Topic
Ideal type
About: Ideal type is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 400 publications have been published within this topic receiving 8012 citations.
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TL;DR: In this article, the authors present a theoretical and methodological framework for engaging the emerging geoweb as part of a longer tradition of research into society and technology, using a close reading of Microsoft's Pedestrian Route Production patent, dubbed the “avoid ghetto GPS”, is used to construct two ideal type futures, one hopeful and one frightening.
Abstract: With over one hundred million smart-phone users in the world, mobile, spatially-aware devices are radically altering how individuals move through and experience both physical and social environments This article presents a theoretical and methodological framework for engaging the emerging geoweb as part of a longer tradition of research into society and technology A close reading of Microsoft’s Pedestrian Route Production patent, dubbed the “avoid ghetto GPS”, is used to construct two ideal type futures—one hopeful and one frightening One where spatial technology ensures efficiency, safety, and new forms of coordination, while the other algorithmically sorts society by race and class Despite not yet and potentially never existing, the patent offers a viable means through which potential futures are made real in the present Through comparative analysis of these futures, their underlying commonalities are drawn out, revealing the relationship between technology and the delimitation of human experience This analysis avoids grand narratives and teleological arguments, while making it possible to draw forth the unthought acceptance within each ideal type for the future: the continuing shift of human life itself towards a teleological, always already-calculated standing-reserve The work on technology of Martin Heidegger and Herbert Marcuse (re)situate the geoweb within long-standing theoretical work on technology and its role in society, modernity, and capitalism
39 citations
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TL;DR: This article proposed a model of bureau-franchising in which public agencies can claim a share of income earned to finance and reward themselves, like entrepreneurial franchisees, and this self-financing behavior is sanctioned and even deliberately incentivized by state rules.
Abstract: The study of public administration in developing countries needs to look beyond the Weberian model as the only ideal-type of bureaucracy. When we assume that there exists only one gold standard of public administration, all other organizational forms that do not conform to the Weberian ideal are written off as corruption or failures. Drawing on neo-institutional economics, I introduce an alternative ideal-type of bureaucracy found in China. Termed bureau-franchising, this model combines the hierarchical structure of bureaucracy with the high-powered incentives of franchising. In this system, public agencies can rightfully claim a share of income earned to finance and reward themselves, like entrepreneurial franchisees. Yet distinguished from lawless corruption, this self-financing (or prebendal) behavior is sanctioned and even deliberately incentivized by state rules. Although such a model violates several Weberian tenets of “good” bureaucracy, it harnesses and regulates the high-powered incentives of prebendalism to ameliorate budgetary and capacity constraints common to developing countries like China.
39 citations
TL;DR: In this article, Weber's theoretical constitution of sociological ideal types is examined, and a number of key elements and characteristics of such types are identified, as well as several common misconcepti...
Abstract: Max Weber’s theoretical constitution of sociological ideal types is examined, and a number of key elements and characteristics of such types are identified. Additionally, several common misconcepti...
37 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a semi-structured interview with graduate students in the field of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) was conducted to examine their relationship with their primary advisors.
Abstract: This paper delves into STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) Ph.D. students' relation- ships with their advisors. Through in-depth, semi-structured interviews, late-stage graduate students in STEM fields de- scribe characteristics of their primary advisors as well as the dynamics of their relationships with them. From these narra- tives we construct an "ideal type" advisor. Weber's notion of an ideal type is a conceptual heuristic that reflects or en- compasses essential characteristics of a phenomenon in order to generate a "pure" type that is then examined against real- ity. In this analysis we propose that an ideal type advisor offers students departmental and disciplinary moorings, career and program advice, and mentoring. As we develop this construct, we examine the consequences for students of having or not having advisors that approximate the ideal type. An emphasis on gender highlights how women's experiences differ from men's. Recommendations for advisors, departments, and graduate programs are also offered.
36 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors construct an ideal type of Confucian actors, which is then applied to a survey of three Chinese communities, trying to formulate a new perspective in depicting the character of modern Chinese actors, measured in terms of their dynamic proximity to the Confucians ideal type.
Abstract: As a major source of social values in East Asia, Confucianism assumes especial significance amidst the proliferation of instrumental rationality in modern societies. This study attempts to answer the question: how Confucian are contemporary Chinese? By way of constructing an ideal type of Confucian actors, which is then applied to a survey of three Chinese communities, this study tries to formulate a new perspective in depicting the character of modern Confucian actors, measured in terms of their dynamic proximity to the Confucian ideal type. Our approach marks a shift of emphasis, both empirically and methodologically, compared with previous work on this topic. On the empirical side, our study breaks with the long-standing, classical distinction between the 'gentleman' and the 'commoner' prevalent in Confucian discourse. Degrees of proximity to Confucian values are viewed in representational—i.e. non-evaluative—terms. In constructing the ideal type of Confucian actors, we distinguish between formal and substantive values in Confucianism. This analytical distinction allows our study to demonstrate the continued relevance of Confucianism. While substantive values change over time, the formal, analytical core that captures the essence of Confucianism continues to survive in the face of the vicissitudes of modernity and the spread of instrumental rationality.
33 citations