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The Creativity of Action

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... The agent can give a meaning to the action and can explain it in relation to the past, present and future, so that the intention involves a motivational commitment to action. However, in the phenomenological tradition developed in theUSA,undertheinfluenceofAlfredSchütz,thereisaweakerinterpretationof such intentionality, since the observation of successful or unsuccessful agency, and of its appropriateness, is at the basis of the evaluation of the autonomy of that agent (Lyotard, 1991;Joas, 1996). ...
... The notion of agency became the topic of a theoretical discussion involving the main voices of social sciences. Bourdieu (1980) and Giddens (1984) were among the best-known participants in such debate, together with Archer (1996), Alexander (1995), Habermas (1987), Joas (1996), Melucci, (1989, Touraine (1988) and Bashkar (1979).Allofthemsoughttodefineagency, theextenttowhichanagentisautonomousandcancollectivelyinfluencesocial structures,theextenttowhichanagentisinfluencedandconstrainedbysocial structures no longer those of the modern industrial era. ...
... It is not by chance that the connection of the single individual with larger social structures was at the centre of the attention of all the founding scholars of American sociology, and the meso-level of social relations, typical of civil society, was a focal point for many of them (Fine, 2021).ThesociologyofMead,Goffman,and of the Chicago School was based on an idea of agency as a result of the phenomenology of situatedness and of the contextualized relational processes of communication. Consequently, agency was conceived as relational, rather than individual, anditwaslikenedtoacreativeopportunityofanagentaspartofaspecificsocial context (Joas, 1996). Human action was fully part of the social construction of the social environment, to which it was not opposed but instead sought to transform -as was also argued by Berger and Luckmann in their constructivist analysis (1968).PutinGoffmanianterms,agencyispartoftheinteractionorder,and it is not a pure expression of the agent's intentionality. ...
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This is a critical cartography of the notion of agency, of its current transformations, and interdisciplinary intertwining. Whilst in modern social sciences, agency used to be conceptualized as a property of the subject, and the discussion was focused on the extension of such properties, such as intentionality, more recently agency has been expanded to include other actors and theoretical approaches beyond the boundaries of the humanities and social sciences. The chapter identifies different cultures of agency originating from different theoretical debates and research fieldwork. ‘Agency’ is a concept widespread in social sciences, and it is usually evoked to refer to autonomous action, capacity of choice, human freedom as traditionally opposed to actions determined by structural constraints or interiorized forms of dressage . However, although we are accustomed to anthropocentrism, we are still uncomfortable with the evidence that we are losing control of the material and social environment. The chapter analyses the intersecting trajectories of different epistemological and theoretical traditions and the new social issues that they highlight.
... Because of the connection with immorality, an ethical perspective is needed. In another contribution, I have already developed some principles for pragmatist economic ethics of corruption based on action theory (Hollstein 2015a(Hollstein , 2015b, referring to the neo-pragmatist theory of action developed by Hans Joas (1996). ...
... The physicality of action points to qualitative sensory experience and, thus, to the role of emotions, which is mostly neglected in the economic context. Qualitative experiences and the associated emotions are aspects that are of central importance for experiences and the appropriation of moral values (Joas 2001). ...
... The WGI supports a general ideal of good governance, which is shaped by Western ideas about democracy, freedom and the rule of law. However, the fact that these ideas arose in the Western context does not mean that they should only apply to Western societies (Joas 2015). Even for countries in the Global South, these values can be attractive, as evidenced by UN conventions. ...
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At present, we are confronted with a boom in the use of corruption reproaches. Corruption, a word whose definition has been extended over the past few years, serves as an essential term to discredit political opponents and as an opportunity to legitimize one’s own position. Governments are even sometimes elected to power because of the promise to fight corruption. At the international level and in the general public, corruption is acknowledged, in particular, by the work of Transparency International (TI). A major impetus to raise awareness about corruption is the wide range of empirical research and rankings of corruption indices, which comparatively assess levels of corruption in the world and publish new reports every year on the most corrupt countries in the world. The first index to make headlines worldwide, which is also the best-known case to date, is the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) that was first published by TI in 1995 and measures the perception of corruption. However, the underlying corruption concepts are often relatively out of focus in public debates, as well as in the respective indices and, hence, remain rather intuitive and conceptually unclear due to the absence of an underlying theory. Only in relation to the moral rejection of corruption is unity. But comparison in time or between different regions seems not possible under these premises. In this article, the corruption concepts used in empirically measured corruption indices are examined from the perspective of a pragmatist economic ethics, in order to determine how corrupt action is conceived and what contribution these concepts can make to the fight against corruption. At the same time this analysis will also allow us to draw conclusions for corruption research oriented to compare corruption in different situations.
... A different view is expressed by Joas (1996) [20] who sees action in economic contexts on a non-teleological interpretation of intentionality. This view inspired Beckert territories. ...
... A different view is expressed by Joas (1996) [20] who sees action in economic contexts on a non-teleological interpretation of intentionality. This view inspired Beckert territories. ...
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Although uncertainty is one of the oldest and most substantial parts of economic theory, there is still no consensus among economists on what uncertainty is. The key aspects are the ”under-socialized” versus ”oversocialized” approach, rationality and the alleged contrast between sociology and economics, the role of imaginary expectations, embeddedness, ”animal spirits” and irrational exuberance. This work aims to address risk and uncertainty (both in the endodoxastic and metadoxastic form) in contemporary economic thought, highlighting the initial uncertainty in the formulation of a global theory both from an epistemic and an ontological point of view. Probably the answers must be sought with the help of other disciplines such as neurobiology to understand how uncertainty and risk are encoded differently in the mechanisms of the human brain.
