Showing papers on "Social dynamics published in 2004"

Motility: Mobility as capital

Abstract: Social and territorial structures form intricate relations that transcend a social stratification or spatial focus. Territorial features and geographic displacements are structuring principles for society, as societal features and social change effect the structure and use of territory. Based on our examination of the conceptual and theoretical links between spatial and social mobility, we propose a concept that represents a new form of inequality. Termed 'motility', this construct describes the potential and actual capacity of goods, information or people to be mobile both geographically and socially. Three major features of motility - access, competence and appropriation - are introduced. In this article, we focus on conceptual and theoretical contributions of motility. In addition, we suggest a number of possible empirical investigations. Motility presents us with an innovative perspective on societal changes without prematurely committing researchers to work within structuralist or postmodern perspectives. More generally, we propose to revisit the fluidification debate in the social sciences with a battery of questions that do not begin and end with whether or not society is in flux. Instead, we introduce a field of research that takes advantage of the insights from competing paradigms in order to reveal the social dynamics and consequences of displacements in geographic and social space.

The Factors that Make and Unmake Migration Policies

Abstract: Migration policies often fail to achieve their declared objectives or have unintended consequences. This article discusses three sets of reasons for this: factors arising from the social dynamics o...

Collective Action and Knowledge Contribution in Electronic Networks of Practice

Abstract: Although there has been a significant increase in networked communication and a growing interest in virtual organizing, to date researchers have yet to establish consistent terminology and have paid little attention to how specific characteristics of the electronic network influence social dynamics such as knowledge contribution. To address this gap, we develop a theoretical model and a set of propositions that explain knowledge contribution in voluntary, computer-mediated, very large and open networks focused on knowledge exchange around a specific practice. We base our model on theories of social networks and collective action to explain how a social network of volunteers sustains productive exchanges between individuals, such as the exchange of knowledge. We utilize the concept of a network of practice to illustrate how the macrostructural properties of the communication media, network size, access to the network, and mode of participation affect network dynamics and knowledge contribution. We then develop a model and a set of propositions to suggest that knowledge contribution within an electronic network of practice is dependent upon 1) the

Living a Virtual Life: Social Dynamics of Online Gaming.

Abstract: home about archive Castulus Kolo has a Doctoral degree (1995) in physics. From 1991 additional studies in social anthropology and sociology at the LudwigMaximilians University, Munich and second doctoral degree (1997). Thesis on computer simulations of sociocultural processes. From 1998 consulting and contract research as an executive in different positions within the FraunhoferSociety in the domain of information and communicati Living a Virtual Life: Social Dynamics of Online Gaming

Social Dynamics: Signals and Behavior

Abstract: Nonlinguistic social signals (e.g., `tone of voice’) are often as important as linguistic content in predicting behavioural outcomes [1,2]. This paper describes four automated measure of such social signalling, and shows that they can be used to form powerful predictosr of objective and subjective outcomes in several important situations. Finally, it is argued that such signals are important determinants of social position.

Spatio‐temporal development of forests – current trends in field methods and models

Abstract: We present a critical review of current trends in research of spatio-temporal development of forests. The paper addresses (1) field methods for the development of spatially-explicit models of forest dynamics and their integration in models of forest dynamics, (2) strengths and limitations of traditional patch models versus spatially-explicit, individual-based models, and (3) the potential for moment-based methods in the analysis of forest dynamics. These topics are discussed with reference to their potential for solving open questions in the studies of forest dynamics. The study of spatio-temporal processes provides a link between pattern and process in plant communities, and plays a crucial role in understanding ecosystem dynamics. In the last decade, the development of spatially-explicit, individual-based models shifted the focus of forest dynamics modelling from the dynamics of discrete patches to the interactions among individual organisms, thus encapsulating the theory of "neighbourhood" dynamics. In turn, the stochastic properties and the complexity of spatially-explicit, individual-based models gave rise to the development of a new suite of so-called moment-based models. These new models describe the dynamics of individuals and of pairs of individuals in terms of their densities, thus directly capturing second-order information on spatial structure. So far, this approach has not been applied to forests; we indicate extensions needed for such applications. Moment-based models may be an important complement to spatially explicit individual-based models in developing a general spatial theory of forest dynamics. However, both kinds of models currently focus on fine scales, whereas a critical issue in forest dynamics is to understand the interaction of fine-scale processes with coarser-scale disturbances. To obtain a more complete picture of forest dynamics, the relevant links and interactions between fine-, intermediate-, and coarse-scale processes ought to be identified. Intensive links between modelling work and field studies designed across different scales are a promising means to create a new perspective on forest dynamics.

