The anti-GMO advocacy: an institutionalist and systems-theoretic assessment

Kybernetes ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 48 (5) ◽  
pp. 888-905 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vladislav Valentinov ◽  
Stefan Hielscher ◽  
Sebastian Everding ◽  
Ingo Pies
Keyword(s):  
Genetically Modified Organisms ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Public Attitudes ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Science And Technology ◽  
Niklas Luhmann ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Problematic Relationship ◽  
Theoretical Inquiry ◽  
Public Debates

Purpose Public debates on the use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are strongly influenced by the nongovernmental organization (NGO)-led advocacy, most of which is harshly critical of genetic engineering. This advocacy has resulted in discourse failures marked by the disregard for the scientific consensus on the risks and benefits of GMOs. This paper aims to present a theoretical inquiry into this phenomenon. Design/methodology/approach Drawing on American institutionalism and Niklas Luhmann social systems theory, the paper explains these discourse failures in terms of the problematic relationship between institutions and technology. Findings Clarence Ayres would likely see these discourse failures as a form of “institutional resistance” to the progress of science and technology. In contrast, Marc Tool’s social value principle stresses the importance of democratic legitimation and public acceptance of new technologies, while being sensitive to the possibility of ideologically biased discourses. It is argued that the institutionalist understanding of the interplay between democracy, science and technology would benefit from a better account of Niklas Luhmann’s concept of “complexity reduction”. Social implications The study shows that some NGOs are powerful enough to actively shape, if not manipulate, public attitudes and sentiments against GMOs. Originality/value The case of the anti-GMO advocacy calls for a new conceptualization of how democracy, science and technology fit together.

Between Mutation and Glitch

2020 ◽  
Vol 57 (2) ◽  
pp. 162-178
Author(s):  
Alina R. Latypova ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Digital Media ◽  
Computer Games ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Digital Environment ◽  
Niklas Luhmann ◽  
Philosophical Approach ◽  
Digital World ◽  
Digital Objects ◽  
Levels Of Functioning

The following paper considers the immanent principles of digital media evolution. The features of the evolutional route of digital objects are conditioned by glitches, errors and bugs, which appear in media functioning, what in its turn gives birth to the new forms, structures and configurations of digital reality. The glitches are considered not only as a kind of digital mutations, but also as a sign of activity of media. Decisions elaborated from the programs’ failures enlarge the resolution capacity of new technologies. The paper provides an analysis of certain errors and glitches, which engineers, programmers, game designers faced with during their work with digital environment. The theoretical framework includes Henri Bergson’s theory of creative evolution, Gram Harman’s object-oriented philosophy, media philosophical approach to the problem of the activity of object proposed by Valery Savchuk and the theory of self-organisation and autopoiesis of the social systems worked out by Niklas Luhmann. The analysis of digital objects activity demonstrates two levels of functioning. The first one, fictional level, reveals mainly (but not only) in the computer games and concerns the content of media, when we gain a habit to interact with digital objects/characters as if they are real. The second level, operational, realises in the digital environment in general and concerns the form of media. On this level, glitches and bugs have crucial meaning, because they might evoke the changes in the digital world organisation, starting from the local decisions for the certain program (e.g. the elaboration of the new ways in solving locomotional tasks in simulations, which might be later use in other projects) and ending with the replacement of practices and representations typical for the human of digital era. The paper shows that it is possible to talk about digital evolution not in terms of the history of technological inventions, but in terms of the changes in digital objects caused by the inner logic of media, independently from the human will and expectations.

scholarly journals From play to pay: a multifunctional approach to the role of culture in post-merger integration

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Augusto Sales ◽  
Steffen Roth ◽  
Michael Grothe-Hammer ◽  
Ricardo Azambuja
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Differences ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Macro Level ◽  
Niklas Luhmann ◽  
Management Tools ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Societal Context ◽  
Values And Beliefs ◽  
Post Merger Integration ◽  
Merger Integration

