract: This study shows how places, and by implication other societal units as well, achieve and reproduce distinctiveness. It does this by specifying how actors in two California urban areas, over approximately 100 years, responded differently to the same exogenous forces. Each place is examined to determine how unlike elements conjoin to produce a particular character at any given moment and how this character travels through time to constitute a local tradition. Borrowing from advances in analyses of structure and agency, this study displays character and tradition as accomplished interaction and helps make an elusive process empirically evident and accessible for study
359 citations
TL;DR: The authors discuss empirical research linking second language learning and identity that has been published since Firth and Wagner (1997) and conclude with some suggestions about future directions for identity-in-SLA research.
Abstract: Although Firth and Wagner (1997) did not explicitly discuss the issue of identity in second language acquisition (SLA) research, their article was symptomatic of a general trend to open up SLA to social theory and sociological and sociolinguistic research, which in turn led some researchers to explore links between second language (L2) learning and identity. In this article, I discuss empirical research linking L2 learning and identity that has been published since Firth and Wagner. I begin with a discussion of the broadly poststructuralist approach to identity, which has become the approach of choice among researchers taking this line of enquiry. I then critically review key publications carried out in three distinct L2 learning contexts: naturalistic, foreign language, and study abroad. I conclude with some suggestions about future directions for identity-in-SLA research.
359 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a review called for the definition of a landscape approach in archaeology and suggested that archaeology is particularly well suited among the social sciences for defining and applying a landscape-based approach.
Abstract: This review calls for the definition of a landscape approach in archaeology. After tracing the development of the landscape idea over its history in the social sciences and examining the compatibility between this concept and traditional archaeological practice, we suggest that archaeology is particularly well suited among the social sciences for defining and applying a landscape approach. If archaeologists are to use the landscape paradigm as a “pattern which connects” human behavior with particular places and times, however, we need a common terminology and methodology to build a construct paradigm. We suggest that settlement ecology, ritual landscapes, and ethnic landscapes will contribute toward the definition of such a broadly encompassing paradigm that also will facilitate dialogue between archaeologists and traditional communities.
358 citations
Cites background from "Locating the 17th Book of Giddens@@..."
...Although a small number of researchers (Giddens, 1979, 1984; Gregory, 1978, 1981; H¨agerstrand, 1976, 1988; Pred, 1984, 1990) obtain a certain accommodation of spatial scientific and humanistic perspectives in their studies, the discipline overall has not yet successfully integrated these fields,…...
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...Rather than limiting their work to documentary case studies, these researchers used structuration theory (Giddens, 1979, 1984) and the concept of symbolic capital (Bourdieu, 1977) to analyze social action and the manipulation of material culture and space within a broader system of symbolic meaning....
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...This construct refers to recurrent patterning in the way people do things and relate to one another across the dimensions of space and time (Giddens, 1984)....
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TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that the competence theory of the firm can be extended to the analysis of the region, arguing that these ideas are best re-conceptualised in terms of regional competences.
Abstract: This paper argues the case for extending the competence theory of the firm, or more generally the competence perspective, to analysis of the region. The relevance of the perspective follows from the characterisation of productive systems such as firms and regions as ensembles of competences that emerge from, but are not reducible to, social interaction. Attention is drawn to an identifiable (although unacknowledged) convergence of ideas in the recent regional literature, arguing that these ideas are best re-conceptualised in terms of regional competences. The cluster of hightechnology firms in the Cambridge region of the UK is briefly referred to in order to illustrate the main ideas of the paper.
357 citations
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