The standing ovation problem

Abstract: Over the last decade, research topics such as learning, heterogeneity, networks, diffusion, and externalities, have moved from the fringe to the frontier in the social sciences. In large part this new research agenda has been driven by key tools and ideas emerging from the study of complex adaptive systems. Research is often inspired by simple models that provide a rich domain from which to explore the world. Indeed, in complex systems, Bak’s (1996) sand pile, Arthur’s (1994) El Farol bar, and Kauffman’s (1989) NK system have provided such inspirations. Here we introduce another model that offers similar potential—the Standing Ovation Problem (SOP). This model is especially appropriate given the focus of this special issue on complex adaptive social systems. The SOP has much to offer as it (1) is easily explained and part of everyone’s common experience; (2) simultaneously emphasizes some of the key themes that arise in social systems, such as learning, heterogeneity, incentives, and networks; and (3) is amenable to research efforts across a variety of fields. These features make it an ideal platform from which to explore the power, promise, and pitfalls of complexity modeling in the social sciences. The basic SOP can be stated as: A brilliant economics lecture ends and the audience begins to applaud. The applause builds and tentatively, a few audience members may or may not decide to stand. Does a standing ovation ensue or does the enthusiasm fizzle? Inspired by the seminal work of Schelling (1978), the SOP possesses sufficient structure to generate nontrivial dynamics without imposing too many a priori modeling constraints. Like Schelling’s work, it focuses on the macro-behavior that emerges from micro-motives, and relies on models that emphasize agents driven by simple behavioral algorithms placed in interesting spatial contexts. Though ostensibly simple, the social dynamics responsible for a standing ovation are complex. As the performance ends, each audience member must decide whether or not to stand. Of course, if the decision to stand is simply a personal choice based on the individual’s own assessment of the worth of the performance, the problem becomes trivial. However, people do not stand solely based upon their own impressions of the performance. A seated audience member surrounded by people standing might be enticed to stand, even if he hated the performance. This behavioral mimicry could be strategic (the agents wants to send the

The Politics of Illegal Dumping: An Environmental Justice Framework

Abstract: Studies of the intersection between environmental hazards and community demographics have concluded that environmental inequality is prevalent in communities across the United States. While these studies offer persuasive indicators of environmental inequality, we still have little understanding of the social forces involved in the production of these unequal outcomes. Drawing on a case study of a community of color facing illegal dumping, I propose an environmental justice framework to explain the social dynamics that produced this outcome.

“Societal and Ethical Implications of Nanotechnology”: Meanings, Interest Groups, and Social Dynamics

Abstract: The paper first analyzes the different meanings of and interests in “societal and ethical implications of nanotechnology” by science fiction authors, scientists and engineers, policy makers and science managers, business people, transhumanists, the media, and cultural and social scientists. Based on the mutual semantic impact among these groups, a dynamical model of the debate on “societal and ethical implications of nanotechnology” is developed and subjected to social network analysis for identifying the semantic leaders and mediators in the debate. I conclude from this analysis and from the cultural history of science that the most likely impact of nanotechnology on society in the near future is a strong anti-scientific movement.

Discontinuity and After: the Social Dynamics of Technology Evolution and Dominance

Abstract: While there has been much discussion of the social dynamics of technology evolution within the technology management literature, this has made relatively little use of work done by sociologists on similar issues. In this article, the potential of sociological research to inform our understanding of technology evolution and dominance is explored, focusing in particular on the contribution of actor network theory. The bringing together of questions posed by technology management theorists and insights offered by social theorists provides new insights on technology evolution, and generates several important implications for both research and practice.

An ecology of constraints on e-learning in higher education: The case of a virtual learning environment

Abstract: The implications of e‐learning in higher education have been limited by an array of technical, institutional, social and economic constraints on innovation. This paper describes a case study of the introduction into a university of a widely diffused e‐learning platform: an enterprise‐wide virtual learning environment. The study suggests a variety of patterns and themes tied to the social dynamics of this innovation. These highlight variations across instructors in how the technology was employed, which illuminate the complex ecology surrounding its implementation and use. This offers insights into the faltering development of e‐learning in higher education, and learning more generally.

The social dynamics of changing practice

Abstract: In this paper we develop a socio‐dynamic account for the impact of continuing professional development (CPD) on practice. The model we propose for changing practice challenges the essentially individualised explanation of practical learning offered by a number of writers and researchers in the field of CPD such as Joyce and Showers (1988), Eraut (1994), and Schon (1983). It also offers a basis for exploring the micro‐political realities of changing practice and the links between individual and group learning that are largely absent in the socio‐cultural accounts of organisational and situated learning (Senge, 1990; Lave & Wenger, 1991; Weick, 1995). It proposes a model that allows for tracking the influence of discourses in relation to teacher re‐professionalism from the level of policy to the point of enactment in the school and re‐examines the connections between individual and group learning to arrive at a dynamic framework for understanding changing practice.

