Showing papers on "Social system published in 2010"

Multirelational organization of large-scale social networks in an online world

Abstract: The capacity to collect fingerprints of individuals in online media has revolutionized the way researchers explore human society. Social systems can be seen as a nonlinear superposition of a multitude of complex social networks, where nodes represent individuals and links capture a variety of different social relations. Much emphasis has been put on the network topology of social interactions, however, the multidimensional nature of these interactions has largely been ignored, mostly because of lack of data. Here, for the first time, we analyze a complete, multirelational, large social network of a society consisting of the 300,000 odd players of a massive multiplayer online game. We extract networks of six different types of one-to-one interactions between the players. Three of them carry a positive connotation (friendship, communication, trade), three a negative (enmity, armed aggression, punishment). We first analyze these types of networks as separate entities and find that negative interactions differ from positive interactions by their lower reciprocity, weaker clustering, and fatter-tail degree distribution. We then explore how the interdependence of different network types determines the organization of the social system. In particular, we study correlations and overlap between different types of links and demonstrate the tendency of individuals to play different roles in different networks. As a demonstration of the power of the approach, we present the first empirical large-scale verification of the long-standing structural balance theory, by focusing on the specific multiplex network of friendship and enmity relations.

Making a Difference Strategies for Scaling Social Innovation for Greater Impact

Abstract: This article explores the strategies and dynamics of scaling up social innovations. Social innovation is a complex process that profoundly changes the basic routines, resource and authority flows, or beliefs of the social system in which it occurs. Various applications of marketing and diffusion theory are helpful to some extent in understanding the trajectories or successful strategies associated with social innovation. It seems unwise, however, to rely solely on a market model to understand the dynamics of scaling social innovation, in view of the complex nature of the supply-demand relation with respect to the social innovation market. Instead, the authors propose a distinctive model of system transformation associated with a small but important group of social innovations and dependent on discontinuous and cross-scale change. This paper focuses on the challenge of scaling up social innovations in general and in particular the dynamics of going to scale.

Social capital as a determinant of self-rated health and psychological well-being.

Abstract: Objective To examine whether specific dimensions of social capital are related to self-rated health and psychological well-being.

Sustainability as a Conceptual Focus for Public Administration

Abstract: This article argues that sustainability should define the conceptual focus for the field of public administration in the coming decade. Sustainability involves three systems: environmental, economic, and political/social systems. The challenge of governance, and thus of public administration, is to sustain each of these systems on its own while maintaining an appropriate balance among them. The article defines the sustainability concept, and its environmental component in particular, in ways that are relevant to public administration; assesses the validity of the concept in terms of the interrelationships and interdependencies among the three systems; and suggests the implications for the field. By integrating knowledge and study of the environmental system with the traditional competence in the political/social and economic systems that is expected in the field, public administrators may achieve a more theoretically complete and empirically valid foundation for education, research, and practice. And just as many apparently insoluble problems have eluded solution until someone discovered the “right” way to view them, so it may be that our failure to cope adequately with certain large and complex problems of our time is a consequence of failure to see the unifying elements in the complexity. —Lynton K. Caldwell, 1963

Unpacking European Living Labs: Analysing Innovation’s Social Dimensions

Abstract: Since their official launch in 2006, over one hundred Living Labs have been established and networked to tackle Europe’s declining economic competitiveness and societal challenges. The innovative potential of Living Labs is based on new social configurations for organising innovation. Applying a framework that focuses on barriers presented by such social configurations, by motivational factors and by cognitive/background asymmetries, our paper analyses the contributions and impediments to innovation, and the dilemmas that may arise when innovating in Living Labs. The first contribution of the paper is to demonstrate the framework’s analytical power to uncover and articulate contributions and challenges inherent to the social dimension of innovation. The second contribution of this explorative study is to pinpoint and examine a number of contributions of and challenges for Living Labs. On the basis of a literature re- view, we untangle and describe the three main facets of the concept: in vivo experimentation on social systems, innovation and product development approaches involving users, or innovation systems. We conclude by gathering crucial questions facing contemporary Living Labs.