... On one hand, social action relies on habitual dispositional knowledge and expectations that are embedded in social practices. On the other hand, endogenous and exogenous factors awaken and stir human reflexive creativity, which lead to the transformation of practices and the knowledge bound with them (Joas, 1996). ...
... Adler and Faubert (Chapter 3) note: 'On one hand, social action relies on habitual dispositional knowledge and expectations that are embedded in social practices. On the other hand, endogenous and exogenous factors awaken and stir human reflexive creativity, which lead to the transformation of practices and the knowledge bound with them(Joas 1996)'. ...
Chapter
This book brings together the key scholars in the international practice debate to demonstrate its strengths as an innovative research perspective. The contributions show the benefit of practice theories in the study of phenomena in international security, international political economy and international organisation, by directing attention to concrete and observable everyday practices that shape international outcomes. The chapters exemplify the cross-overs and relations to other theoretical approaches, and thereby establish practice theories as a distinct IR perspective. Each chapter investigates a key concept that plays an important role in international relations theory, such as power, norms, knowledge, change or cognition. Taken together, the authors make a strong case that practice theories allow to ask new questions, direct attention to uncommon empirical material, and reach different conclusions about international relations phenomena. The book is a must read for anyone interested in recent international relations theory and the actual practices of doing global politics.
... The pragmatist habitbased concept of action is rather a social theory of action that helps us understand the predispositions for acting in specific ways. Within a society, individuals tend to follow familiar course of action because alternatives are not actively considered when this is not necessary (Joas, 1996). Habits are learned by being exposed to the practices of others in similar situations (Törrönen et al., 2019). ...
... However, habits are also creative, and individuals can adapt them to changing conditions or new contexts (cf. Joas, 1996;Dalton, 2004;Kilpinen, 2012). This creates social processes where changing conditions also change habitual patterns or predispositions of action, and create new adaptions (Kilpinen, 2012). ...
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Electronic gambling machines (EGMs) are among the most harmful forms of gambling. The structural characteristics of EGMs prolong and reinforce gambling similarly to other habit-forming technologies. In Finland, the wide availability of EGMs in non-casino locations is likely to further reinforce the habit-creating nature of gambling offer by incorporating EGMs into everyday practices. The COVID-19 pandemic changed the landscape of gambling in Finland. The most visible change was the closure of land-based EGMs in non-casino environments, arcades, and the casino in March 2020. Since then, the status of EGMs has varied depending on the pandemic situation. The current qualitative study focuses on how Finnish past-year gamblers experience prolonged EGM closures and occasional re-openings 1 year into the pandemic. The data consist of responses to an online questionnaire eliciting experiences (N = 187) as well as interviews (N = 27, conducted in groups or alone). To aid our analysis, we employ the sociological pragmatist theory of the concept of “habit.” The analysis focuses on gambler experiences on EGM shutdowns and re-openings, and views on whether closures have contributed to abstaining from gambling or to shifting to other gambling products. Policy implications of the results are discussed.
... However, Dewey maintains that aesthetic experience, which refers to the pragmatist model of situated creativity, is possible for all human beings: "new variations of action are generated by the tension of problems contained in situations, ... whereas all actions involve experiences of some kind" (qtd. in Joas, 1996, p. 139). In this sense, as Joas (1996) observes, Dewey "brings out the holistic and coherent nature of certain experiences which seem almost of themselves to stand above the flow of multifarious experiences" (p. 139). ...
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The aim of this paper is to contribute both theoretically and methodologically to discussions on walking simulator video games. We base our reflection on results grounded in a video game design project conducted as part of our master's thesis. Our research perspective is rooted in pragmatist and constructivist theories of design, such as the epistemology of practice (Schön, 1983; 1992) and project-grounded research (Findeli, 2005). To define the player's experience, we relied on John Dewey's (1934) concept of aesthetic experience. In this context, an individual's experience is characterised as reflective, i.e., meaningful, introspective, creative, and situated. Our project consisted in designing a tailored reflective experience for a unique player-the designer's younger sister. This involved creating a playable prototype featuring gameplay characteristics that game theorists and critics might consider elements of a walking simulator. We describe how the player had a reflective experience both during her interaction with the game and thereafter. Adopting a reflective approach allowed us to better describe and appreciate the life-changing potential of simulators and to ultimately shed light on their capabilities, rather than concentrate on their limitations (Clarke, 2017). We therefore propose a new label, namely, "reflective simulator," as a way to contribute to theoretical discussions about walking simulators. This case study provides a methodological contribution to the field of game studies by describing and reflecting upon the theoretical anchors underpinning game design.
... En cuanto a nuestra estrategia metodológica, en sintonía con nuestra perspectiva teórica y epistemológica, incorporamos los aportes de los llamados «giros» pragmatista, narrativo y de la performatividad del lenguaje en las ciencias sociales (Joas, 1996(Joas, , 1998Ricoeur, 1999) centralmente por la posibilidad de entender los procesos de construcción de significado como experiencias singulares en un contexto de interacciones discursivas, por la facultad de los sujetos de elaborar narrativamente esas experiencias. También por el rasgo distintivo en lo epistemológico, que no se queda solo ni en la explicación causal ni en la interpretación, sino en una atestación (Ricoeur, 2008), un dar cuenta de los otros y escribir cual testigo, una historia pública, o en términos de Dewey (2004), una co-construcción de sentido al calor de los problemas públicos en los que el investigador es un hablante entre otros. ...
