Reframing Power in the Globalized World

2008 ◽  
Vol 29 (5) ◽  
pp. 793-804 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ulrich Beck
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Paradigm Shift ◽  
World Economy ◽  
Global Business ◽  
Methodological Nationalism ◽  
Nation States ◽  
Global Power ◽  
The Social ◽  
Global Age ◽  
Globalized World

This paper throws light on the global power games being played out between global business, nation-states and movements rooted in civil society. It offers an account of the changing nature of power in the global age and assesses the influence of the counter-powers. The thesis is that, in an age of global crises and risks, the creation of a dense network of transnational interdependencies is exactly what is needed to regain national autonomy, not least in relation to a highly mobile world economy. The author thereby argues that a paradigm shift of the social sciences is needed, from `methodological nationalism' to `methodological cosmopolitanism'.

We do not Live in an Age of Cosmopolitanism but in an Age of Cosmopolitisation: The ‘Global Other’ is in Our Midst

2011 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 16-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ulrich Beck
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Paradigm Shift ◽  
Social Inequalities ◽  
State Of The Art ◽  
Risk Society ◽  
Methodological Nationalism ◽  
Current State ◽  
The Social

As against the current state of the art, this article argues for a cosmopolitan vision in the social sciences and, more specifically, for a cosmopolitan turn in social and political theory and research. A critique of the prevailing methodological nationalism leads to a presentation of an agenda for researching really existing cosmopolitisation. The proposed paradigm shift is illustrated by graphic examples of drastically altered social relations and social inequalities drawn from around the globe, and its urgency is underscored by an analysis of the political dynamics and transformations characteristic of the world risk society. The development of a cosmopolitan vision in the social sciences demands not simply the token adoption of methodological cosmopolitanism, but the painful excision of deep-seated Western and Eurocentric biases.

Introduction: Transnational Social Policy

2005 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 403-405 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicola Yeates ◽  
Zoë Irving
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Social Policy ◽  
Half Century ◽  
Methodological Nationalism ◽  
Nation States ◽  
The Social ◽  
National Borders

Social policy and the social sciences more generally, have tended to emphasise links, activities and processes occurring ‘within’ nation states to the neglect of those cutting across them. This ‘methodological nationalism’ is increasingly being questioned as transnational processes, be they ‘from above’ or ‘from below’, institutionalised or non-institutionalised, formal or informal, have become more significant over the last half century. The spread of activities, links and ties beyond national borders has become more extensive and the interactions themselves have become more intensive. In the light of these changes, the aim of this themed section is to draw attention to the transnational dimensions of social policy and advance the study of transnationalism in relation to social policy and welfare.

Assessing Contemporary Crises: Aligning Safety Science and Security Studies

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bibi van den Berg ◽  
Ruth Prins ◽  
Sanneke Kuipers
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Everyday Life ◽  
Natural Sciences ◽  
Security Studies ◽  
Nation States ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World ◽  
Safety Science ◽  
Key Topics

Security and safety are key topics of concern in the globalized and interconnected world. While the terms “safety” and “security” are often used interchangeably in everyday life, in academia, security is mostly studied in the social sciences, while safety is predominantly studied in the natural sciences, engineering, and medicine. However, developments and incidents that negatively affect society increasingly contain both safety and security aspects. Therefore, an integrated perspective on security and safety is beneficial. Such a perspective studies hazardous and harmful events and phenomena in the full breadth of their complexity—including the cause of the event, the target that is harmed, and whether the harm is direct or indirect. This leads to a richer understanding of the nature of incidents and the effects they may have on individuals, collectives, societies, nation-states, and the world at large.

scholarly journals Globalization, Class and Culture in Global Systems

2000 ◽  
pp. 636-656 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Friedman
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Critical Assessment ◽  
Global Perspective ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
The Social ◽  
Global Age ◽  
The World ◽  
Immanuel Wallerstein ◽  
Global Systems ◽  
Proper Account