Scenes: Social Context in an Age of Contingency

Abstract: This article builds on an important but underdeveloped social science concept—the "scene" as a cluster of urban amenities—to contribute to social science theory and subspecialties such as urban and rural, class, race and gender studies Scenes grow more important in less industrial, more expressively-oriented and contingent societies where traditional constraints fall and self-motivated action around consumption, leisure and amenities is a more important feature of social cohesiveness and interaction Scenes contextualize the individual through amenities and consumption-based expressions of shared sensibilities as to what is right, beautiful and genuine This framework adds to concepts such as neighborhood and workplace by specifying 15 dimensions of the urban scenescape Like neighborhood and workplace, scenes reduce anomie, but because of their focus on consumption and the use of specific amenities, they are more consistent with today's ethos of contingency, moving beyond traditional ideas of the fundamental power of social, family and occupational background We introduce a new amenities-focused database to measure and analyze scenes and their dimensions for each of 40,000 US zip codes We illustrate the framework by applying it to one distinct type of scene, bohemia, and analyze its position in the broader social system

Oppression of the bereaved: a critical analysis of grief in Western society.

Abstract: Bereaved individuals often experience profound social pressure to conform to societal norms that constrict the experience of grief rather than support it. This article explores grief in Western society 1 through an analysis of the underlying structures and values that are a part of this social system, utilizing the lens of critical theory. Critical theory examines social norms and conditions in order to identify and expose oppression in various contexts. This article examines the social rules that govern the expression of grief, the role of attachment, social pain, and shame as potent forces that promote compliance with social rules, and the ways that the underlying assumptions and values in Western society shape how bereaved individuals are expected to react. Implications for clinicians who work with terminally ill or bereaved individuals are then reviewed.

A Complexity Science Model of Social Innovation in Social Enterprise

Abstract: A complexity science-based model for social innovation in social enterprises is presented. The three components of the model include: (1) representing the evolution of social innovation using nonlinear dynamical systems with accompanying parameters and attractors; (2) a cusp catastrophe model of bifurcation or the emergence of a new attractor; (3) the role of emergence in complex systems utilizing recombinatory operations. The model represents the emergence of social innovation as an evolving dynamical system governed by the interaction of two parameters. The first parameter is opportunity tension or the degree of coordination and organization on a collective level required to resolve social problems or take advantage of social opportunities. The second is informational differences having to do with the accessibility of information via social networks connecting key players in the social system under consideration. The informational differences parameter also refers to experiments in social novel...

The Social Function of Humor in Interpersonal Relationships

Abstract: The social function of humor may be considered to have two aspects. The first is that of the relationships within a group and the social system within which personal acquaintance and interaction between and among group members exist. The second is that of society as a whole or of social phenomena. Here, humor’s role being to reform certain aspects of social life. Bergson’s theory deals mainly with this “corrective” characteristic of humor. In this article, both of these aspects are discussed.

Cooperation, Norms, and Revolutions: A Unified Game-Theoretical Approach

Abstract: Background: Cooperation is of utmost importance to society as a whole, but is often challenged by individual self-interests. While game theory has studied this problem extensively, there is little work on interactions within and across groups with different preferences or beliefs. Yet, people from different social or cultural backgrounds often meet and interact. This can yield conflict, since behavior that is considered cooperative by one population might be perceived as non-cooperative from the viewpoint of another.Methodology and Principal Findings: To understand the dynamics and outcome of the competitive interactions within and between groups, we study game-dynamical replicator equations for multiple populations with incompatible interests and different power (be this due to different population sizes, material resources, social capital, or other factors). These equations allow us to address various important questions: For example, can cooperation in the prisoner's dilemma be promoted, when two interacting groups have different preferences? Under what conditions can costly punishment, or other mechanisms, foster the evolution of norms? When does cooperation fail, leading to antagonistic behavior, conflict, or even revolutions? And what incentives are needed to reach peaceful agreements between groups with conflicting interests?Conclusions and Significance: Our detailed quantitative analysis reveals a large variety of interesting results, which are relevant for society, law and economics, and have implications for the evolution of language and culture as well.