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Este trabajo propone una reflexión situada sobre la potencialidad política de la noción de afectados ambientales en un marco de lucha por los derechos, para promover una conceptualización densa y acorde con la situaciones de padecimiento y vulneración de derechos que padecen las víctimas de la contaminación ambiental. Primero, describimos una experiencia fecunda en ejemplos, destacando la trama institucional de la injusticia recorrida por los afectados y los dispositivos de denegación de reconocimiento, así como las comunidades formadas por y para las víctimas. Segundo, realizamos un repaso de algunos contextos de uso de la noción de afectados ambientales que pueden contribuir a fortalecer —en el caso particular analizado y, por extensión, en otros— una autocomprensión público- política para el efectivo reconocimiento.
... (BORGES, 2011). Em uma dimensão mais geral, o neopragmatismo alemão de Hans Joas fornece subsídios para aprofundar esta perspectiva ao considerar em suas pesquisas a gênese e o comprometimento a valores como oriundos de experiências de autoformação e autotranscedência (JOAS, 1996(JOAS, , 2000(JOAS, , 2012. Em uma abordagem mais empírica, pode-se conferir atenção especial para os casos em que há risco percebido sem a ocorrência de medo do crime. ...
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Este trabalho aborda as variações do sentimento de segurança/insegurança na PNAD de 2009, segundo local de referência. O objetivo é explorar em que medida sua ocorrência na cidade acompanha o mesmo sentimento tanto no bairro quando no domicílio. Após breve introdução sobre a história do conceito, ele é definido como fenômeno misto de risco percebido e medo do crime. A segunda parte trata dos pressupostos teóricos de sua operacionalização nos níveis geográficos de referência, domicílio, bairro e cidade, enquanto a terceira explora suas variações. Os resultados levantam a hipótese de que o sentimento de segurança seja geograficamente acumulável, enquanto o sentimento de insegurança tem o domicílio como nível preponderante. Este padrão aparenta ser válido para o Brasil e tende a se replicar nos estados, com exceção da Paraíba. A conclusão busca aprofundar os resultados, delimitar seu alcance e sugerir caminhos para pesquisas futuras.
... The claim that agency is dynamic, transformative, and inherently creative is central to practice theory (e.g., Bially Mattern 2011 ; Adler 2019 ; McDonald and McDonald 2020 ) and its pragmatist methodological foundations (e.g.,Joas 1996 ).4 The terms "primary" and "fundamental" institutions are often used interchangeably in English School literature. ...
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This article integrates normative theoretical analysis into accounts of international order by connecting the study of international practice to debates about the nature and moral purpose of states’ social association. Combining English School and social practice theory with insights from scholarship on colonialism, race, and empire, we conceptualize international order as a dynamic, contested, but often stable and durable, set of patterns of practice and show how they set ethical reference points and privilege certain claims over others in relation to legitimate agency and morally appropriate conduct. To allow for a grounded normative analysis of global ordering practices, we connect actors’ capacity to exercise creative normative agency to debates about legitimate membership and morally appropriate conduct in international society. We highlight the normative significance of historical context for the study of international practices and illustrate our theoretical arguments with examples from various ordering practices, including international law, war, diplomacy, and economic practice, where actors frequently draw on foundational values to construct normative claims about inclusion and exclusion. At the same time, agents’ creative capacity to alter existing and create new rights and obligations has transformed our thinking, acting, and arguing about the nature and moral purpose of world order.
... To understand the significance of the turnaround process at Seahill, including the puzzling emphasis of lightness when emerging from a hardship, we turn to Pragmatism and theories of agency. As a process philosophy dealing with action and meaning (Alexander, 2013;Dewey, 1922Dewey, , 1929Evans, 2000;James, 1890James, [1950; Joas, 1996), Pragmatism is uniquely suited to understand growth of agency as a relational, emergent and generative phenomenon where people unlock problematic situations and discover new possibilities through action (Farjoun, Ansell, & Boin, 2015;Simpson & den Hond, 2022). Prior research has provided only partial knowledge of how people in organizations experience growth of agency when they overcome troublesome situations. ...
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Research has provided limited knowledge of how people in organizations experience growth of agency during circumstances that seem hopeless and stuck, and how such growth emerges. Drawing from the study of the turnaround processes at a nursing home and the Pragmatism of Dewey and Mead, we contribute with a theory of how agency is produced in social inquiry. We suggest that the puzzling accounts of lightness in the experiences of people at this nursing home help explain how a field of social inquiry may be charged with creative and agentic force. We show how agency emerged through a series of action sequences related to inviting people into inquiry through the opening of a troublesome situation, the resulting voicing of needs and ideas for improvement, as well as the subsequent experimenting and surfacing of tales of meaningful progress from such actions. Furthermore, our empirical observations suggest that the emergence of collective desire to meet the needs of the Generalized Other is a central, yet understated, part of agency produced through social inquiry. Lightness of agency may be accentuated, paradoxically, by the weight of a more generalized situation—in this case that of institutionalized care for elderly—that the local inquiry exemplifies and in which it resonates.
... Beyond these three purposes of fictional inquiry, there is yet another fourth purpose that is characterized by a primarily practical orientation, as when scholars use fictional scenarios, creativity, and design thinking to create novel (social) realities. While this is an important stream of research in its own right (see, for example, Jelinek et al. 2008) and can be linked to epistemological considerations, such as the theory of creative action developed by Joas (1996), this approach will not be covered in depth here since the orientation in these works tends to be more practical than epistemological. This focus on practicality is evident, for instance, in the following statement by Jelinek et al. (2008, p. 317-318): "Science raises the question 'is this proposition valid or true?'," while design asks "will it work better?" ...
