scholarly journals Reconfiguration, Contestation, and Decline

2018 ◽  
Vol 43 (6) ◽  
pp. 1066-1097 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin K. Sovacool ◽  
Katherine Lovell ◽  
Marie Blanche Ting
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Science And Technology Studies ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Historical Case ◽  
Innovation Studies ◽  
Unit Of Analysis ◽  
History Of ◽  
Technical Systems ◽  
Temporal Dimensions

Large technical systems (LTS) are integral to modern lifestyles but arduous to analyze. In this paper, we advance a conceptualization of LTS using the notion of mature “phases,” drawing from insights into innovation studies, science and technology studies, political science, the sociology of infrastructure, history of technology, and governance. We begin by defining LTS as a unit of analysis and explaining its conceptual utility and novelty, situating it among other prominent sociotechnical theories. Next, we argue that after LTS have moved through the (overlapping) phases proposed by Thomas Hughes of invention, expansion, growth, momentum, and style, mature LTS undergo the additional (overlapping) phases of reconfiguration, contestation (subject to pressures such as drift and crisis), and eventually stagnation and decline. We illustrate these analytical phases with historical case studies and the conceptual literature, and close by suggesting future research to refine and develop the LTS framework, particularly related to more refined typologies, temporal dimensions, and a broadening of system users. We aim to contribute to theoretical debates about the coevolution of LTS as well as empirical discussions about system-related use, sociotechnical change, and policy-making.

scholarly journals The Participation of Senior Citizens in Policy-Making: Patterning Initiatives in Europe

2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 34
Author(s):  
Roberto Falanga ◽  
Andreas Cebulla ◽  
Andrea Principi ◽  
Marco Socci
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Civic Participation ◽  
Policy Design ◽  
Senior Citizens ◽  
National Policy ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Participatory Approaches ◽  
Aging Policy ◽  
Older Citizens

Worldwide, active aging policy calls for greater participation of senior citizens in the social, economic, and political realms. Despite emerging evidence of initiatives engaging senior citizens in social activities, little is known about the use of participatory approaches in the design and/or implementation of policies that matter to older citizens. This article identifies initiatives facilitating the civic participation of older people in policy-making in European Union member and associate states, drawing on a review of the literature, consultation of national policy experts, and exemplary case studies. Four main patterns of senior civic participation are identified: adopting consultative or co-decisional participatory approaches in policy design or policy implementation. The four are represented to varying degrees at different geographical levels (national, regional, local), with different actor configurations (appointed, elected/nominated, corporate representation), and with varying degree of institutionalization (temporary/permanent). Case studies illustrate approaches taken to enhance the quality and effectiveness of public services for senior citizens. Future research should strengthen this line of enquiry to cast further light on conditions facilitating the civic participation of senior citizens.

scholarly journals Balance and Freedom of Speech: Challenge for Canadian Broadcasting

1992 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter G. Cook ◽  
Myles A. Ruggles
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Freedom Of Speech ◽  
Public Access ◽  
Controversial Issues ◽  
Community Radio ◽  
Radio Broadcasting ◽  
Television Broadcasting ◽  
History Of ◽  
Broadcast Policy

Abstract: The development of Canadian broadcast policy and law respecting "content balance'' (and corollary notions of public "access and reply'' entitlements, "abusive speech,'' and "controversial issues of public importance'') exhibits significant definitional vagueness and discontinuity. The authors summarize the history of policy making in the area, and provide two case studies: one of religious television broadcasting, one of community radio broadcasting. These materials lead them to reject the notion of content balance as an element of regulatory terminology. Résumé: L'évolution des politiques canadiennes en matière de radiodiffusion et celle des règlements concernant les "représentations équilibrées'' (de même que des notions corollaires comme les droits d'accès et de réplique du public, le langage abusif et les sujets controversés d'intérêt public) témoigne d'un manque flagrant de précision et de continuité. Les auteurs résument l'histoire des politiques sur ces sujets et abordent également deux études de cas: l'un portant sur les émissions religieuses, l'autre sur les radios communautaires. Ces cas les amènent à conclure que la notion de représentation équilibrée ne constitue pas une composante de la terminologie de réglementation.

