scholarly journals The organization’s synaptic mode of existence: How a hospital merger is many things at once

Organization ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 135050842096202 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicolas Bencherki ◽  
Kasper Trolle Elmholdt
Keyword(s):  
Relational View ◽  
Hospital Merger ◽  
The Social ◽  
Modes Of Existence

Different perspectives on organizations have alternatively sorted them on the side of the social / human / linguistic or that of the material / non-human / technical, reducing the question of what an organization may be to attempts to (re)connect these two realms. Literature adopting a relational view, however, has offered a way out of this opposition, by embracing the multiplicity of beings that may make up organizations. We extend this approach by engaging with French philosopher Étienne Souriau’s discussion of modes of existence to suggest that organizations are “synaptic,” which means they exist in the passages between modes, as they articulate the actions of entities existing under different modalities. By analyzing the case of a hospital merger in Denmark, we show that this work of articulation amounts to organizing, and that viewing organizations as synaptic recognizes not only their ontic pluralism, but also their existential pluralism. By doing so, our study contributes to relational understandings of what organizing means and provides a sensitivity to the politics involved in deciding who or what may exist within organizations.

The Shape of the Secular City

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harvey Cox
Keyword(s):  
Social System ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Urban Setting ◽  
The Social ◽  
Theological Perspective ◽  
The City ◽  
Biblical Faith ◽  
Modes Of Existence

This chapter describes the shape of the secular city, illustrating two characteristic components of the social shape of the modern metropolis: anonymity and mobility. Not only are anonymity and mobility central. They are also the two features of the urban social system most frequently singled out for attack by both religious and nonreligious critics. The chapter demonstrates how both anonymity and mobility contribute to the sustenance of human life in the city rather than detracting from it, why they are indispensable modes of existence in the urban setting. It also shows why, from a theological perspective, anonymity and mobility may even produce a certain congruity with biblical faith that is never noticed by the religious rebukers of urbanization.

Ontology

2021 ◽  
pp. 194-199
Author(s):  
Eric Fabri
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Scientific Realism ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Social Ontology ◽  
Human Mind ◽  
Social Phenomena ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Modes Of Existence ◽  
Objective Existence

This chapter addresses ontology, which is the branch of philosophy concerned with the nature of being. As a branch of metaphysics, ontology is mainly concerned with the modes of existence of different entities (tangible and intangible). Every subdiscipline in the social sciences relies on an ontology that defines which elements really matter when it comes to explaining the phenomenon they set out to elucidate. A specific branch of ontology is devoted to the modes of existence of social phenomena: social ontology. Two main positions emerge: realism and constructivism. Scientific realism assumes that social phenomena have an objective existence, independent of the subject. By contrast, constructivism claims that social phenomena have no objective existence and are a construction of the human mind. Its fundamental axiom is that, even if reality exists outside the subject’s perception, the subject cannot reach it without perceiving it. This implies the mediation of imaginary structures, which are provided by social groups. It is important to note, however, that many other positions exist apart from realism and constructivism.

scholarly journals Critical political ecology and the seductions of posthumanism

2014 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 424 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fayaz Chagani
Keyword(s):  
Critical Theory ◽  
Political Ecology ◽  
Human Sciences ◽  
Bruno Latour ◽  
Donna Haraway ◽  
Critical Scholarship ◽  
The Social ◽  
Natural Domains ◽  
Modes Of Existence ◽  
Conceptual Resources

"Posthumanist" theories have become increasingly popular among scholars in political ecology and other fields in the human sciences. The hope is that they will improve our grasp of relations between humans and various nonhumans and, in the process, offer the means to recompose the "social" and the "natural" domains. In this paper, I assess the merits of posthumanisms for critical scholarship. Looking specifically at the work of Bruno Latour (including his latest book, An inquiry into modes of existence) and Donna Haraway, I argue that posthumanist thinking offers not only analytical but normative advantages over conventional and even Marxian approaches. But these newer frameworks contain their own ethico-political limitations and, to the extent that they are useful for addressing conditions of injustice, they continue to depend upon conceptual resources from their precursors. For this reason, a critical political ecology would best be served by preserving a tension between humanist and posthumanist methods.Keywords: posthumanism, critical theory, political ecology, human-nonhuman relations, Bruno Latour, Donna Haraway