... Channelling Archer's work, such a perspective can be criticized for neglecting the relative independence of the social and the individual spheres (Archer, 2000(Archer, , 2012. Her critical realist perspective might be better suited to conceptualize individual responses to the erosion of social institutions in late modernity (Beck, 1992(Beck, , 2009Giddens, 1990), and to give more weight to the creative power of resistance and innovation (Joas, 1996) in contrast to pre-or unconscious routines and habits. ...
Article
Even though risk-taking is a common and widespread social experience sociological theorizing on the concept is scarce. This contribution aims to systematize and advance understanding of risk-taking and its different forms and how these connect to social inequalities and the social machinery. It considers risk-taking in the context of the debate about Bourdieu's theory of practice and Archer's theory of morphogenesis before suggesting a conceptual framework that outlines different rationales, dimensions, and the role of agency for understanding risk-taking as an individual and as a collective activity. The concept highlights the ambivalent character of risk-taking as an expression and mode of reproducing inequalities and a crucial resource to overcome disadvantage and foster social change.
... esim. Joas 1996. käsitteellistetä toimintana, vaan se määritellään passiiviseksi, koska siinäkään "ei tapahdu mitään" 32 . ...
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Toimijuuden muunnelmia Teoksessa ’Haavoittuva toimijuus’ kirjoittajat kysyvät, mitä sairastaminen saa aikaan sairastajan ja hänen läheistensä elämässä, erilaisissa hoito- ja hoivajärjestelmissä sekä laajemmin yhteiskunnassa. Millaista toimijuutta haavoittuvuuden ehdoilla syntyy? Sairastamisen kuluessa tihentyvä ihmisten, yhteisöjen ja teknologioiden välinen keskinäinen riippuvuus, sidoksellisuus ja epävarmuus havainnollistuvat haavoittuvuuden taustaa vasten. Se kytkee yksilöiden kokemuksen yhteen yhteiskunnallisten rakenteiden kanssa. Teoksessamme käytämme haavoittuvuutta elettynä taustana, jota vasten myös sairastamisen ja toimijuuden välisen suhteen tarkastelu tulee mahdolliseksi. Usein kuulee sanottavan, että olemme haavoittuvia, mutta silti toimijoita. ’Haavoittuva toimijuus’- teoksemme tulokset korostavat kuitenkin, että olemme haavoittuvia ja juuri siksi toimijoita. Toimijuus hoivan piirissä paljastaa lähtökohtaisen riippuvuuden toisista, sidokset yhteisöön ja sen kunkin hetkisiin liikkeisiin sekä yhteiskunnalliseen asemaan, ikään sekä sairauden laatuun ja kulkuun. Haavoittuvuus mahdollistaa parantumisen kannalta olennaisen asian: kyvyn ottaa vastaan toisen toimintaa, hoivaa, voidakseen toipua tai voida paremmin. Vastaanottaminen on mahdollista rajan huokoisuuden kautta. Hoivan tutkiminen tekee tämän ymmärtämisen mahdolliseksi. Teoksessa ’Haavoittuva toimijuus’ kirjoittajat kysyvät, mitä sairastaminen saa aikaan sairastajan ja hänen läheistensä elämässä, erilaisissa hoito- ja hoivajärjestelmissä sekä laajemmin yhteiskunnassa. Millaista toimijuutta haavoittuvuuden ehdoilla syntyy? Sairastamisen kuluessa tihentyvä ihmisten, yhteisöjen ja teknologioiden välinen keskinäinen riippuvuus, sidoksellisuus ja epävarmuus havainnollistuvat haavoittuvuuden taustaa vasten. Se kytkee yksilöiden kokemuksen yhteen yhteiskunnallisten rakenteiden kanssa. Teoksessamme käytämme haavoittuvuutta elettynä taustana, jota vasten myös sairastamisen ja toimijuuden välisen suhteen tarkastelu tulee mahdolliseksi. Usein kuulee sanottavan, että olemme haavoittuvia, mutta silti toimijoita. ’Haavoittuva toimijuus’- teoksemme tulokset korostavat kuitenkin, että olemme haavoittuvia ja juuri siksi toimijoita. Toimijuus hoivan piirissä paljastaa lähtökohtaisen riippuvuuden toisista, sidokset yhteisöön ja sen kunkin hetkisiin liikkeisiin sekä yhteiskunnalliseen asemaan, ikään sekä sairauden laatuun ja kulkuun. Haavoittuvuus mahdollistaa parantumisen kannalta olennaisen asian: kyvyn ottaa vastaan toisen toimintaa, hoivaa, voidakseen toipua tai voida paremmin. Vastaanottaminen on mahdollista rajan huokoisuuden kautta. Hoivan tutkiminen tekee tämän ymmärtämisen mahdolliseksi. Haavoittuva toimijuus - sairastaminen ja hoiva hyvinvointivaltion laitamilla. Toim. Honkasalo Marja-Liisa, Leppo Anna ja Jylhänkangas Leila. Vastapaino, Tampere 2022.
