Is organizational evolution Darwinian and/or Lamarckian?

2018 ◽  
Vol 26 (5) ◽  
pp. 858-874 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roberto Grandinetti
Keyword(s):  
Paradigm Shift ◽  
Biological Evolution ◽  
Two Dimensions ◽  
Organizational Evolution ◽  
Content Type ◽  
History Of ◽  
Biological World ◽  
New Research ◽  
Genomic Revolution ◽  
Evolutionary Microbiology

PurposeRecently, some biologists have argued that the time has come to replace separation between Lamarckism and Darwinism with their connection. The aim of this paper is to understand whether this paradigm shift in the interpretation of biological evolution offers useful insights for dealing with the unresolved issue of how industries and their organizational populations evolve.Design/methodology/approachLamarckism and Darwinism are two approaches that have contrasted or interwoven with each other in the study of biological evolution, just as they have in the study of organizational evolution. This paper provides a critical analysis of the long history of the debate through to the recent, revolutionary discoveries in evolutionary microbiology obtained in the wake of the genomic revolution.FindingsFrom this new research frontier emerge three important findings: adaptive variations are no longer an anomaly that is peculiar to human organizations, but rather correspond to a widely observed phenomenon in the biological world; the same can be said for the process of horizontal replication; Lamarckism and Darwinism are not two mutually exclusive interpretations of evolution but two dimensions of evolution that coexist in various ways. Lamarckian dimension of evolution and the Darwinian one, handled in the light of these results, may help to understand the evolutionary logic that underpins specific stages of the history of industries.Originality/valueThe paper presents a new way of looking at industries and their firms from an evolutionary perspective.

Culture as a moderator of cognitive age and travel motivation/perceived risk relations among seniors

2017 ◽  
Vol 34 (5) ◽  
pp. 455-466 ◽  
Author(s):  
Delphine Le Serre ◽  
Karin Weber ◽  
Patrick Legohérel ◽  
Karim Errajaa
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Differences ◽  
Perceived Risk ◽  
Mainland China ◽  
Two Dimensions ◽  
Subjective Age ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Theoretical Contribution ◽  
Western Countries ◽  
Cognitive Age ◽  
New Research

Purpose This study contributes to greater understanding of the senior market and the cultural differences regarding aging in Western and Asian cultures. The review of the literature highlights the cultural differences toward the concept of aging in Asian and Western countries and describes a useful age concept for investigating senior consumers, namely, that of subjective age. The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of subjective age dimensions on seniors’ behavior and to assess the role of culture as a moderator of this influence. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected in France and Mainland China and consisted of answers to 300 questionnaires for the French seniors and 264 questionnaires for the Chinese seniors. Two dimensions of subjective age were measured: cognitive age and ideal age, along with travel motivations and travel perceived risk. Findings The study provides valuable information regarding the Western and Asian senior markets. Subjective age dimensions prove to be related with seniors’ behaviors (perceived travel risks). The present study also demonstrates that nationality has a moderating role on this relation. This theoretical contribution will have to be confirmed by other studies in Asian and Western countries; it opens the door to new research on Chinese/Asian seniors involving these age variables. Originality/value The study gives academics and managers insights on the influence of subjective age on seniors’ behaviors in European and Asian cultural contexts.

Het onzichtbare Olympia

Lampas ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 54 (2) ◽  
pp. 213-229
Author(s):  
Vladimir Stissi
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Early History ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Main Structure ◽  
The Past ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Common ◽  
New Research ◽  
The Temple ◽  
Large Dam

Abstract Although ancient Olympia is usually viewed as a Classical Greek site, most buildings that are visible nowadays were not there yet when Pindar celebrated famous victors or Peisistratos and Alcibiades won their races. More generally, even though new research has substantially improved our knowledge, the early history of the site is often still neglected in introductory presentations of the site. In this article some important main issues are discussed. First, new excavations have revealed that Bronze Age occupation of the area cannot be connected to the later cult, as some scholars have argued in the past. The older remains were covered by flooding of the nearby rivers when the sanctuary was founded in the 11th century BCE. Up to the late 7th century the sanctuary remained an open area around a large ash altar. Its main structure was a large dam protecting it from floods. The temple now associated with Hera, built around 600 BCE, was the first monumental building of the sanctuary. Recent research suggests this may originally have been dedicated to Zeus, but this cannot be proven conclusively. The common idea that this temple was originally a wooden construction has now also been debunked.