scholarly journals On the International Roots of Prehistory (2002)

2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc-Antoine Kaeser
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Social Factors ◽  
Sociology Of Science ◽  
History Of Ideas ◽  
Careful Examination ◽  
Archaeological Research ◽  
Historical Case ◽  
The Past ◽  
History Of ◽  
Identity Based

In recent years, considerable attention has been dedicated to the involvement of archaeology (and most notably prehistory) with nationalism. The probable causes of this recent fashion need not concern us here, but the movement itself is certainly welcome, testifying to the reflection of archaeologists on their own practices and those of their predecessors. For historians, this trend is quite welcome in so far as it contributes to a general renaissance of interest in the past of the discipline. However, a more careful examination of this historiography leads us to some caution about its significance. First, the majority of these historical studies adopt an internalist perspective that, combined with their self-declared reflexiveness, confers on them a rather presentist character. The result belongs to some sort of ‘history of ideas’ that has been embellished with a few sociological insights of varying subtlety. In line with the old sociology of science, social factors are only invoked to explain the ‘errors’ of archaeology. Such errors, therefore, always seem to be accounted for by external and, by definition, pernicious influences. As a consequence our discipline always escapes unscathed: its ‘purity’ is not at stake, simply because it is always ‘society’ and ‘politics’ that abuse it. Moreover, most attention is given to the interpretations of the past, not to archaeological research as such. It is not the historical practice of the discipline that is then under consideration, but rather its thematic scope—which is quite a different matter. However, conceptions of identity based on the past are by no means the exclusive preserve of archaeology. No one has been waiting for the birth of our discipline in order to gloat over the ‘heroic deeds of our glorious ancestors’. As a matter of fact, in terms of nationalism, archaeology has entered quite late into the fray, on a terrain that was by then already demarcated. The wealth of historical case studies suggests that from its origins, archaeology, and more specifically prehistoric archaeology, has been strictly dependent on the emergence of national ideologies. The general impression is clear: were it not for the dynamics of modern nationalism, the argument goes, our discipline would never have emerged.

scholarly journals Compressed Air Technology in Swedish Archaeology: An Example of the Social Construction of Technology in Practice

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-66
Author(s):  
Åsa Gillberg ◽  
Ola W. Jensen
Keyword(s):  
Science And Technology Studies ◽  
Technological Development ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Compressed Air ◽  
Primary Sources ◽  
Historical Case Study ◽  
History Of Archaeology ◽  
Historical Case ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of

In this paper the authors problematize the relation between technological and social aspects of archaeological fieldwork through a historical case study of the introduction and use of compressed air technology in archaeology. They do this by incorporating aspects of Science and Technology Studies (STS) and Actor Network Theory (ANT) into the history of archaeology. Apart from archive material, fieldwork reports and interviews with colleagues have been the primary sources. The study shows how technology is negotiated and renegotiated, and how the technical and the social form each other. Finally, the authors draw attention to issues of technological development in the present.

Post-match recovery and analysis: concluding thoughts on sport and diplomacy

2018 ◽  
pp. 243-262
Author(s):  
Aaron Beacom ◽  
J. Simon Rofe
Keyword(s):  
Soft Power ◽  
Public Diplomacy ◽  
Future Research ◽  
History Of ◽  
Temporal Dimensions ◽  
A Site

This concluding chapter draws together the themes that have emerged in the volume and provides an overarching analysis of the three sections concerning the concepts and history of Sport and Diplomacy, its relationship to public diplomacy and soft power, and considerations of boycotts. Furthermore, it considers a range of questions which simultaneously consolidate but also challenge the parameters of the field. These include the validity of sport as a ‘site of diplomacy’, the value of spatial and temporal dimensions to the field, and lines of future research.

scholarly journals On case loss and svarabhakti vowels: the sociolinguistic typology and geolinguistics of simplification in North Germanic

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (01) ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Tam T. Blaxter ◽  
Peter Trudgill
Keyword(s):  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Language Contact ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Dialect Contact ◽  
Low German ◽  
History Of ◽  
Middle Low German