Learning to read is who you are

Abstract: In this article, the authors explore how the social dynamics in a reading and writing event influence “who children are” (e.g., good readers, non-readers, leaders). The authors explore how the presence of English language learners (ELL) affects the distribution of symbolic capital (i.e., who has high status and prestige) in classroom social interaction, thus affecting the social identities available to the participants. The authors look beyond cultural and linguistic mismatch as reasons for which ELL students are often marginalized during literacy events. They argue that the issue lies in addressing the status that ELL students often have within the classroom community in relation to their non-ELL peers.

Digital music and subculture: Sharing files, sharing styles

Abstract: In this paper I propose a new approach for the study of online music sharing communities, drawing from popular music studies and cyberethnography. I describe how issues familiar to popular music scholars — identity and difference, subculture and genre hybridity, and the political economy of technology and music production and consumption — find homologues in the dynamics of online communication, centering around issues of anonymity and trust, identity experimentation, and online communication as a form of "productive consumption." Subculture is viewed as an entry point into the analysis of online media sharing, in light of the user–driven, interactive experience of online culture. An understanding of the "user–driven" dynamics of music audience subcultures is an invaluable tool in not only forecasting the future of online music consumption patterns, but in understanding other online social dynamics as well.

The social dynamics of Brazil's rural landless workers movement: ten hypotheses on successful leadership

Abstract: Cet article met l'accent sur le caractere social ainsi que sur la dynamique sociale de l'autorite politique dans ce qui est generale-ment considere comme les caracteristiques de classe ainsi que les caracteristiques sociales du leadership, a l'interieur d'un mouvement que nous et d'autres auteurs considerons comme le mouvement social le plus dynamique de nos jours en Amerique latine, le Mouvement des Sans Terre (MST) au Bresil. Nous fonderons notre discussion de cette dynamique sociale sur dix hypotheses qui tracent, en effet, un portrait sociologique du leadership du mouvement. This paper focusses on the social character and dynamics of political leadership in what is widely regarded as the class and social character of the leadership of a movement that we and others regard as the most dynamic social movement in Latin America today—the Rural Landless Workers' Movement (MST) in Brazil. Discussion of these social dynamics is made with reference to ten hypotheses that provide, in effect, a sociological portrait of this movement's leadership.

Participatory Research Approaches and Social Dynamics that Influence Agricultural Practices to Improve Child Nutrition in Malawi

Abstract: The Soils, Food and Healthy Communities project in Malawi uses an interdisciplinary participatory approach to improving child nutrition with resource-poor farmers. The overall research question is: Can legume systems improve soil fertility, food security, and child nutrition? Over 2000 farmers are now experimenting with legume systems in the region. While this article examines the social issues that mitigate the potential success of legume options tested by the farmers, it does not aim at discussing extensively the complex web of interactions between soil fertility, food security, and nutritional status of children. Instead, its focus is on the research process, and more specifically on the social dimensions and participatory approaches, which influenced farmers’ adoption of organic matter technologies and legume options. The Farmer Research Team was critical in mobilizing community interest in changing agricultural practices to improve child health, but faced challenges in village politics and workload. The linkage with child nutrition was a major reason for increased adoption of legumes, and gender relations played a key role in the adoption. A deeper understanding of the limits of participatory approaches helped to develop innovations that may be replicated elsewhere, such as inclusion of grandmothers and a farmer apprenticeship program.

Making the most of community colleges on the road ahead

Abstract: In this article the authors explore the educational, economic, and social dynamics that position the community college as a key player on the national and international scene. Making the most of community colleges in the face of these dynamics, however, will mean grappling with and planning for key trends. To take a big picture look at these trends, the authors detail the results of the third study in a series of League for Innovation in the Community College road-ahead studies. The 2003 study included reviews of research, a national survey of CEOs, and a series of focus groups. The results point to seven key cluster areas surrounding issues of (1) learning swirl, (2) partnership programs, (3) funding agony and opportunity, (4) teaching, reaching, and leadership transitions, (5) learning dialogues and documentation, (6) high tech and high touch creativity and connection, and (7) courageous catalysts.