Culture and Social Psychology: Converging Perspectives:

Abstract: dynamic networks in conjunction with other forms of non-relational data. From this per spective, psychologists and sociologists both can model, for example, the diffusion of stereotypes or racial prejudice in a social system based on assumptions about how people process outgroup information and the likelihood of intergroup interaction. Together, these independent streams of research can jointly develop a structural the ory of action that explains how neural and social networks change reciprocally. It is here that the future (understanding) of inequality lies. R6F6R6NC6S

Mental health care and the politics of inclusion: A social systems account of psychiatric deinstitutionalization

Abstract: This paper provides an interpretation, based on the social systems theory of German sociologist Niklas Luhmann, of the recent paradigmatic shift of mental health care from an asylum-based model to a community-oriented network of services. The observed shift is described as the development of psychiatry as a function system of modern society and whose operative goal has moved from the medical and social management of a lower and marginalized group to the specialized medical and psychological care of the whole population. From this theoretical viewpoint, the wider deployment of the modern social order as a functionally differentiated system may be considered to be a consistent driving force for this process; it has made asylum psychiatry overly incompatible with prevailing social values (particularly with the normative and regulative principle of inclusion of all individuals in the different functional spheres of society and with the common patterns of participation in modern function systems) and has, in turn, required the availability of psychiatric care for a growing number of individuals. After presenting this account, some major challenges for the future of mental health care provision, such as the overburdening of services or the overt exclusion of a significant group of potential users, are identified and briefly discussed.

The new territorial paradigm of rural development: theoretical foundations from systems and institutional theories

Abstract: In recent decades, a new paradigm for public policies in rural areas has made headway. This new approach aims to support economic and institutional transformation processes designed and implemented by local rural actors themselves. It argues for the building of local partnerships as atoolfor the governance of rural change. This paper reflects about the governance of development and change in rural areas. It builds a conceptual framework from two complementary theoretical sources: (a) complexity theory views on the governance of resilience and (b) institutional theories. Given the impossibility to predict and plan social change in a top-down fashion, it stresses that change requires that actors of a social system construct a sufficiently shared vision of a desired future state and manage to act together in order to ‘navigate’ the pathway towards that aim. Capacity for territorial governance is also critical in rural governance of resilience. System resilience refers to the capacity of actors to adjust the desired pathway whenever external shocks threaten its viability, or in certain cases, impose the need for a more fundamental change in the prevailing system and the desired pathways of change. We argue that these theoretical inspirations provide a useful substantiated underpinning for the territorial paradigm of rural development and allow us to show why and how the local partnership has the potential to improve the governance and the resilience of rural territories. We also develop a number of further reflections about the challenges of such partnerships, in particular the difficulties emerging from heterogeneous interest and power of local actors.

As If it Were Relevant - A Social Systems Perspective on the Relation between Theory and Practice

Abstract: This paper discusses the concept of research relevance from a systems theoretical perspective Based on the claim that many scholars still think of relevance as something that can be achieved and enhanced by choosing the ‘right’ measures (eg, ‘user friendly’ writing style), we argue that such a perspective obscures the self-referential status of ‘science’ and ‘practice’ as social systems in society Our systems theoretical discussion, which is based on the work of German sociologist Niklas Luhmann, shows that, strictly speaking, science cannot produce relevant knowledge prior to application Instead, practice has to make scientific knowledge relevant by incorporating it into the specific logic of its system We argue that such an integration of knowledge is only possible by first acting as if the offered knowledge were relevant and to then modify and extend it according to the idiosyncrasies of the system We characterize these as-if assumptions as fictions and show their significance for rethinking the concept of relevance

Complexity of Social Systems

Abstract: The term “complexity” used frequently as a kind of “buzzword” has gained a specific role in the language of modern social sciences and social practice. A question is arising — how can we understand complexity of social systems/social phenomena which are characterized by limited possibility of explanation, unpredictability or low reliability of prediction? The aim of the paper is to provide a partial answer to this question. A survey of characteristics of complex systems and typology of various kinds of complexity, and of their sources is presented. It is also shown that broadly defined social systems (human systems) are aected by all kinds of complexity — they are “complexities of complexities”. Using the typology of interpretations of complexity as an example, it is shown what are the limitations of transferring knowledge from physics, chemistry, information theory and biology to the studies of complexity of social systems. It is especially emphasized that mathematical models, which are treated as objective when applied in social sciences must be considered as an element of intersubjective discourse.

