Converging institutions. Shaping the relationships between nanotechnologies, economy and society

This paper develops the concept of converging institutions and applies it to nanotechnologies. Starting point are economic and socialogical perspectives. We focus on the entire innovation process of nanotechnologies beginning with research and development over diffusion via downstream sectors until implementation in final goods. The concept is applied to the nano-cluster in the metropolitan region of Grenoble and a possible converging institution is identified.converging institutions, converging technologies, nanotechnologies, systemic risks

Online outsiders within\ud

Heightened attention to technological diffusion and informational inequalities is of\ud particular societal concern, given the increasing mediation of everyday life whereby\ud web-based initiatives abound and an increasing amount of information on critical\ud human services including education and healthcare are online or only available online.\ud As Cheong and Martin (2009) note, the digital divide is a significant, multi-layered access\ud challenge for institutions of higher education worldwide as they embark on e or distance\ud learning programs, including the incorporation of virtual course management systems.\ud Kreps (2006) also notes that the digital divide is an important health communication\ud problem as new technologies can help underserved populations retrieve relevant health\ud information, yet exacerbate disparities by reducing access to those most at risk for poor\ud health outcomes

Impersonal efficiency and the dangers of a fully automated securities exchange

This report identifies impersonal efficiency as a driver of market automation during the past four decades, and speculates about the future problems it might pose. The ideology of impersonal efficiency is rooted in a mistrust of financial intermediaries such as floor brokers and specialists. Impersonal efficiency has guided the development of market automation towards transparency and impersonality, at the expense of human trading floors. The result has been an erosion of the informal norms and human judgment that characterize less anonymous markets. We call impersonal efficiency an ideology because we do not think that impersonal markets are always superior to markets built on social ties. This report traces the historical origins of this ideology, considers the problems it has already created in the recent Flash Crash of 2010, and asks what potential risks it might pose in the future

EU Legitimacy and Social Affiliation: A case study of engineers in Europe

Analyses of European governance usually put the member states in the foreground, placing the citizens in the background. This article brings explanations of EU legitimacy down to the level of individuals. A method is suggested that combines explanations based on individual interests and a sociological approach to identity. The paper investigates how work organisations become levers for a European outlook that may release legitimising from its national context. The individual level analysis is carried out for one particular occupational group (engineers) and the research questions are elucidated by case studies.social capital; social identity; civil society; open methods of coordination

‘Urbanisation of Everybody’, Institutional Imperatives, and Social Transformation in Pakistan

Cultural change and social transformation are essential elements of the process of development. They complement and sustain economic growth. Economic historians acknowledge that the rise of the West from poverty to wealth was as much the result of improvements in trade, savings, investment and productivity as of emerging norms of thrift, trust, specialisation, rationality and contractual relations [Rosenberg and Birdzell (1986)]. In fact, it would not be an exaggeration to say that economic development is essentially a phenomenon of cultural change. The recognition of the role of cultural and social factors in economic growth has led to a subtle revision of the terminology from ‘economic development’ to the adjectiveless term ‘development’ or the fully spelled out title of economic and social development. Yet this acknowledgement has remained largely on the conceptual plane. It has not been translated into policies and programmes to deliberately set the direction of cultural change and define the alignment of social organisation. Development strategies have, by and large, treated social and cultural factors as exogenous variables. This is true of development planning in general and in particular of its practice in Pakistan. In fifty years of economic planning in Pakistan, little attention has been paid to the social and cultural aspects of development. This paper argues that the neglect of social and cultural factors has created an institutional lag between spatial, economic and technological sectors on the one hand and the cultural, social and political institutions, on the other. Pakistan is predominantly an urbanised society spatially and demographically, but its social institutions and cultural ethos remain rooted in traditions of rural origins.

Understanding the social in a digital age

Datafication, algorithms, social media and their various assemblages enable massive connective processes, enriching personal interaction and amplifying the scope and scale of public networks. At the same time, surveillance capitalists and the social quantification sector are committed to monetizing every aspect of human communication, all of which threaten ideal social qualities, such as togetherness and connection. This Special Issue brings together a range of voices and provocations around ‘the social’, all of which aim to critically interrogate mediated human connection and their contingent socialities. Conventional methods may no longer be adequate, and we must rethink not only the fabric of the social but the very tools we use to make sense of our changing social formations. This Special Issue raises shared concerns with what the social means today, unpicking and rethinking the seams between digitization and social life that characterize today’s digital age

COMPETITION AMONG HOSPITALS AND ITS MEASUREMENT: THEORY AND A CASE STUDY

Our paper provides several insights on the characteristics of the concept of “Poles d’Excellence Rurale” (PER) through bilateral comparisons with that of Competitive Pole (CP) and cluster. The concept of PER is a French government’ initiative designed for the development of rural areas similar to that of the Competitive Pole. We emphasize important particularities of these concepts by analyzing some of their similarities and major differences.Pole d’Excellence Rurale, Competitive Pole, cluster, rural development

Working to consume: consumers as the missing link in the division of labour

This paper argues that the work of consumers is a significant and constantly developing field of work, and proposes a conceptual framework for understanding consumption work as part of the division of labour. The labour associated with consumption is not new, but has been rapidly expanding in recent years as a consequence of both socio-economic change and technical innovation. Few goods or services are delivered ?complete? to consumers in the sense of being ready for use without further activity, yet the role of consumers in completing a system of provision is rarely acknowledged in theories of either work or consumption. Recognition of the interdependence between the work undertaken prior to and after the purchase of goods and services problematises any assumption that all post-purchase activity comprises consumption and calls for a conception of the division of labour that extends from the market and world of paid employment to encompass also the usually unpaid labour of the end user. Consumption work is defined as ?all work undertaken by consumers necessary for the purchase, use, re-use and disposal of consumption goods?. Its key characteristics are delineated using examples from everyday life, and the approach towards it is distinguished from the practices and theories of consumption, domestic labour, and co-production/prosumption. The paper draws on current international comparative research in three socio-economic fields of activity (the work of food preparation, the installation of broad band and household recycling of waste) to illustrate its main arguments and explore the varieties of consumption work, their shaping by prevailing systems of provision, and their place within the division of labour