Making the middle class: schooling and social class formation

2015 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 54-70 ◽  
Author(s):  
Craig Campbell
Keyword(s):  
Social Class ◽  
Middle Class ◽  
First Century ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Policy History ◽  
Early Twenty ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of ◽  
New Research ◽  
Middle Class Families

Purpose – As the Australian working class continues its decline, sociological and historical scholarship has begun to focus more on the middle class. The purpose of this paper is to explore the historiography and social theory concerning the middle class, and argues that the ways in which middle class families use schools have been a powerful force in the formation of that class. Design/methodology/approach – This paper reviews the author’s own work on this topic, the work of other scholars, and suggests a number of social practices that middle class families employ as they school their children. Findings – The ways that many families operate in relation to the schooling of their children constitute a significant set of social class practices, that in turn assist in the continuing formation of the middle class itself. The social and policy history of schooling can expose the origins of these practices. Research limitations/implications – This paper originated as an invited key-note address. It retains characteristics associated with that genre, in this case putting less emphasis on new research and more on a survey of the field. Originality/value – In the early twenty-first century, the relevance of social class analysis for understanding a great range of social and historical phenomena is in retreat. This paper argues the continuing importance of that kind of analysis.

scholarly journals Is ‘co’ in coworking a short for contradictions?

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (5) ◽  
pp. 38-63
Author(s):  
Silvia Ivaldi ◽  
Annalisa Sannino ◽  
Giuseppe Scaratti
Keyword(s):  
Historical Development ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Two Dimensions ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The North ◽  
Dialectical Approach ◽  
History Of ◽  
Coworking Spaces ◽  
Cultural Historical Activity ◽  
The One

PurposeBuilding on the existing literature and on a series of interviews conducted in very diverse coworking spaces, this article attempts at analyzing coworking by focusing on the historical evolution and heterogeneity of its interpretations, as well as the plurality of its realization in practice and prospective developments.Design/methodology/approachThe theoretical framework adopted is Cultural Historical Activity Theory – a dialectical approach which allows the study of human activities as historically evolving and complex systems which change under the impulse of their inner contradictions. The analysis presented here starts with an overview of the history of the theoretical elaborations and discussions of coworking. The authors then focus on the experiences and interpretations of this phenomenon as conveyed by coworkers and coworking managers in the north of Italy – one of the most active coworking areas in Europe.FindingsCoworking first emerged as a way of promoting forms of work and organization that require simultaneous, multidirectional, and reciprocal work, as understood in contrast to forms that incorporate an established division of labor, demarcated communities, and formal and informal sets of rules. However, with time, coworking has evolved toward novel directions, giving rise to heterogeneous interpretations of it. Inquiry constitutes a deeper investigation of the heterogeneity of coworking. The take-away message here is that the prefix co- in coworking can be interpreted, through a play of words, to evoke multiple positions and views conveying internal contradictions.Originality/valueThe historical overview of coworking shows a strong differentiation and multisided interpretation of this phenomenon along two dimensions of historical development, namely, social and business, and outward and inward. The qualitative analysis of the interviews traces the different lived interpretations and conceptions of coworking. The analysis confirms, on the one hand, the complexity and heterogeneity described in the literature, and on the other hand, it enriches the literature by depicting the contradictory nature of the phenomenon, including how the historical and inner tensions of coworking are dynamically evolving in the concrete experiences reported by the managers and users in the coworking spaces.

scholarly journals The history of academic research in marketing and its implications for the future