Opportunities and constraints when studying social learning: Developmental approaches and social factors

Abstract: Identifying social learning in wild populations is complicated by the relative lack of ability to conduct controlled experiments in natural habitats. Even in more controlled captive settings, tracking the innovation and spread of behavior among known individuals can be challenging, and these studies often suffer from a lack of ecological validity. In recent years, a host of new approaches have been undertaken to attempt to provide more quantitative control and empirical demonstration of social learning, both in the wild and in captive settings that more closely mimic natural contexts. Developmental approaches are being undertaken more regularly that allow us to study the ontogenetic trajectory of complex skills in a variety of taxa. Likewise, a spirited focus on the social context of social learning has emerged, and researchers have begun to meticulously analyze the influences of social systems and the characteristics of demonstrators and observers. Here, we provide a review of these studies and summarize the opportunities and constraints that exist when one attempts to study learning in social species. We suggest that although the study of social learning in nonhuman animals is becoming much more complex, addressing this complexity provides a fruitful model for understanding the evolution of human cultural behavior.

Systems Theory and the Development of Sexual Identity for Individuals with Intellectual/Developmental Disability

Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to examine social systems theory as it relates to the inclusion of disenfranchised populations into the larger social system by enabling these populations to receive education and resources which can allow them to develop skills needed to achieve inclusion. Specifically this study is concerned with using elements of social systems theory to develop a sexual education program for a population identified with an Intellectually/Developmentally Disability (ID/DD). In order to do this, it is necessary to work within the family or caregiver system where these individuals live and function. Caregivers must be helped to recognize the potential for inclusion in this area of life for this population, and educational tools appropriate to the developmental and cognitive levels of the participants must be made available. Acknowledgment of the individual’s role within the system and understanding of the individual’s experience of that systems interaction with the environment and with other systems is primary in developing effective programming which can increase the quality of the participants’ interactions and relationships, making life a more productive and more satisfying experience.

Conservation of Information: Reverse Engineering Dark Social Systems

Abstract: A broad appeal for a new theory of interdependence, 'iota', has been requested for the science of complexity in a special issue of Science, for social network analysis by the National Academy of Sciences, for effects-based operations by the US military, and for modernizing the fields of law and economics. We have proposed a new theory of 'iota' for organizations and systems that already appears to exhibit some validity. It is expressed in a physics of 'iota' (e.g., bistability) that includes Fourier pairs for social uncertainty and Lotka-Volterra-like equations for population effects in social systems. Unlike traditional social science, it assumes that despite the tension between self and collective organizational processes, perfect organizations and social systems become dark, but that purposively dark systems emit more light in the form of unique information (e.g., gangs, terrorists, high-security systems). To reverse engineer dark social systems (DSS), our theory replaces methodological individualism with a physics of social 'iota'. But the many challenges in applying 'iota' to control theory or to metrics for organizational performance make this high-risk research.

Mobilizing Public Will Across Borders: Roles and Functions of Communication Processes and Technologies

Abstract: Public will is a social force that can mobilize organically, or with external support and influence, to become a political lever for social change. This essay investigates three different forms of public-will mobilization: endogenous, which occurs within the confines of a social system; networked, which involves partnerships and collaborations across borders of a social system; and exogenous, which involves the collaborative efforts of change agencies external to the social system. Particular attention is paid to the role of new media in helping to facilitate public-will mobilization within and across borders of all levels. Examples include mobilization efforts in China, Tanzania, Burma and Iran.

Design and Management

Abstract: Modern design was born in Europe at the beginning of 20th century. A series of factors led to its emerging under the background of historical and social change, in which the influences from industrial revolution, economical and social system's transformation were extremely striking. Therefore, the birth and development of modern design have been involved in the interactive relations with such historical and social elements. From which, the relationship between design and management was especially remarkable from the perspective of both scientific and historical research. Firstly, modern design has played a very important role in the business management, and again, it has a strong connection with macro-social management, or it gradually became a measure to achieve social objectives or to deal with social problems, where, for instance, the environmental issue or energy crisis were highly concerned. Within such a discussion, the significance of modern design's role in the modern management could have been revealed totally and would draw a necessary attention at any respect.