... In these contexts, practices that take place at the level of practical consciousness are replaced by discursive consciousness, which 'means being able to put things into words' (Giddens, 1984: 45). With discursive consciousness, past experiences and present conditions interact in an imaginative 'dialogue' over the future, which considers 'competing possible lines of action' (Dewey, 1930(Dewey, [1922: 190) because 'choices are imagined, evaluated, and contingently reconstructed by actors in ongoing dialogue with unfolding situations' (Emirbayer and Mische, 1998: 966; see also Joas, 1996). I propose to study this future projectivity in the context of three main types of future: expectations, imaginaries and narratives of the future. ...
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The study of the future is a growing field of research transcending almost all research topics. Despite this rising interest, this field often seems fragmented into different approaches, as though the common object of study were vague or inconsistent. This article proposes a framework analytically distinguishing the three key dimensions of the future embedded in the course of action: expectations, imaginaries and narratives of the future. For each, a definition and a short introduction to their use in the social sciences are provided, together with a description of their capacity to shape the course of action and examples. Then, the scope condition of this influencing capacity is discussed, in particular considering its situational origin and the intergenerational links of the future, with climate change as a case in point. The conclusion highlights research perspectives and methods that can be employed.
... When considering action, most consumption research has historically focused on value orientations and rational considerations that are presumed to consciously shape behavioral choices. However, emergent theories of action help to clarify that, in reality, most behaviors are habitual and unthinking patterns of practices that humans learn and repeat without conscious, rational thought (Joas, 1996). Working from a pragmatist theory of action and recognizing the embedded corporeality of habitual class distinctions reveals novel insights for the ways in which infrastructural being constrains possibilities for social change. ...
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What would waste relations be like if they were conceptualized as waste care rather than waste management? To explore this inquiry in practice, we examine two different ethnographic examples of dwelling with waste: (1) smart home technologies as part of ageing healthcare services in regional Australia and (2) bokashi composting as an alternative waste practice in urban Finland. Bringing together scholarship on infrastructures from design anthropology, and waste studies with new materialist and feminist perspectives, we propose infra-ecologies of waste care as an analytical tool to unpack complex care relations embedded in everyday waste practices.
... The embodied experience of ATC work Joas (1996) contends that most theories of action overlook the role of the body and are based on an implicit assumption that "the body is the factual basis of action but pay no attention to it, as if in a fit of theoretical prudishness" (p. 167). ...
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This paper examines the learning and performance of the air traffic control (ATC) work domain. This domain was chosen because it embodies features that represent future work for many other industries (e.g., information service provision mediated by information technologies; a high reliance on communication skills and collaborative work; increasing complexity and intensity of the work activity), within an organisational context undergoing considerable change. In ATC work learning occurs formally as part of accredited training and informally, as part of everyday practice. In this way learning and experience of ATC work shapes – and is shaped by – the way work is organised, which includes the divisions of labour and technological artefacts. ATC work is experienced temporally, complexly, through affect and socially. Controllers learn to use a variety of socio-material resources which include embodiment and artefacts to undertake the work. In so doing the article demonstrates the ways in which learning and performance is not just a cognitive undertaking, but one that draws on embodiment to achieve what here is called “interdependent sentience”. This involves using all their senses to gain an awareness of problems as they emerge to collectively accomplish a seamless air traffic flow in a complex interdependent socio-technical system.
... Such practice can, of course, be anticipated and thus abstracted, but the anticipation will always differ from what actually happens. So 'imaginative' here means someone engaged in the lived world and acting creatively within it (Joas, 1997). The sequence is less from thought to action, the customary positivist position, than an experience-generating interplay between thought and practice as two different ways in which human beings 'know' their world. ...
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Strategizing implies making agentic choices in some middle ground between un-analyzable free will and agency-denying determinism. Paradoxically, neither view can capture the strategist’s situation or process. So how are strategy theorists approach agency? In our opening sections, we review the mainstream literature and find seven main arguments or tracks. Five, by improving methodological accuracy and reducing variance, effectively throttle or deny the strategist’s agency. The two other tracks offer agency an ontological or epistemological place in the analysis but underplay the synthetic nature of the strategist’s practice. In our final sections, we treat strategizing as handling the practice-based constraints to the strategist’s agency. A positivist approach makes little sense here for ex definition strategy supposes a finite option-space into which the strategist’s agency is ‘thrown’. Practitioners focus on their choices within this space rather than on the application of a generalized ‘theory of strategy’. There is little new here; but analyzing it means moving away from causal modeling and towards exploring the options remaining after all reasonable determining causes have been identified - leaving the strategist with the under-determined middle ground s/he ‘synthesizes’ from incommensurable theories and empirically justified heuristics. Concluding, we propose a novel track of theorizing for those strategists seeking to engage their agentic capabilities rather than theorizing about agency as a component of a rigorous academic model.
... Additionally, the teacher's physical contact-in particular, reciprocal interpersonal touch-is considered the foundation of affective interpersonal intimacy, fostering well-being, attachment, and participation (Cekaite & Bergnehr, 2018). Joas (1996) suggests that actions emerge in the interplay between the situation and the person's response to the situation. Joas ' (1996) theory emphasizes that both the situation and the person's response to the situation are inherently social and contextual, since they are tightly bound to preexisting structures-such as social norms, physical affordances, and historical time-and to situated conditions, such as implementation of norms, use of affordances, timing, and actors' responses. ...
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The transition from home care to early childhood education and care (ECEC) is a period of intense change and development in young children's socio-spatial worlds. This article focuses on infant–teacher lap interactions during this transition period. This investigation applies a relational approach to the study of infant–teacher lap interactions. In doing so, it highlights the inherently social and contextual nature of interaction. From a relational perspective, actors, context, and situation are seen as constitutive of each other, and their interrelationality is considered central to the emergence of interactions. The data, regarding infants' first months attending ECEC in Finland, is composed of teachers’ interviews and participant observations in the form of videos and field notes. The results illustrate infant–teacher lap interactions as constructed in the interplay among actors, context, and situation. This research advances an understanding of transitions as relational processes that develop through time and are constructed within a network of temporal, agentic, contextual, and situational aspects.