Latour, Bruno (1947–)

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Graham Harman
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
William James ◽  
Thomas Hobbes ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
The Political ◽  
Bruno Latour ◽  
Truth Conditions ◽  
The Social ◽  
Modes Of Existence

Bruno Latour is a French philosopher whose work and influence have been mainly in the social sciences, and he is one of the world’s most cited authors in this field. Along with Michel Callon and John Law he is considered one of the founders of actor-network theory (ANT), a method of avoiding abstract terms such as ‘society’, ‘capitalism’ and ‘the economy’ by focusing on the role of individual actors in building up any collective. ANT is thus a ‘flat ontology’ that places humans, nonhumans, concepts and fictional characters on the same footing. All entities are equally real, though not equally strong: neutrons simply have more or better allies attesting to their existence than Popeye, square circles or white ravens. Entities are termed ‘actors’ or ‘actants’, since they can be known and understood only by the effects they have on other things: there is no substance or thingly surplus hidden behind their concrete actions. From the late 1990s Latour partly renounced ANT due to its inability to distinguish between the truth conditions of differing modes of reality, a problem he tried to address in his new ‘modes of existence’ project. Among the chief influences on his work are the semiotics of A.J. Greimas, the metaphysics of A.N. Whitehead, the pragmatism of William James, and the political philosophy of Thomas Hobbes.

scholarly journals Middle managers’ roles after a hospital merger

2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-99
Author(s):  
Elsa Solstad ◽  
Inger Johanne Petterson
Keyword(s):  
Management Practices ◽  
Middle Managers ◽  
Professional Staff ◽  
Social Aspect ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Hospital Merger ◽  
Top Managers ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Controls ◽  
Knowledge Intensive

Purpose Mergers are important and challenging elements in hospital reforms. The authors study the social aspects of management and the roles of middle managers in the aftermath of a hospital merger. Especially, the purpose of this paper is to investigate how professional staff and middle managers perceive their relationships with top managers several years after the merger. Design/methodology/approach A survey was conducted among the professional staff in two merging hospitals’ units six years after a merger. Based on the main findings from this survey, a follow-up interview study was done with a group of middle managers. Findings The management practices were diagnostic with few interactive or communicative activities. The respondents expressed that mistrust developed between the staff and the top management, and a lack of involvement and interaction lead to decoupled and parallel organizations. Social controls, based on shared norms, had not been developed to create mutual commitment and engagement. Practical implications Policy makers should be aware of the need in profound change processes not only to change the tangible elements, but to take care of changing the less tangible elements such as norms and values. Professionals in hospitals are in powerful positions, and changes in such organizations are dependent on trust-building, bottom-up initiatives and evolutionary pathways. Originality/value The paper addresses the need to understand the dynamics of the social aspect in managing hospitals as knowledge-intensive organizations when comprehensive restructuring processes are taking place over several years.

The Renewal of the Old: Lionel Murphy’s Progressive-Relational Conception of Property

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Babie ◽  
Kyriaco Nikias
Keyword(s):  
Social Relations ◽  
Northern Territory ◽  
100Th Birthday ◽  
Relational View ◽  
Native Title ◽  
Significant Aspect ◽  
Relational Property ◽  
Bright Future ◽  
The Social ◽  
Progressive Schools

As we approach Justice Lionel Murphy’s 100th birthday on 30 August 2022, this article explores and renews a significant aspect in the jurisprudence of this truly radical judge: the social relations or progressive view of property. Justice Murphy both identified and judicially expounded this view well before the American social relations or progressive schools. And rather than merely identifying it as some intellectual museum piece, the article also builds on it. The article contains five parts. Part I contextualises the jurisprudential debates surrounding property. Part II recounts Justice Murphy’s judicial radicalism. Part III explores the elements of Murphy’s progressive-relational view of property. Part IV applies the elements of Murphy’s progressive-relational property to the High Court’s recent native title decision in Northern Territory v Griffiths. Part V offers some concluding reflections on the bright future for property found in Murphy’s conception.