What happened to provocation in science and technology studies

Abstract: Science and technology studies (STS) is an important and often controversial interdisciplinary field which has proved to be provocative and influential. But has its institutionalization and influence occurred at the expense of some of its provocative power? This paper considers the fate of provocative ideas associated with STS as they become appropriated and transformed by new social institutions and audiences. It aims to sketch a preliminary framework for analysing the social dynamics of the persistence and/or attenuation of its ideas and impacts. The argument reviews the main early aspirations and targets of STS. It suggests that changing emphases in STS can be understood as responses to successive versions of the principle of symmetry. It argues that the continual renewal and recruitment of audiences for STS is central to sustaining its capacity for provocation.

A theoretical and empirical assessment of the social capital of nascent entrepreneurial teams.

Abstract: The article discusses a study that investigates the social capital perspective of new venture teams, focusing on the different social dynamics involved in the gestation process of a new venture to ...

The social dynamics of diverse and closed networks

Abstract: Inherent to the dynamics of social networks is a paradoxical trade-off between closed networks that promote cooper- ation and efficiency and diverse networks that are flexible to new resources and ideas. Since actors cannot simultaneously max- imize both facets of a network, this has created a sharp debate on the social capital performance of closed and diverse network relationships. Research on this social capital debate has often focused on these described network affects without explaining the origins and dynamics of network performance. This paper advances a cognitive diversity approach that is based upon the subjec- tive and alert behaviors of Austrian entrepreneurs. These are key causal drivers to this paper's theoretical model of social dynam- ics and performance of closed and diverse networks. Such network behavior is subsequently modeled as a Complex Adaptive system. Using agent-based simulation, an agent-based model of entrepreneurship and social network dynamics is constructed to test the relationships described by the proposed theoretical model. The simulation results support the described hypothesized relationships. These findings also suggest the benefits of closed and diverse networks are logically distinct and, thus, should not be viewed as an either-or phenomenon. Agent-based simulation results show entrepreneurs can construct a balanced network of closed and diverse networks to optimize the benefits of both networks.

Network analysis and social dynamics

Abstract: Network analysis, an area of mathematical anthropology and sociology crucial to the linking of theory and observation, developed dramatically in recent decades. This made possible a new understanding of social dynamics as a synthesis of network theories. Concrete links can be identified between the actions of self-reflective agents, with rich information processing and decision processes deeply embedded in social worlds, and emergence or change in the self-restructuring systems they operate—including the emergence of organizations, groups, institutions, norms, and cultures.

Altruism, altruistic punishment and social investment.

Abstract: The concept of altruism is used in very different forms by computer scientists,economists, philosophers, social scientists, psychologists and biologists. Yet, in order to be useful in social simulations, the concept “altruism” requires a more precise meaning. A quantitative formulation is proposed here, based on the cost/benefit analysis of the altruist and of society at large. This formulation is applied in the analysis of the social dynamic working of behaviors that have been called “altruistic punishments”, using the agent based computer model Sociodynamica. The simulations suggest that “altruistic punishment” on its own cannot maintain altruistic behaviors. “Altruistic behavior” is sustainable in the long term only if these behaviors trigger synergetic forces in society that eventually make them produce benefits to most individuals. The simulations suggest however that “altruistic punishment” may work as a “social investment” , and is thus better called “decentralized social punishment”. This behavior is very efficient in enforcing social norms. The efficiency of decentralized social punishment in enforcing norms was dependent on the type of labor structured of the virtual society. I conclude that what is called “altruistic punishment” emerges as a type of social investment that can evolve either through individual and/or group selection, as a successful device for changing or enforcing norms in a society. Social simulations will help us in better understanding the underlying dynamic working of such devices.

The Railroad and the State: War, Politics, and Technology in Nineteenth-Century America

Abstract: Often depicted as one of the world's most strictly isolationist and relentlessly authoritarian regimes, North Korea has remained terra incognita to foreign researchers as a site for anthropological fieldwork. Given the difficulty of gaining access to the country and its people, is it possible to examine the cultural logic and social dynamics of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea? In this innovative book, Sonia Ryang casts new light onto the study of North Korean culture and society by reading literary texts as sources of ethnographic data. Analyzing and interpreting the rituals and language embodied in a range of literary works published in the 1970s and 1980s, Ryang focuses critical attention on three central themes--love, war, and self--that reflect the nearly complete overlap of the personal, social, and political realms in North Korean society. The ideology embedded in these propagandistic works laid the cultural foundation for the nation as a "perpetual ritual state," where social structures and personal relations are suspended in tribute to Kim Il Sung, the political and spiritual leader who died in 1994 but lives eternally in the hearts of his people and still weaves the social fabric of present-day North Korea.

Comparison of social and physical free energies on a toy model.