... Entrepreneurs also seek to reduce doubt and obtain a more accurate description of the world, but for them, this information is not the end in itself. Rather, entrepreneurs seek to shape the world by fitting their ventures into it, that is, to steer the world from what it is to what it could be (Wood, Bakker & Fisher, 2021; see also Joas, 1996). Thus, the analogy between entrepreneurs and scientists is only partially true -while it is useful for shedding light on how entrepreneurs learn from feedback to update their beliefs, it obscures other equally, if not more important, activities they engage in to shape the future in line with their intentions (e.g., Alvarez, Young & Woolley, 2015;Hargadon & Douglas, 2001;Zott & Huy, 2007). ...
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In this dialogue paper, we consider Zellweger and Zenger’s (2021) conceptualization of entrepreneurs as scientists, rooted in pragmatism. While we agree that pragmatism provides a useful but neglected foundation for studying the entrepreneurial journey, we maintain that entrepreneurs are more than scientists – in addition, they are engineers, artists, and designers. Our view is predicated on enfolding considerations of time, emergence, and the associated unsurmountable epistemological barrier of unknowability, which enable entrepreneurs to not only describe (predict) the world as scientists do, but also actively shape the future to fit their “mind.”
... La théorie de l'action robuste dans le contexte de la gestion des grand challenges offre ainsi une lecture synthétique de la gestion des enjeux sociétaux, tout en s'ancrant sur un corpus théorique issu de la sociologie de l'action robuste et de la philosophie pragmatiste américaine (Joas, 1996;Leifer, 1983;Mead, 1934;Padgett & Ansell, 1993). ...
Thesis
Les organisations internationales alertent États et société civile sur un dérèglement des écosystèmes terrestres depuis plusieurs décennies. Face à ce constat, même des entreprises ordinaires et de taille modeste incarnent et expérimentent des solutions nouvelles et non-conventionnelles au regard des enjeux sociétaux de notre temps. Comment ces solutions se concrétisent-elles sur les plans stratégique et organisationnel ?Pour répondre à cette interrogation, ce travail doctoral s’appuie sur une immersion longue au sein d'un groupement d'entreprises impliqué dans la transformation du secteur de la distribution alimentaire et non-alimentaire. L’entreprise développe des systèmes d’agencement de distribution écologique et sans emballages, favorisant la « vente en vrac ». S’inscrivant dans une démarche compréhensive, cette étude de cas cherche à comprendre comment une entreprise ordinaire intègre de grands défis sociétaux dans sa stratégie et son organisation.Cette thèse mobilise la littérature récente sur la gestion des grand défis et discute plus particulièrement la pertinence du modèle théorique d’action robuste pour penser les stratégies s’attaquant aux enjeux de société (Etzion et al., 2017 ; Ferraro et al., 2015). Pour compléter cette approche théorique, nous adjoignons à notre réflexion des travaux récents sur le rôle de l’imaginaire et de l’utopie réelle dans l’action collective (Wright et al., 2017 ; Gümüsay & Reinecke, 2021), défendant l’idée que ces deux composantes jouent un rôle décisif dans la gestion des problèmes sociétaux.Trois résultats majeurs émergent de cette thèse. Premièrement, nous caractérisons la spécificité du concept de grand défi par rapport à des notions conceptuellement proches (meta-problem, wicked problem, mess) et développons en détail comment la contribution à des défis sociétaux se cristallise à plusieurs niveaux d’analyse, individuel, organisationnel et sectoriel. Deuxièmement, nous observons que la contribution à un grand défi de société se structure à partir d‘imaginaires alternatifs de l’organisation et du management influençant significativement le design de l’organisation, sa stratégie et son développement. Troisièmement, nous revisitons le modèle théorique d’action robuste pour expliquer le processus stratégique par lequel des entreprises ordinaires visent à contribuer à des enjeux sociétaux. Pour apporter leurs contributions, les entreprises se constituent en utopie réelle via un processus articulant des expérimentations menées localement et des imaginaires alternatifs multiples. Ce processus repose notamment sur une superposition entre un espace d’enjeux locaux et un espace d’enjeux globaux. Cette mise en résonance entre local et global nécessite alors une organisation fonctionnant à travers trois items principaux : une architecture organisationnelle référente plus ou moins centralisée, la multivocité de discours facilitant la pénétration d’imaginaires multiples au sein de l’organisation, et des expérimentations locales nombreuses mêlant des activités diverses à caractère économique, social, environnemental, éducatif, philanthropique, et attestant la capacité de l’organisation à s’attaquer à des enjeux sociétaux.
... But for Blumer, this seems to be obviously a very small part of life, and the less interesting one, the part of life that is completely deterministic. He criticizes variable analysis for its incapacity to account for interpretative operations performed by humans, part of what has been called much later "the creativity of action" (Joas, 1996). Now, does this criticism of variable analysis mean that Blumer rejected any quantification and was purely "qualitative"? ...
... Schwartz (1994) reports that ten values, each defined in terms of its motivational goal, are recognised in approximately 70 cultures worldwide. He conducted an extensive study of 25,000 participants from 44 nations and found these ten value types present and related to each other in consistent ways across cultures (see Table 2.2). (Joas 1996). Following germination, as we encounter the world (Mandler 1993), these values operate as a guiding mechanism, through which the individual values interact and are reprioritised as per the given situation (Rokeach 1973). ...