2020 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-36
Author(s):  
Brian T. Ratchford
Keyword(s):  
Academic Research ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Body Of Knowledge ◽  
Basic Body ◽  
The Future ◽  
History Of ◽  
New Research ◽  
Computer Power ◽  
Marketing Problems

Purpose The purpose of this study is to determine what the history of research in marketing implies for the reaction of the field to recent developments in technology due to the internet and associated developments. Design/methodology/approach This paper examines the introduction of new research topics over 10-year intervals from 1960 to the present. These provide the basic body of knowledge that drives the field at the present time. Findings While researchers have always borrowed techniques, they have refined them to make them applicable to marketing problems. Moreover, the field has always responded to new developments in technology, such as more powerful computers, scanners and scanner data, and the internet with a flurry of research that applies the technologies. Research limitations/implications Marketing will adapt to changes brought on by the internet, increased computer power and big data. While the field faces competition for other disciplines, its established body of knowledge about solving marketing problems gives it a unique advantage. Originality/value This paper traces the history of academic marketing from 1960 to the present to show how major changes in the field responded to changes in computer power and technology. It also derives implications for the future from this analysis.

Marketing history from below: towards a paradigm shift in marketing historical research

2015 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 295-309 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefan Schwarzkopf
Keyword(s):  
Social History ◽  
Paradigm Shift ◽  
Historical Research ◽  
Historical Narratives ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Corporate Managers ◽  
Secondary Sources ◽  
Marketing History ◽  
History Of ◽  
Methodological Approaches

Purpose – The purpose of this article is to introduce the theme of this special issue. In doing so, the paper argues that marketing historical research is in need of a paradigmatic shift. Rather than privilege primary and secondary sources that preserve the perspectives and actions of corporate managers and of marketing academics, marketing historians need to open the historical narratives they construct much more than before to the experiences and voices of ordinary consumers, i.e. of those who actually shop and buy and choose. They also need to do more to incorporate into their narratives examples of the value-creation that consumers themselves enact, both inside and outside the sphere of the market. Design/methodology/approach – By reviewing the state of the marketing historical literature, this paper introduces the “History from Below” school of historical thought into marketing historical research. It also tests to what extent a stronger consumer focus might be able to enrich historical research in marketing. Findings – Although contemporary marketing historiography is characterized by a richness of themes and methodological approaches, there is still a marked difference between the way marketing academics and historians write the history of marketing and consumption. While, surprisingly, the former often tend to ignore the voices of ordinary consumers, the latter often lack the marketing-related “technical” knowledge to fully understand the significance of specific archival sources they discuss. This means that a genuine “People’s History of Marketing” has yet to be written. Research limitations/implications – Findings from the paper will be of value to marketing historians who wish to expand the scope and agenda of their research and help historical research move away from narrow managerial perspectives and other “privileged” accounts of marketing. Originality/value – This paper makes two original contributions. First, it introduces historiographical innovations associated with “History from Below” (social history) into marketing historical scholarship. Second, it attempts to help marketing historians identify alternative sets of primary and secondary sources, e.g. oral history archives, which would allow them to be much more optimistic about their own ability to reconstruct the perspectives of those whose voices are all too often ignored.

The Tempo and mode(S) of Prebiotic Evolution

1997 ◽  
Vol 161 ◽  
pp. 419-429 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonio Lazcano
Keyword(s):  
Origin Of Life ◽  
Organic Compounds ◽  
Biological Evolution ◽  
Current Evidence ◽  
Early Diversification ◽  
Time Period ◽  
The Galaxy ◽  
History Of ◽  
Widespread Phenomenon ◽  
The Origin Of Life

AbstractDifferent current ideas on the origin of life are critically examined. Comparison of the now fashionable FeS/H2S pyrite-based autotrophic theory of the origin of life with the heterotrophic viewpoint suggest that the later is still the most fertile explanation for the emergence of life. However, the theory of chemical evolution and heterotrophic origins of life requires major updating, which should include the abandonment of the idea that the appearance of life was a slow process involving billions of years. Stability of organic compounds and the genetics of bacteria suggest that the origin and early diversification of life took place in a time period of the order of 10 million years. Current evidence suggest that the abiotic synthesis of organic compounds may be a widespread phenomenon in the Galaxy and may have a deterministic nature. However, the history of the biosphere does not exhibits any obvious trend towards greater complexity or «higher» forms of life. Therefore, the role of contingency in biological evolution should not be understimated in the discussions of the possibilities of life in the Universe.