AbstractWork in sociolinguistic typology and creole studies has established the theory that intensive language contact involving second language acquisition by adults tends to lead to grammatical simplification. This theory is built on many anecdotal case studies, including developments in the history of Continental North Germanic associated with contact with Middle Low German. In this paper, we assess the theory by examining two changes in the history of Norwegian: the loss of coda /Cr/ clusters and the loss of prepositional genitives. If the theory is correct, these changes should have been innovated in centers of contact with Middle Low German. We find that both changes in fact spread into southeastern Norwegian from Swedish. Since contact with Low German also took place in Sweden and Denmark, this is consistent with the theory. It opens questions for future research about the role of dialect contact in simplificatory change in North Germanic.

scholarly journals Past Caring? Women, Work and Emotion

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meg Luxton
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Child Poverty ◽  
Care Work ◽  
Pay Equity ◽  
Historical Case ◽  
Public Debates ◽  
History Of ◽  
Nineteenth And Twentieth Centuries ◽  
Vantage Points

Past Caring? Women, Work and Emotion focuses on the history of women’s care work in New Zealand and on how women’s association with, and responsibility for, care shape their lives and social status. It presents a variety of historical case studies which collectively document shifting concepts and practices about care, unpaid and paid, familial and professional, over the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The editors note that it “seeks to make care and care work in New Zealand’s past visible,” offering “different vantage points on women’s history and its resonances now” in public debates about issues such as child poverty, pay equity, and parental leaves (7).

scholarly journals Two Chimeras in the Landscape

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 29
Author(s):  
Mark Bell
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Forest Cover ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Lasting Effect ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Relationship

This article discusses the history of investigations into British linear earthworks in the twentieth century. The influence of pre-existing beliefs about the environment of Britain, especially the existence of impassable forest cover, deeply influenced the interpretation of linear monuments and had a lasting effect on the study of these monuments. A brief history of the personalities involved is followed by two case studies of monuments that were believed to be post-Roman in date but are now seen as Iron Age monuments. The implications of the change in the relationship to of the dykes to the landscape is discussed along with potential future research, better informed by an awareness of this confusing tradition of field archaeology.

scholarly journals The Historical Treatment of Urban Policing in Canada: A Review of the Literature

2013 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 36-41
Author(s):  
Jeffrey Ian Ross
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Base ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Review Of The Literature ◽  
Historical Case ◽  
Advantages And Disadvantages ◽  
Urban Policing ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Historical Treatment ◽  
Comprehensive Treatments

The author reviews the research produced on the history of municipal policing in Canada, partly through the creation and analysis of a database. There are three types of work: comprehensive treatments, historical case-studies of particular polic forces, and studies examining subprocesses in particular forces. The author then discusses this literature's advantages and disadvantages. Finally, the author makes a series of recommendations for improving the existing knowledge base.

Compiling Diplomacy: Record-Keeping and Archival Practices in Chosŏn Korea

2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 255-287 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sixiang Wang
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Diplomatic History ◽  
Historical Case ◽  
Interstate Relations ◽  
Record Keeping ◽  
Policy Concern ◽  
The Status ◽  
Choson Korea ◽  
History Of ◽  
Archival Practices

Abstract The Chosŏn court kept meticulous records of its interactions with their Ming, and later, their Qing neighbors. These materials, especially those that predate the nineteenth century, survive not in the form of original materials but rather as entries in court-sponsored compilations. For instance, the monumental Tongmun hwigo, published in 1788, categorizes diplomatic activity according to areas of policy concern. Its organizational scheme, handy for a Chosŏn official searching for relevant precedents, has also provided ready material for historical case studies. What has been less appreciated, however, are how such records came into being in the first place. By interrogating the status of these compilations as “archives,” this article follows how diplomatic documents were produced, used, and compiled as both products and instruments of diplomatic practice. In reading these materials as instruments of knowledge, rather than mere sources of historical documentation, this essay also makes the case for going beyond diplomatic history as interstate relations and towards a cultural and epistemic history of Korean diplomatic practice.

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