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This thesis explores Master of Business Administration (MBA) candidates’ and Alumni perspectives of the value of an MBA degree, seeking a holistic understanding of the reasons why they chose to pursue their MBA, what they expected and gained from it. Business education has long been seen as a medium to facilitate strategic change within and across industries. Master of Business Administration (MBA) programs are often regarded as the most preferred programs for organisational leaders and managers. Although an MBA education offers the opportunity to study a functional area in depth, a cross-disciplinary literature review identified an over emphasis on teaching the Knowledge, Skills, Abilities, and Competencies (KSACs) and a lack of focus on the role of MBA candidates’ value systems that apparently influence their learning of the taught KSACs and likely impact their work behaviour and ethical decision-making ability. This study drew from Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA), with fourteen individuals from one university’s MBA sharing their experiences in a series of semi-structured interviews. These were supported by participant observation of formal classes, providing further insights into the learning environment. This research design helped make sense of the ways MBA students interact with each other and their lecturers. Although following the idiographic ideal of IPA, the analysis also utilised imagined, integrated dialogues to analyse and present both their stories and researcher interpretations of those stories. These dialogues situate the research participants in a fictional setting to bring both individual and collective worlds to the surface. This seeks to connect readers to the worlds of these fourteen participants, the way they view them individually and researcher interpretations of their worlds, in line with IPA’s double hermeneutic. This helps explain why the participants chose to pursue an MBA, what they expected from it, what they experienced in this learning journey and how their ‘mindsets’ changed throughout their studies. Using this integrated dialogical method to present the research findings shows how qualitative research can be fictionalised and reflexively framed in a novel and illuminating manner. By situating different participants’ views together in a theme-based dialogue, this thesis discovers and discusses phenomena that the participants experienced and defined during their MBA journey. The application of additional interpretative techniques, such as the integrated dialogical method, contributes to a richer interpretation of phenomena in qualitative research, making a significant contribution to the methodology literature. The discussion of the findings suggests that the participants went through a significant change in their pre-MBA ‘mindset’ during their studies. The findings shed light on how and why some participants may seem to pursue an MBA at the wrong time in their career, how their study could make them feel too psychologically safe, potentially causing psychological unsafety at work, and how participants could identify their MBA as a means to an end or an end in itself. The findings also revealed how MBA courses are often taught in isolation, handicapping participants from the inter-course (or intra-program) application of theoretical concepts. This can serve as a block to participants making use of their learning in one course to understand the concepts taught in others. This further restricts participants from making connections between different facets of their work, falling short of making holistic use of their KSACs. Besides, the thesis suggests that networking, lectures’ teaching methodology and trust in practitioner-lecturers were the three most vital aspects contributing to the value of an MBA for the participants. The thesis concludes that the MBA - the notion that all MBAs are same and MBA programs that business schools offer, offers clear and consistent learning experiences and outcomes, is problematic and, to no small extent, incorrect. Arguably, every MBA candidate and their learning experience is unique. Thus, the thesis shifts the focus onto each participant’s value system and how it interacts with their work environment more than the KSACs they gain in their MBA. However, it cautions that if employers continue to share narrower, homogeneous, and stereotypical views of MBA programs and their occupational value, the disconnect in relative expectations of MBA outcomes is likely to continue.
... Una vez aclarado esto, es clave, mencionar que el naciente corpus teórico de la sociología travesti ha narrado este fenómeno bajo la idea (inicial) de creatividad, ya que "la marginación enfrentada resulta en una consecuente creatividad de las transgéneros en la lucha por la sobrevivencia, cobrando relevancia las vías informales de relación, proximidad, indicaciones y referencias personales como una forma para la adquisición de un puesto profesional 57 " (Carvhalo, 2006, p. 2, traducción propia) Si bien la autora no profundiza en la conceptualización de la creatividad, es evidente que está asociado con la marginación, y que vendría a ser la respuesta a ella, pero además dicha respuesta tiene una carácter "informal" y "personal" de relacionamiento (fruto del contexto de marginación) con el fin de lograr un empleo. A pesar de ello, la creatividad ha sido abordada relativamente de manera teórica por Joas (2005), quien señala que la acción social es creativa incluso en contextos donde la cualidad pre reflexiva de la acción está moldeada por las dificultades e interrupciones. ...
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La presente tesis plantea la exploración y análisis de las historias laborales/emocionales de tres mujeres trans residentes en Lima Metropolitana, con el objetivo de indagar ¿cómo se configuran las estrategias laborales/emocionales de las mujeres trans (residentes en Lima Metropolitana) para posicionarse en el mercado laboral de Lima Metropolitana (2019) frente a la vulnerabilidad social? Desde el marco teórico que ofrece la Sociología Crítica y Estratégica del Trabajo, la Sociología del Cuerpo/Emociones, el transfeminismo y la teoría queer, abordaremos dicha configuración, enfatizando el proceso de búsqueda-ingreso al mercado laboral, resolución de adversidades mientras trabajan y el desplazamiento (cambio de trabajos) laboral, teniendo en cuenta las redes laborales y prácticas de gestión corpóreo emocional y de aprendizaje. La metodología fue cualitativa con un diseño fenomenológiconarrativo yuxtapuesto, en la cual se usó diversas técnicas de investigación como la entrevista semi-estructuradas a profundidad, la observación participante, análisis del dicurso, las historias laborales emocionales, y técnicas de dibujo y pintura. Los resultados señalan que las estrategias laborales emocionales implican una configuración creativa (imaginativa, proyectiva, lúdica), relacional y conflictiva frente a la vulnerabilidad social.