PurposeThe literature on Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A), cultural differences between organizations have frequently been identified as one of the main challenges in the process of post-merger integration (PMI). Existing research has explored a broad variety of cultural differences in perceptions, such as those relating to expectations, norms, values and beliefs within the respective organizations, and how these affect the process and success of PMI. However, less attention has been paid to the relevance of the macro-societal context to PMI. The ambition of this article is, therefore, to advance our understanding of how macro-level societal factors define organizational cultures and affect the success of PMI.Design/methodology/approachWe draw on social systems theory as devised by Niklas Luhmann, assuming that organizations are always embedded in the macro-level societal context of distinctive realms of social reality—such as the economy, politics, religion and the arts—that make up the so-called “function systems”. Looking at the case of the integration of a Brazilian technology start-up into a market-leading corporation, we analyze the dominant orientations towards these function systems, and the changes in these orientations over time.FindingsThe results suggest that differences in organizational culture in PMI can be partly explained by differences in orientations to the function systems. Moreover, forcing dramatic changes of orientations towards the function systems within a merged entity can severely damage its raison d'etre in the first place, potentially leading to, in some sense, an account of “culture murder”.Originality/valueThis article is unique in demonstrating that organizations are multifunctional systems whose culture is defined by the highly specific and potentially varying degrees of importance they place on individual function systems and that knowledge or neglect of these functional profiles may seriously affect the success of post-merger integration. Against this backdrop, the article presents a multifunctional profiling method that may easily translate into PMI management tools.

Resonanzfähigkeit: resonance capability in Luhmannian systems theory

Kybernetes ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 49 (10) ◽  
pp. 2493-2507 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlton Clark
Keyword(s):  
Child Labor ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
Niklas Luhmann ◽  
System Complexity ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Moral Communication ◽  
Sociological Literature ◽  
Google Books

Purpose This paper aims to contribute to the sociological literature on moral communication and disciplinary apparatuses in a functionally differentiated society. It combines Luhmannian and Foucauldian theories to further the understanding of social system complexity. Design/methodology/approach The paper draws on the work of Niklas Luhmann, Michel Foucault and others to explore resonance capability, disciplinary apparatuses and the complexity–sustainability trade-off. The argument is illustrated with a discussion of the late-nineteenth- to early-twentieth-century anti-child labor movement. Findings The paper argues that organizations are better equipped than function systems to draw moral distinctions. Given the amorality of the function systems and the increasing secularization of modern society, a great deal of moral communication now occurs in non-religious organizations. These social systems increase their complexity in response to new problems, but the increased system complexity may become unsustainable. Research limitations/implications The paper contributes to the growing sociological literature that compares and sometimes attempts to synthesize the theories of Luhmann and Foucault. It also contributes to the literature on organizational theory. Originality/value The paper brings together the work of Luhmann, Foucault, Valentinov and others to advance the understanding of organizations and moral communication in a functionally differentiated society. It uses Google Books Ngrams, among other resources, to support the argument.

Grass-mud horse: Luhmannian systems theory and internet censorship in China

Kybernetes ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 46 (5) ◽  
pp. 786-801
Author(s):  
Carlton Clark ◽  
Lei Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Systems Theory ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Theoretical Work ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
Information Control ◽  
Niklas Luhmann ◽  
Social Systems Theory ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Internet Censorship ◽  
Control Apparatus

Purpose This paper aims to elucidate the systemic processes underlying the enhanced information-control measures taken by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) under the leadership of President Xi Jinping. The tightening of state information control has stimulated increasingly sophisticated methods of disseminating information on the part of professional and citizen journalists. Drawing on social systems theory as articulated by Niklas Luhmann and others, the authors frame the CCP’s enhanced information-control efforts as a response to the increasing systemic complexity of Chinese journalism, which is part of a self-reproducing, self-regulating (autopoietic) global journalism system. The authors use both subtle and overt protests over Chinese censorship as evidence for the journalism system’s increasing complexity and autonomy. The authors observe that levels of complexity ratchet up as the CCP and Chinese journalism counter each other’s moves. Finally, the authors suggest that the increasing complexity of the CCP’s information-control apparatus may be unsustainable. Design/methodology/approach The authors ground their argument in Luhmannian social systems theory. Findings The CCP's effort to control journalism leads to increased internal complexity in the form of huge bureaucracies that themselves must be overseen in an almost endless proliferation of surveillance. Research limitations/implications This paper contributes to theoretical work in post-humanism. Originality/value To the authors’ knowledge, no studies have examined the tension between CCP censors and Chinese journalism from a Luhmannian systems theory perspective.