Autopoiesis and Knowledge in Self-Sustaining Organizational Systems

Abstract: Knowledge and the communication of knowledge are critical for self-sustaining organizations comprised of people and the tools and machines that extend peoples’ physical and cognitive capacities. Humberto Maturana and Francisco Varela proposed the concept of autopoiesis (“self” “production”) as a definition of life in the 1970s. Nicklas Luhmann extended this concept to establish a theory of social systems, where intangible human social systems were formed by recursive networks of communications. We show here that Luhmann fundamentally misunderstood Maturana and Varela’s autopoiesis by thinking that the self-observation necessary for self-maintenance formed a paradoxically vicious circle. Luhmann tried to resolve this apparent paradox by placing the communication networks on an imaginary plane orthogonal to the networked people. However, Karl Popper’s evolutionary epistemology and the theory of hierarchically complex systems turns what Luhmann thought was a vicious circle into a virtuous spiral of organizational learning and knowledge. There is no closed circle that needs to be explained via Luhmann’s extraordinarily paradoxical linguistic contortions.

Genetic Thinking in the Study of Social Relationships Five Points of Entry

Abstract: For nearly a generation, researchers studying human behavioral development have combined genetically informed research designs with careful measures of social relationships such as parenting, sibling relationships, peer relationships, marital processes, social class stratifications, and patterns of social engagement in the elderly. In what way have these genetically informed studies altered the construction and testing of social theories of human development? We consider five points of entry where genetic thinking is taking hold. First, genetic findings suggest an alternative scenario for explaining social data. Associations between measures of the social environment and human development may be due to genes that influence both. Second, genetic studies add to other prompts to study the early developmental origins of current social phenomena in midlife and beyond. Third, genetic analyses promise to shed light on understudied social systems, such as sibling relationships, that have an impact on human develo...

Virtual history: a socially networked pedagogy of enlightenment

Abstract: Background: Twenty-first-century undergraduates often find eighteenth-century culture difficult to access and, influenced by popular assumptions about the period in current media theory, characterise the century as individualist, underestimating the cultural significance of social networking in literary and political history. Purpose: This study set out to teach the history of social networking as culturally significant in the production of literary texts during the eighteenth century as well as to demonstrate the intellectual and compositional potential of today's social networking technologies. A virtual reconstruction of eighteenth-century London in Second Life and a semester project requiring the student recreation of 3D social spaces like coffee houses and gardens tested the uses of social networking tools to teach research methods and build disciplinary knowledge. Sources of evidence: Evidence of student learning outcomes is provided by three undergraduate courses in eighteenth-century culture, with...

Producing Parsons' reputation: early critiques of Talcott Parsons' social theory and the making of a caricature.

Abstract: This article examines the critical responses to Talcott Parsons' first major work, The Structure of Social Action (1937), and his two subsequent books, Toward a General Theory of Action and The Social System (both 1951). Because Parsons' work was the subject of such virulent debate, we cannot fully understand Parsons' impact on the discipline of sociology without understanding the source and nature of those early criticisms. I trace the responses to Parsons, first through book reviews and private letters and then in the more substantial statements of C. Wright Mills, George Homans, and Alvin Gouldner, from the largely positive but superficial reception of Structure to the polemics that followed Parsons' 1951 works. In the late 1930s and 1940s, Parsons' reputation grew steadily but there remained no careful reception of Structure, fostering resentment toward Parsons in some quarters while precluding a sophisticated understanding of his work. After 1951, a few critics capitalized on that tension, writing sweeping rejections of Parsons' work that spoke to a much broader audience of sociologists. That dynamic, coupled with Parsons' own indifference toward his harshest critics, produced a situation in which many sociologists simply chose not to read Parsons in the 1950s and 1960s, reinforcing a caricature and distorting perceptions of Parsons' place in mid-twentieth-century American sociology.

Guest Editorial, part of a Special Feature on Social Network Analysis in Natural Resource Governance The Right Connections: How do Social Networks Lubricate the Machinery of Natural Resource Governance?