Abstract: Social free energy has been recently introduced as a measure of social action obtainable in a given social system, without changes in its structure. The authors of this paper argue that social free energy surpasses the gap between the verbally formulated value sets of social systems and the quantitatively based predictions. This point is further developed by analyzing the relation between the social and the physical free energy. Generically, this is done for a particular type of social dynamics. The extracted type of social dynamics is one of many realistic types of the differing proportion of social and economic elements. Numerically, this has been done for a toy model of interacting agents. The values of the social and physical free energies are, within the numerical accuracy, equivalent in the class of nontrivial, quasistationary model states.

Reciprocity and Exploitation: Social Dynamics in Private Drug use Sites

Abstract: The Study of High Risk Drug Use Settings for HIV Prevention was designed to increase knowledge of urban social contexts in which drugs are consumed. In this article, we use ethnographic methods to focus on one subtype of drug use setting in Hartford, Connecticut, private sites with gatekeepers. We analyze the social interactions of drug users who use these sites to explore the contradictory social processes that sometimes facilitate and at other times impede intervention efforts. Gatekeepers are often interested in attracting customers to their “business” and therefore may be willing to provide ongoing site-based HIV prevention education and materials. On the other hand, exploitative business exchanges contradict ideals of reciprocity and may undermine trust between gatekeepers and drug users impeding harm reduction efforts. Further, being the gatekeeper of a drug use site often accelerates gatekeepers' addictions, making it difficult for them to implement harm reduction strategies.

Research with young children: the use of an affinity group approach to explore the social dynamics of peer culture

Abstract: This paper describes the research approach of a case study ethnography. The study sought to explore the peer group understandings of five male friends aged between six and eight years. In exploring the social dynamics of peer culture, and in particular how these dynamics interacted to define, regulate and maintain particular understandings of masculinity, the study's research approach drew on Mackay's (1993) affinity group method. This method of grouping people of similar interest and engaging them in discussion aims to promote a sense of group cohesion, which encourages the participants to speak with openness about their ideas, interpretations and feelings (Hickey & Fitzclarence, 2000). The intimate and informal context facilitates the identification of shared and contradicting stories, ideas and understandings through clarifications, negotiations and confirmations. Within a description of the study's methodological framework, this paper outlines how this approach was adopted and modified for young child...

Social Interactions and Economic Behavior

Abstract: This paper is a critical introduction to the new wave of economic literature on the effect of social interactions on individual behavior and aggregate economic outcomes. I refer to this research program, also known as new social economics, as the socioeconomic analysis of behavior, to distinguish it from the more popular economic analysis of social behavior. I discuss the main features of so-called interactions-based models, and I show how they help us to understand substantive economic phenomena. In order to restrict the focus, I choose five possible applications: matching in the labor market, welfare participation, poverty traps and inequality, investor behavior, and consumer behavior. Then I dwell upon two key undecided questions: (i) why economic behavior is affected by social interactions, and (ii) how the social context is shaped by rational individuals. Finally, I briefly discuss the main empirical routes so far used.

Royal women in ancient India: The ritualization of inequality in a patriarchal social order

Abstract: This study focuses on the role of royal women in northern Indian society from 300 A.D. to 1200 A.D. In addressing issues related to gender inequality, we direct attention to some of the most important traditional rituals that were used to govern the lives of royal women. Three social spheres are examined: the role of royal women in ritualized matrimonial alliances, the ritual of gender hierarchy in marriage alliances, and the ritual of son-preference. The theory of structural ritualization and certain of its concepts (e.g., salience, repetitiveness, homologousness, and resources) are utilized to explain some of the key social dynamics involving royal women who were embedded within the larger patriarchal/hierarchical social order of ancient Indian society. It is argued that actors were profoundly influenced by the ritualized symbolic practices (e.g., ritualized matrimonial alliances) they were exposed to within their society, which led to a reproduction of similar practices among royal women. And, some women strategically employed some of these ritualized practices to advance their goals. The important role ritualization may play in the creation and perpetuation of gender (or other forms of) inequality is emphasized and directions for future research are discussed.

Methodology for Evaluating Collaboration Behaviour in Co-Located Environments

Abstract: When evaluating co-located collaborative environments it is important to not focus solely on improving the outcome the collaborative activity. Facilitating the collaborative process itself is equally important but challenging given the lack of established methodological guidelines. The CSCW community needs to further investigate appropriate methodologies to effectively evaluate co-located collaboration, particularly in terms of the impact technology has on teamwork (group dynamics, social dynamics) and other factors that influence these results (individual personalities and choice of task). This workshop will bring together experienced researchers who have been investigating co-located collaboration in an effort to establish more reliable and robust mechanisms for evaluation in this area. The workshop will involve brief introductions, brainstorming sessions, and small-group breakout sessions.