The work of Immanuel Wallerstein has been criticized by certain anthropologists for not having taken culture into proper account. He has been accused of the sin of political economy, a not uncommon accusation, a re?ex of the 80’s and post-80’s anthropological jargon that might ?nally today be exhausted. Years earlier a number of social scientists were engaged in a critical assessment of the social sciences from a distinctively global perspective. Wallerstein, Frank and others were at the forefront of this critique which had a powerful impact on anthropology. The global perspective was not a mere addition to anthropological knowledge, not a mere of extension of the use of the culture concept, i.e. before it was local and now it is global, before culture stood still, but now in the global age, it ?ows around the world. It was a more fundamental critique, or at least it implied a more fundamental critique. This critique could only be attained from a perspective in which the very concept of society was re-conceived as something very different, as a locus constructed within a historical force ?eld which was very much broader than any particular politically de?ned unit.

scholarly journals A New Role for Management of the Social Sciences in an Age of Complexity

2016 ◽  
pp. 51-61
Author(s):  
Jody Jensen
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Scientific Inquiry ◽  
Paradigm Shift ◽  
World View ◽  
Science And Technology ◽  
Inquiry Science ◽  
Organic World ◽  
Scientific World ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Way

A particular scientific world view has become dominant, influential and successful in modern sciences today. Science and technology have transformed the way we view ourselves, our societies and our place in the cosmos. However, just as science and technology seem to be at the peak of their power, unexpected problems are disrupting the sciences from within. This reflects a deeper and more serious problem regarding scientific inquiry. Science is being held back by old assumptions that have become dogmas, the biggest of which is that science already knows all the answers, and only the details need to be worked out. A transformational paradigm shift is required from a mechanistic world view to an organic world view to better address the challenges of the new millenium.

Cosmopolitanizing Catastrophism: Remembering the Future

2016 ◽  
Vol 33 (7-8) ◽  
pp. 291-299 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Levy
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Risk Society ◽  
Iterative Approach ◽  
Relational Understanding ◽  
Methodological Nationalism ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Future ◽  
Paradigmatic Change

Ulrich Beck’s quest to unshackle the social sciences from their methodological nationalism has yielded numerous influential concepts. In his last work he theorized the transformation of a globally connected world through the notion of ‘metamorphosis’ understood as a form of radical (paradigmatic) change. This transfiguration is driven by different perceptions of catastrophism, carrying the potential to re-shape world risk society. In this essay I critically assess what Beck refers to as ‘emancipatory catastrophism’. I suggest substituting emancipatory with cosmopolitan catastrophism. Cosmopolitan catastrophism seeks to adjoin an event-centered approach with a relational understanding of world risk society. By emphasizing cosmopolitan trajectories we avoid the linear fallacies plaguing earlier theories of modernity. Beck’s iterative approach provides us with a heuristic tool, which addresses the ongoing interplay of universal scripts and local appropriations in the context of contingencies and uncertainties. Previously seen as residual, catastrophism becomes the center of our analytic efforts.

scholarly journals Bringing the world back in: Revolutions and relations before and after the quantum event

2020 ◽  
Vol 51 (5) ◽  
pp. 414-433 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jairus Grove
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Paradigm Shift ◽  
Quantum Physics ◽  
First Generation ◽  
Philosophical Inquiry ◽  
The Social ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Disciplinary Expertise ◽  
Quantum Event

Quantum physics is being positioned as a new archive for addressing major theoretical problems in the field of international relations. Two of the major proponents of engaging quantum thinking within international relations, James Der Derian and Alexander Wendt, have argued that quantum thinking offers the possibility of a major paradigm shift in the field. Before we determine quantum’s revolutionary potential, the persistent and most pressing question for me is how to position quantum thinking among other kinds of and claims to knowledge. I want to horizontalize where different kinds of knowledge sit within the renewed attention to quantum theory. Rather than just horizontalize or flatten ontology, I want to see what happens when we place scientific and philosophical inquiry in dialogue, and what that conversation does to the authority and value of quantum thinking for the social sciences. The article reconstructs the dialogue between the first generation of quantum physicists and the philosophers who informed them. Rather than make an explicit argument about the philosophical debt of physics, I argue that a broad and highly interdisciplinary set of questions drove both fields well beyond the specific areas of expertise of any of these thinkers. I believe this adventure of ideas followed by physicists, philosophers, and social theorists alike offers us a way forward as the complexity of our contemporary global challenges confront us now with the necessity to think well beyond our disciplinary expertise.

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