Abstract: Adaptation and mitigation to global as well as local environmental problems calls for the transformation of many contemporary and unsustainable governance approaches. For much of human history, natural resource governance centered on efforts to control nature to harvest products from it, while reducing risks to society. The central tenet was to achieve predictable outcomes, a strategy that almost invariably led to reduced biological diversity and a reduction of the range of variation in natural systems. However, reduced diversity in turn tended to create more sensitive systems, both ecological and social (Levin 1999 among others). From the 1970s and onward (Holling 1973, 1978), the notion that such attempts to control highly complex and nonlinear systems invariably leads to surprises and/ or societal and environmental crises gained increasing momentum (Holling and Meffe 1996). On the basis of these arguments, conventional command-and-control resource management became heavily criticized (Holling and Meffe 1996, Wondolleck and Yaffee 2000, Folke et al. 2005, among many others) and several approaches have been proposed to overcome its limitations. These include, among others, adaptive management (e.g., Holling 1978), cooperative management (e.g., Pinkerton 1989, Jentoft 2000), collaborative management (Borrini-Feyerabend and Borrini 1996, Wondolleck and Yaffee 2000), adaptive comanagement (Ruitenbeek and Cartier 2001, Olsson et al. 2004), and adaptive governance (Folke et al. 2005). The concepts outlined above share many similarities and combined they can be said to identify two principal elements for overcoming the limitations of command-and-control approaches: focus on continuous learning, achieved through the inclusion of multiple sectors of society and their diverse sets of knowledge. However, achieving this new form of resource governance is dependent on a fundamental understanding of important social processes at play. Thus, scholars have recently started to take an interest in how relationships among different actors and stakeholders facilitate and hinder societies in transforming the way they manage natural resources. Many attempts at sustainable resource governance have failed because of inadequate attention to the role of social relationships in shaping environmental outcomes. In other cases, new governance initiatives emerge and develop as a result of social ties forming between previously unconnected actors. In response to these realizations, analysis of social networks has gained increasing attention and is coming to the fore in studies of social-ecological systems and natural resource governance (Bodin and Crona 2009). There is also an increasing recognition of the importance of understanding the flows of resources and information through social systems to support the governance of natural resources, to contribute to social learning, and to enable development of integrated policy approaches. A growing body of empirical work is beginning to emerge around these topics and in this special issue we bring together a set of original papers that in different ways address social networks and how our appreciation of their structure can enhance understanding of natural resource governance.

Coercion, possibility, or context? Questioning the role of private foundations in American higher education

Abstract: As an academic, I grapple with the role of private foundations in higher education; on the one hand, as a critical scholar-activist committed to radical social and economic change, and on the other hand, as a participant in foundation-funded academic projects. I recognize the contradictory position I occupy within an institution that has historically served the status quo. In this paper I attempt to deal with the question of whether foundation funds, historically made possible by our unjust social system, have the capacity to contribute to the systemic social and economic changes I – alongside like-minded colleagues – strive to realize. Specifically, I look at the role of foundations in American higher education for the purpose of agitating hegemonic ideas and challenging us to ask difficult questions about our day-to-day practices.

Culture as the Co-evolution of Psychic and Social Systems: New Perspectives on the Person—Environment Relationship:

Abstract: In this article we contribute a new theoretical perspective to the analysis of the relationship between individual and culture, and the person and the environment. Many hotly debated issues in cultural psychology, such as reification, the discourse of personality traits, and models of part—whole hierarchies are productively addressed. Taking a systems-theoretical approach following Niklas Luhmann and others, we distinguish three different types of system and their operational processes (biotic, psychic and social) and suggest that the person—environment relationship should be conceptualized as a process of co-evolution of psychic and social systems. We discuss the critical role of communication in this process and its implications for the concept of culture. Our own research on classroom disruptions and problem behavior in educational settings provides illustrative examples for the kinds of methodological considerations generally relevant to a systems-theoretical approach in empirical research.

The complexity turn in educational linguistics

Abstract: In the wake of conversations about integrating macro- and micro-levels of linguistic analysis over the last 50 years, and following theoretical and methodological debates in the 1990s about investigating the dynamics of entire social systems, complexity theory is coming of age in educational linguistics. Central to the application of complexity theory in social science is its attention to multiple scales of social organisation and how they are connected through the actions of individuals, with an emphasis on the unfolding of social processes rather than on cause–effect relationships. This provides us with a new perspective that is increasingly being adopted in the development and implementation of multilingual education throughout the world, as seen in the simultaneous management of linguistic resources across different scales – national, regional, community, classroom, and interpersonal.