scholarly journals THE ESSENCE OF WEALTH IN BUSINESS CULTURE: A SOCIO-PHILOSOPHICAL ANALYSIS

2020 ◽  
pp. 36-48
Author(s):  
Dmytro Tovmash ◽  
Fedir Vlasenko ◽  
Evheniia Levcheniuk
Keyword(s):  
Social Practices ◽  
Human Existence ◽  
Information Environment ◽  
Philosophical Analysis ◽  
Business Culture ◽  
Consumer Society ◽  
Categorical Analysis ◽  
The Social ◽  
Modes Of Existence ◽  
The Continuum

On the basis of socio-philosophical and organizational anthropological controversy, the position of understanding and purposeful achievement of the phenomenon of wealth through social practices is considered and constructed. The generic connections of the concept within the continuum of wealth — poverty are analyzed. There are two levels of wealth research, namely personal and organizational. In the modern Ukrainian information environment, various kinds of myths-traps constantly dominate, which distort the worldview of citizens regarding the understanding of the phenomenon and ways to achieve wealth. Abstract forms of thinking are associated with the further distortion of the social practices and business culture of our society, generating «chimeras of rapid enrichment» and «ideals of a rich life» in a consumer society. Radical hedonism, selfishness and cynicism are presented in the sense of the obligatory modes of existence of modern man, who strives to gain wealth and become happy. There is a radical simulation and substitution of the essences of human existence. Conceptual and categorical analysis of «poverty — wealth» is carried out, using systemic, integral, linguistic and descriptive approaches.

Latour and the Passage of Law

2015 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Network Theory ◽  
Science And Technology Studies ◽  
Legal Theory ◽  
Philosophical Anthropology ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Core Element ◽  
The Social ◽  
New Vision ◽  
Analytical Tools ◽  
Modes Of Existence

Thirteen essays exploring Bruno Latour's legal theory from a variety of disciplinary perspectives – including a chapter by Bruno Latour responding to the arguments and critiques offered in each chapter. This book develops an exciting new vision for legal theory combining analytical tools drawn from Latour's actor-network theory developed in works like Science in Action, Reassembling the Social and The Making of Law with the philosophical anthropology of the Moderns in An Inquiry into Modes of Existence to blaze an entirely new trail in legal epistemology. Bruno Latour's writings in science and technology studies, anthropology, sociology and philosophy are well-known, but only rarely has his work in law been appreciated as a core element, and still less as an obligatory passage point for students and scholars of law. This collection demonstrates the urgency with which both of those omissions must be reconsidered.

The Social Origins and Provenance of the English Bishops during the Reign of Edward II

1959 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. 51-79
Author(s):  
K. Edwards
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Social Background ◽  
Early Career ◽  
The Political ◽  
Social Origins ◽  
Political Activities ◽  
Edward Ii ◽  
The Social ◽  
Complete Study ◽  
History Of

During the last twenty or twenty-five years medieval historians have been much interested in the composition of the English episcopate. A number of studies of it have been published on periods ranging from the eleventh to the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. A further paper might well seem superfluous. My reason for offering one is that most previous writers have concentrated on analysing the professional circles from which the bishops were drawn, and suggesting the influences which their early careers as royal clerks, university masters and students, secular or regular clergy, may have had on their later work as bishops. They have shown comparatively little interest in their social background and provenance, except for those bishops who belonged to magnate families. Some years ago, when working on the political activities of Edward II's bishops, it seemed to me that social origins, family connexions and provenance might in a number of cases have had at least as much influence on a bishop's attitude to politics as his early career. I there fore collected information about the origins and provenance of these bishops. I now think that a rather more careful and complete study of this subject might throw further light not only on the political history of the reign, but on other problems connected with the character and work of the English episcopate. There is a general impression that in England in the later middle ages the bishops' ties with their dioceses were becoming less close, and that they were normally spending less time in diocesan work than their predecessors in the thirteenth century.

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