scholarly journals Public attitudes toward new technologies: Our post-truth, post-trust, post-expert world demands a deeper understanding of the factors that drive public attitudes

2019 ◽  
Vol 102 (2) ◽  
pp. 161-170
Author(s):  
Craig Cormick
Keyword(s):  
New Technologies ◽  
Public Attitudes ◽  
Science And Technology ◽  
Public Attitude ◽  
The Social ◽  
Media Environments ◽  
Attitude Surveys

Public attitude surveys are the prime method used to assess public attitudes to science and technology, but can also be very problematic—as evidenced in the number of different polls that come up with different findings. Toward better understanding of what drives public attitudes, it has become more relevant to find out “Why” people think what they do about science and technology than to know “What” they think. Recent research into how values drive attitudes has been very important to our increased understanding. However, in a post-truth, post-trust, post-expert world—where notions of truth, trust, and expertise are now commonly contested—we need to also better understand the social and media environments we are now living in, and how they affect attitudes to new technologies.

scholarly journals Revisiting public debate on Genetic Modification and Genetically Modified Organisms. Explanations for contemporary Dutch public attitudes

2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (04) ◽  
pp. A01 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucien Hanssen ◽  
Anne Dijkstra ◽  
Susanne Sleenhoff ◽  
Lynn Frewer ◽  
Jan M. Gutteling
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Modification ◽  
Information Seeking ◽  
Genetically Modified Organisms ◽  
Survey Methodology ◽  
Public Attitudes ◽  
Science And Technology ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Psychological Variables ◽  
Information Seeking Behaviour ◽  
Attitude Toward Science

Genetic Modification (GM) has been a topic of public debates during the 1990s and 2000s. In this paper we explore the relative importance of two hypothesized explanations for these controversies: (i) people's general attitude toward science and technology and (ii) their trust in governance, in GM actors, and in GM regulations, in explaining the Dutch public's Attitude toward GM applications, and in addition to that, the public's GM Information seeking behaviour. This will be conducted through the application of representative survey methodology. The results indicate that Attitudes toward GM applications are best predicted by both the attitude toward science and technology and three trust measures. GM information seeking is predicted by gender and educational level, as well as attitude toward science and technology, trust in organisations and trust in regulations (negative). Overall, psychological variables seem better predictors than demographics. Implications for future research on information seeking behaviour are discussed.

Between strategic clarity and strategic ambiguity – oscillating strategic communication

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Olaf Hoffjann
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Approach ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Theoretical Perspective ◽  
Strategic Communication ◽  
Niklas Luhmann ◽  
Strategic Ambiguity ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Organizational Perspective ◽  
Different Dimensions ◽  
Blind Spots

PurposeAmbiguity has become a central concept in strategic communication research in recent years. This paper addresses three central deficits in the research to date. First, clarity-focused approaches and ambiguity-focused approaches are in opposition to each other, resulting in an exaggeration of the advantages and opportunities of the respective favored perspective and affording the opposing position little justification at best. Second, research on strategic ambiguity is by and large limited to the organizational perspective and has little interest in societal change. Third, there has been barely any research into concrete practices of strategic ambiguity and these practices have never been systematized.Design/methodology/approachThe research questions will be answered on the basis of the “Theory of Social Systems” (TSS) by Niklas Luhmann, which can be attributed to the “Communication Constitutes Organization” (CCO) perspective. This perspective seems appropriate because the important concepts of communication and decision making play a central role in the TSS.FindingsStrategic communication oscillates between clarity and ambiguity in order to defuse the dilemma and paradox. The re-entry of the distinction is a second-order observation and, thus, reveals the blind spots of clarity- and ambiguity-focused approaches. On this basis, a systematic approach is developed that encompasses various different dimensions of strategic clarity and ambiguity.Practical implicationsThe paper focuses on the oscillation between strategic ambiguity and strategic clarity, making clear that the aim is not simply to substitute a new dominance of ambiguity for the clarity that has dominated textbooks thus far. Instead, it is a matter of reflective management of the distinction between strategic ambiguity and strategic clarity. The systematization of the practices of strategic ambiguity and strategic clarity can ultimately be used as a toolbox for the concrete application of strategic ambiguity and strategic clarity.Originality/valueOvercoming the dualism of clarity-focused and ambiguity-focused approaches makes it possible, first, to explore the situational use of strategic clarity and strategic ambiguity. Second, the societal theoretical perspective shows the way in which organizations respond with strategic ambiguity to the increase in social contradictions without, however, being able to abandon strategic clarity. Third, using the systematic approach to the dimensions presented here, these practices can be described and examined in context.

