256 research outputs found
How actors move from primary agency to institutional agency: A conceptual framework and empirical application
This article contributes to the understanding of actors and agency in the theorization of institutional work. We analyse institutional work as a specific kind of social action that involves exercising institutional agency (with an articulate awareness of institutions) as opposed to primary agency (taking institutions for granted). We propose a conceptual framework for combining a view of actors, who have agency and may engage in institutional work, with a view of actors as socially constructed, in line with critical-realist ontology. Applying this framework to the empirical case of the Spanish social movement 15M, we examine how actors moved from having primary agency to having institutional agency and how organization mattered for this process. We find that organizing by experienced organizers, the founding of new organizations and prefigurative organization were of crucial importance for the increase in institutional agency
Far-infrared magnetotransmission of YBa2(ZnxCu(1-x))3O(7-d)
Measurements of the far infrared magnetotransmission of
YBa2(ZnxCu(1-x))3O(7-d) thin film (x = 0.025) deposited on a wedged MgO
substrate are reported. The application of magnetic field perpendicular to the
ab plane produces at low temperature a linear increase of transmission for
frequencies below 30 cm-1. We present a model of high frequency vortex dynamics
which qualitatively explains these results.Comment: 2 pages with 2 figures, presented on LT2
Arbeit auĂźerhalb der Arbeitswelt - neue Organisationen im Rahmen sozialer Bewegungen am Beispiel Spaniens
Auf Basis von empirischer Feldforschung in Spanien diskutiert dieser Artikel organisationale
Charakteristika von sozialen Bewegungsorganisationen. Soziale Bewegungsorganisationen gewinnen in quantitativer
und qualitativer Hinsicht an Bedeutung. Sie haben häufig
präfigurativen Charakter, d. h. sie versuchen, organisationalen Strukturen und Prozesse den angestrebten Zielen entsprechend zu gestalten. Der Artikel schließt mit Überlegungen, was aus den Experimenten und der Erfahrung dieser untypischen, sehr partizipativen und wenig hierarchischen Organisationen für die Führung und das Management auch von konventionellen Organisationen gelernt werden kann
Repression of the Spanish Protest Movement - Mechanisms and Consequences
Based on longitudinal qualitative research, the paper analyses manifestations
and mechanisms of the repression of activists of the Spanish protest
movement 15M, and effects of this repression perceived by activists. To contextualize
this, the background of the movement, its goals, and its achievements
are described. The movement started in 2011, protesting the social crisis, the
consequences of austerity policies, and corruption. It had viable effects on the
framing of the current situation, in political attitudes and also, indirectly, on the
political system. The Spanish government has responded to movement activities
with repression and with new laws that interviewees characterize as a further
restriction of the civil right to demonstrate and protest. Findings indicate that
the combination of overt and covert repression have effects far beyond the
manifest acts of the repression itself
Leadership in Organisationen sozialer Bewegungen: Kollektive Reflexion und Regeln als Basis fĂĽr Selbststeuerung
Dieser Beitrag in der Zeitschrift Gruppe. Interaktion. Organisation analysiert Leadership in Organisationen der spanischen Protestbewegung. Es werden Idealvorstellungen der AktivistInnen von FĂĽhrung, deren Umsetzung in der Praxis, damit einhergehende Probleme und der Umgang mit diesen Problemen dargestellt. Theoretische Grundlage sind Critical Leadership Studies, die FĂĽhrung nicht als das Handeln einzelner Personen, sondern als Prozess des gesamten beteiligten Systems interpretieren und damit klar zwischen Leadership und FĂĽhrungspersonen unterscheiden. Ferner werden Konsequenzen fĂĽr die FĂĽhrungspraxis auch in konventionellen Organisationen diskutiert
Gesellschaftliche Folgen neoliberaler Sozialpolitik in Spanien: Ausprägungen und Antworten der Zivilgesellschaft
Im Artikel wird zunächst die gegenwärtige soziale und politische Situation in Spanien dargestellt.
