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 außerhalb 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 für Selbststeuerung

Dieser Beitrag in der Zeitschrift Gruppe. Interaktion. Organisation analysiert Leadership in Organisationen der spanischen Protestbewegung. Es werden Idealvorstellungen der AktivistInnen von Führung, deren Umsetzung in der Praxis, damit einhergehende Probleme und der Umgang mit diesen Problemen dargestellt. Theoretische Grundlage sind Critical Leadership Studies, die Führung nicht als das Handeln einzelner Personen, sondern als Prozess des gesamten beteiligten Systems interpretieren und damit klar zwischen Leadership und Führungspersonen unterscheiden. Ferner werden Konsequenzen für die Führungspraxis 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 Unterstützung reichen. Die Bewegung hat sich auch institutionalisiert, regionale und nationale aus der Bewegung hervorgegangene Parteien haben zum Teil überraschende Erfolge erzielt. Gleichzeitig hat die etablierte Politik mittels Restriktion und gesetzlichen Einschränkungen der Bürgerrechte 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