New Biology for Advanced Wastewater Treatment

1999 ◽  
Vol 40 (4-5) ◽  
pp. 137-144 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Miserez ◽  
S. Philips ◽  
W. Verstraete
Keyword(s):  
Wastewater Treatment ◽  
Activated Carbon ◽  
Organic Carbon ◽  
Genetically Modified Organisms ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Chemical Oxidation ◽  
Advanced Treatment ◽  
Biological Activated Carbon ◽  
Catabolic Potential ◽  
New Biology

A number of new technologies for the advanced treatment of wastewater have recently been developed. The oxidative cometabolic transformation by methanotrophs and by nitrifiers represent new approaches in relation to organic carbon. The Biological Activated Carbon Oxidative Filters characterized by thin biofilms are also promising in that respect. Moreover, implementing genetically modified organisms with improved catabolic potential in advanced water treatment comes into perspective. For very refractory effluents chemical support techniques, like e.g. strong chemical oxidation, can be lined up with advanced biology.

Conference report: innovation, interaction … and a lot of data: first time reflections on Internet Librarian International, UK 2018

2019 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 21-22
Author(s):  
Ray Harper
Keyword(s):  
Best Practice ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Conference Report ◽  
Library Services ◽  
New Techniques ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Making A Difference ◽  
Analyse Data ◽  
Physical Spaces ◽  
First Time

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to summarise a number of presentations at Day 1 of the Internet Librarian International conference, London, UK (16 October 2018). This was the 20th conference in the series, and the three key themes included were the next-gen library and librarian; understanding users, usage and user experience; and inclusion and inspiration: libraries making a difference. Design/methodology/approach This paper reports from the viewpoint of a first-time attendee of the conference. This summarises the main issues raised by each presentation and draws out the key learning points for practical situations. Findings The conference covered a variety of practical ways in which libraries can use technology to support users and make decisions about services. These include developing interactive physical spaces which include augmented reality; introducing “chat-bots” to support users; using new techniques to analyse data; and piloting new ways to engage users (such as coding clubs). A key theme was how we use and harness data in a way that is ethical, effective and relevant to library services. Originality/value This conference focussed on practical examples of how library and information services across sectors and countries are innovating in a period of huge change. The conference gave delegates numerous useful ideas and examples of best practice and demonstrated the strength of the profession in adapting to new technologies and developments.

The fog of words: Assessing the problematic relationship between strategic narratives, (master) frames and ideology

2020 ◽  
pp. 175063522096562
Author(s):  
Fabrizio Coticchia ◽  
Andrea Catanzaro
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Public Attitudes ◽  
Comprehensive Approach ◽  
Master Narrative ◽  
Complex Relation ◽  
Problematic Relationship ◽  
Strategic Narratives ◽  
Growing Body ◽  
Narrative Literature ◽  
Four Levels

A growing body of the International Relations (IR) literature has started to pay attention to the concept of ‘strategic narratives’, stressing the role played by storylines in affecting public attitudes. However, the analytical differences between concepts like strategic narratives, master narratives, frames, framing and master frames have been rarely investigated through a comprehensive approach. Very different definitions and perspectives have been adopted in the IR scholarly debate and beyond, while few studies have identified how ideologies underlie frames and narratives. This article aims at filling this gap and makes two claims. First, the process of plot formation, their strategic dimension and the levels at which narratives operate are the special features that distinguish strategic narratives from all other concepts. Second, only by unpacking – from an interdisciplinary perspective – the complex relation between ideology and narratives can we understand the proper conceptual boundaries in the narrative literature. In sum, there are four levels of discourse to be considered: frame, strategic narrative, master narrative and ideology.

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