Das Land erlebt eine gravierende ökonomische, soziale und politische Krise, die durch die
Finanzkrise ausgelöst und durch neoliberale Sparpolitik verstärkt wurde. Basierend auf Feldfor
schung in mehreren größeren spanischen Städten werden Reaktionen der Zivilgesellschaft auf diese
Situation diskutiert. Im Jahr 2011 entwickelte sich eine landesweite Protestbewegung der Empörten
(Indignados). Anders als in vielen Ländern, in denen sich KrisenverliererInnen rechtspopulisti-
schen Strömungen zuwenden, kam es hier zu starken Solidarisierungseffekten und zu vielfältigen
zivilgesellschaftlichen Aktivitäten, die von Protest und politischer Arbeit bis zu engmaschiger
sozialer Hilfe und UnterstĂĽtzung reichen. Die Bewegung hat sich auch institutionalisiert, regionale
und nationale aus der Bewegung hervorgegangene Parteien haben zum Teil ĂĽberraschende Erfolge
erzielt. Gleichzeitig hat die etablierte Politik mittels Restriktion und gesetzlichen Einschränkungen
der BĂĽrgerrechte scharf auf diese Entwicklung reagiert. Ob die Bewegung dominante Strukturen
der globalen Ökonomie und Politik ändern kann, bleibt abzuwarten
Low temperature electrical properties of magnetite and Mn-ferrites
Electrical resistivity and thermoelectric power measurements have been made on single crystals of manganese ferrites, MnxFe3-xO4 (x=0, 0.5, 0.7, 0.8, 0.9, and 0.95) in the temperature range 10 K to 300 K. Below the Verwey transition Tv of magnetite, the thermoelectric power is strongly influenced by the oxygen nonstoichiometry of the samples whereas the resistivity exhibits hardly any dependence on the changes of the oxygen content. Starting from the lowest temperatures, the electrical properties are explained in terms of the impurity band, variable range hopping, small polaron band, and small polaron hopping conduction mechanisms where the long-range and the short-range orderings have to be taken into account
Organizing the Unexpected: How Civil Society Organizations Dealt with the Refugee Crisis
The capability of organizations to respond to
unexpected events has been investigated from different
theoretical angles: organizational learning, improvisation,
ambidexterity, resilience, to name but a few. These concepts, however, hardly ever refer to structural characteristics. Against this backdrop, the aim of this paper is twofold.
First, based on systems and organizational learning theory,
it will theoretically link the characteristics of organizational structure with organizational responses to unexpected external jolts, thus contributing to better understand
the reactions of organizations to the unexpected. Second, it
will empirically illustrate the relation of organizational
structure with organizational responses by investigating
how Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in Austria reacted
to the unexpected inflow of refugees from Central Europe.
In 2015, CSOs accepted a wide range of responsibilities
and worked together with government entities to provide
shelter, catering, and transport for almost one million
refugees. Based on participant observations during opera-
tion, in-depth interviews (2015 and 2016) and focus groups
with decision-makers (2017), we will sketch three longi-
tudinal case studies of organizations with very different
structures, concentrating on the processes and operations
they developed during the crisis. Our findings show that
their responses are closely related to their structure,
specifically to the flexibility and the stability of structural elements. Remarkable changes took place in all organizations investigated. Initial responses and first
structural changes occurred mainly where the structure
already allowed for flexibility. Yet in the long run, the
adaptations also impacted the stable structural elements
Symbolic struggles over solidarity in times of crisis: trade unions, civil society actors and the political far right in Austria
As a consequence of the recent financial and economic crisis, social cohesion
and integration are in jeopardy all over Europe. In this context, scholars also
speak of decreasing solidarity, which is defined as a normative obligation to
help each other and to make sacrifices to reach common goals. By taking the
empirical example of Austria, we argue that the meaning of solidarity is
increasingly being contested. Various collective actors such as trade unions,
civil society actors, but also right-wing populist parties are engaged in
symbolic struggles over solidarity. To show this, we examine the different
concepts and foundations of solidarity and analyse where and why they
conflict with each other, referring to recent debates on political issues, such
as the needs-based minimum benefit system and the access to the labour
market for refugees
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