... Piuttosto, pensiamo a rilievi più teoricamente motivati che non vengono da autori lontanissimi o sempre pregiudizialmente ostili a Bourdieu, né hanno molto a che fare con quella lettura distorta delle tesi del sociologo sull'educazione che qui non abbiamo trattato [Paolucci 2011, 146-147]. Per citare solo pochi casi, si possono rammentare la rivalutazione del punto di vista degli attori dell'ex allievo Boltanski [2009], la preoccupazione per un habitus che stenta a dar spazio all'umano di Joas [1997], l'insistenza su molteplici temporalità di Sewell [2005], la centralità del soggetto nelle pieghe della storia rilevata da Ortner [2006] o, ancora, l'invito a porre la storia nel sociale di Lahire [2012]. ...
... Ini adalah salah satu bukti empiris bahwa sebagian penyandang HIV/ AIDS telah berhasil meraih kesadaran transformatif, bangkit dari keterpurukan dan menguasai keterampilan baru untuk membantu orang-orang senasib. Prestasiprestasi tersebut dimungkinkan salah satunya karena ada dan bekerjanya "kreativitas tindakan" (Joas, 1996) pada penyandang HIV/AIDS tersebut. Kreativitas tindakan (creativity of action) ini mewujud dalam bagaimana mereka menyiasati pasangsurut perjalanan hidup pribadi (yang kadang mengejutkan) dan gejolak perubahan masyarakat (yang kadang membuat kewalahan). ...
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Using Giddens’ structuration theory and Bandura’s concept of agency, this quasi-life-historical study deals with how an interplay between agency and social structure produced the transformation of a participant from a drug addict with HIV/AIDS into an addiction counselor. In response to the structural forces at work in her society, the subject exercised her agency in ways that led, as an unintended consequence, to her contracting HIV/AIDS. Drug abuse, too, was another of her self-defeating ways of tackling life’s trials, such as the excess of pocket money, dysfunctional family communications, and stifling parental disciplinary styles. Structural forces, taking the forms of rehabilitation facilities and family and community supports, played a key role in her success in kicking her drug habit and becoming an addiction counselor. The transformation, however, is best seen as the product of a favorable interplay between existing structural forces and the subject’s constructive ways of enacting her agency. Keywords: Agency, structure, drug addict, HIV/AIDS, addiction counselor Abstrak: Menggunakan metode quasi-life history, riset kualitatif ini mengkaji transformasi subjek dari pecandu penyandang HIV/AIDS menjadi konselor adiksi. Merujuk pada teori strukturasi Giddens dan konsep agency dari Bandura, studi ini mencoba memahami bagaimana struktur dan agency berinteraksi dan menghasilkan transformasi tersebut. Menjadi penyandang HIV/AIDS adalah akibat yang tidak diniatkan (unintended consequence) dari cara subjek menjalankan agency-nya dalam menanggapi daya-daya struktural dalam masyarakat. Dalam menyikapi peraturan orang tua, ketidakharmonisan komunikasi keluarga dan berlebihnya uang saku, subjek justru mengonsumsi NAPZA. Di sisi lain, ada sejumlah daya struktural yang membantu subjek membebaskan diri dari adiksi dan menjadi konselor, seperti program rehabilitasi, dukungan masyarakat sekitar, dan membaiknya sikap keluarga. Alih-alih bekerja sendiri, daya-daya struktural tersebut bersinergi dengan perjuangan subjek. Studi ini menyimpulkan bahwa transformasi subjek dari pencandu NAPZA dan penyandang HIV/AIDS menjadi konselor adiksi dapat dipahami sebagai hasil sinergi antara agency individu dan struktur sosial.
... More specifically, according to Csikszentmihalyi (1988), creativity is influenced by three components (culture, the social system, and the individual) interacting with each other. Johnson (2001) proposed that creativity is an emergent process which is distributed (Glăveanu, 2014) and socially embedded (Montuori, 2017), inherent in every action of individuals (Joas, 1996). Additionally, Gruber (1988) suggested that creativity is an activity compatible with other needs, values, and goals of people. ...
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Artistic creativity is presently considered to be a multidimensional phenomenon that unfolds over time and is in constant conversation with the social and historical context of the artists, as well as their personal life experiences. This article adopts a narrative perspective and explores Vincent van Gogh’s understanding of the constructs of creativity as reflected in his letters to his brother Theo, friends, and other family members. To inquire into van Gogh’s correspondence, narrative thematic analysis was employed. Findings highlight the artist’s constructs around creativity, which seem to depict elements of both modern and post-modern views of creativity. Major themes include creativity as (a) a developmental, dynamic learning process characterized by dedication and persistence; (b) a relational process in the context of people and nature; (c) an embodied action; (d) an oscillation between asceticism and socio-cultural participation, (e) suffering, and (f) a larger-than-life force. With this study, we join the conversation of scholars around recent developments in the field of creativity, calling for a variety of perspectives and methodological approaches to this complex and multifaceted construct. Moreover, we hope to move beyond the ‘mad genius’ stereotype and myths around psychopathology and artistic creativity, as exemplified in the present analysis of van Gogh’s correspondence.
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Actes du colloque international "Artisanat, design, créativité : entre tradition et contemporanéité", Gabrovo - Plovdiv, juin 2022
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