FBI and Religion

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Religious Orientation ◽  
Religious Communities ◽  
Academic Scholarship ◽  
History Of ◽  
Interdisciplinary Assessment ◽  
Civic Religion ◽  
New Research ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Way

This volume is an interdisciplinary assessment of the relationship between religion and the FBI. We recount the history of the FBI’s engagement with multiple religious communities and with aspects of public or “civic” religion such as morality and respectability. The book presents new research to explain roughly the history of the FBI’s interaction with religion over approximately one century, from the pre-Hoover period to the post-9/11 era. Along the way, the book explores vexed issues that go beyond the particulars of the FBI’s history—the juxtaposition of “religion” and “cult,” the ways in which race can shape the public’s perceptions of religion (and vica versa), the challenges of mediating between a religious orientation and a secular one, and the role and limits of academic scholarship as a way of addressing the differing worldviews of the FBI and some of the religious communities it encounters.

The Beginnings of Islam in Afghanistan

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arezou Azad
Keyword(s):  
Paradigm Shift ◽  
Political System ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Eighth Century ◽  
Religious Context ◽  
Early Islam ◽  
History Of ◽  
Initial Conversion ◽  
The Way

Covering the period from 709 to 871, this chapter traces the initial conversion of Afghanistan from Zoroastrianism and Buddhism to Islam. Highlighting the differential developments in four regions of Afghanistan, it discusses the very earliest history of Afghan Islam both as a religion and as a political system in the form of a caliphate.  The chapter draws on under-utilized sources, such as fourth to eighth century Bactrian documents from Tukharistan and medieval Arabic and Persian histories of Balkh, Herat and Sistan. In so doing, it offers a paradigm shift in the way early Islam is understood by arguing that it did not arrive in Afghanistan as a finished product, but instead grew out of Afghanistan’s multi-religious context. Through fusions with Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, early Abrahamic traditions, and local cult practices, the Islam that resulted was less an Arab Islam that was imported wholesale than a patchwork of various cultural practices.

Clause Structure and Word Order in the History of German

2018 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Left Periphery ◽  
Structural Factors ◽  
Clause Structure ◽  
Verb Second ◽  
Verb Forms ◽  
History Of ◽  
New Research ◽  
The Right ◽  
Theoretical Analyses

Over roughly the last decade, there has been a notable rise in new research on historical German syntax in a generative perspective. This volume presents a state-of-the-art survey of this thriving new line of research by leading scholars in the field, combining it with new insights into the syntax of historical German. It is the first comprehensive and concise generative historical syntax of German covering numerous central aspects of clause structure and word order, tracing them throughout various historical stages. Each chapter combines a solid empirical basis and valid descriptive generalizations with reference also to the more traditional topological model of the German clause with a detailed discussion of theoretical analyses couched in the generative framework. The volume is divided into three parts according to the main parts of the clause: the left periphery dealing with verbal placement and the filling of the prefield (verb second, verb first, verb third orders) as well as adverbial connectives; the middle field including discussion of pronominal syntax, order of full NPs and the history of negation; and the right periphery with chapters on basic word order (OV/VO), prosodic and information-structural factors, and the verbal complex including the development of periphrastic verb forms and the phenomena of IPP (infinitivus pro participio) and ACI (accusativus cum infinitivo). This book thus provides a convenient overview of current research on the major issues concerning historical German clause structure both for scholars interested in more traditional description and for those interested in formal accounts of diachronic syntax.

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