scholarly journals What is innovation? New lessons from biology

2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 343
Author(s):  
Sergio F. Martínez
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Biological Sciences ◽  
Complex Systems ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Evolutionary Models ◽  
Sharp Separation ◽  
Path Creation ◽  
Recent Advances ◽  
The Social

During the 19thcentury, evolutionary models of innovation followed a famous thesis of continuity, according to which methods and explanatory patterns of biology should have an important say in the social sciences. In the 20th century, this thesis was considered unacceptable as part of the sharp separation of biology from the social sciences. Recent advances in the biological sciences suggest a way in which a version of the thesis of continuity can be reinstated, to suggest new ways of explaining innovation in the social sciences. Key kinds of innovation can be explained in terms of the evolution of robust complex systems, interpreted as processes of path creation.

scholarly journals Niche Construction Theory in Archaeology: A Critical Review

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert N. Spengler
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Biological Sciences ◽  
Niche Construction ◽  
Heuristic Function ◽  
Evolutionary Mechanism ◽  
Ecosystem Impacts ◽  
Niche Construction Theory ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Social ◽  
Explanatory Mechanism

AbstractOver the past decade, niche construction theory (NCT) has been one of the fastest-growing theories or scholarly approaches in the social sciences, especially within archaeology. It was proposed in the biological sciences 25 years ago and is often referred to as a neglected evolutionary mechanism. Given its rapid acceptance by the archaeological community, it is important that scholars consider how it is being applied and look for discrepancies between applications of the concept. Many critical discussions of NCT have already been published, but most of them are in biology journals and may be overlooked by scholars in the social sciences. In this manuscript, my goal is to synthesis the criticisms of NCT, better allowing archaeologists to independently evaluate its usefulness. I focus on the claims of novelty and differences between NCT and other approaches to conceptualizing anthropogenic ecosystem impacts and culture-evolution feedbacks. I argue that the diverse concepts currently included in the wide-reaching purview of NCT are not new, but the terminology is and may be useful to some scholars. If proponents of the concept are able to unify their ideas, it may serve a descriptive function, but given that lack of a testable explanatory mechanism, it does not have a clear heuristic function.

scholarly journals Assemblage theory: coping with complexity in technology enhanced language learning

2019 ◽  
pp. 280-284
Author(s):  
Blair Matthews
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Complex Systems ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Assemblage Theory ◽  
The Social ◽  
Language Classroom ◽  
Language Classrooms ◽  
Theory Of Complexity

Language classrooms are complex systems, but theory often simplifies these processes making researching effectiveness difficult. Assemblage theory – a theory of complexity in the social sciences – allows us to examine complexity in the language classroom. In this paper, I present an account of the language classroom that captures the complexity, subjectivity, and temporality of technology enhanced language learning.

The coming triumph of the psychosocial perspective: lessons from the rise, fall and revival of Erich Fromm

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Neil McLaughlin
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Psychosocial Work ◽  
Erich Fromm ◽  
Depth Psychological ◽  
World Today ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World ◽  
Psychosocial Perspective

This article presents the story of the rise, fall and revival of Erich Fromm, arguably the most important psychosocial thinker of the 20th century. Fromm was a major intellectual figure in the 1940s, 1940s and 1950s in a period of time when psychosocial work was growing in influence. Work that continues in that tradition is outlined and the implications this story holds for the psychosocial school of thought is spelled out through given events in the world today (Trumpism and right wing nationalism in particular) that once again create space for psychosocial ideas. The opportunities and the challenges faced today by the psychosocial perspective are discussed in light of the lessons that can be learned by looking at the earlier case of the rise and fall of Erich Fromm and the current global revival of interest in his theories. I conclude by offering some thoughts on how elements of sectarianism have sometimes plagued the psychosocial perspective and how this can be avoided in the coming years as we look forward to the coming triumph of depth psychological perspectives in the social sciences.

Communication and Knowledge Networks as Complex Systems

2003 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter R. Monge ◽  
Noshir Contractor
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Complex Systems ◽  
Systems Theory ◽  
Knowledge Networks ◽  
Social Success ◽  
Herbert Spencer ◽  
The Social ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Secure Networks ◽  
Wealth Of Nations

The concept of a system has a long and distinguished history in the social sciences. In fact, Mattelart and Mattelart (1998) claim that “the idea of society as an organism, that is, a whole composed of organs performing predetermined functions, inspired the earliest conceptions of a ‘science of communication’”. We begin this chapter with a brief historical overview of the major systems perspectives that have been utilized in social theory and research: structural-functionalism, cybernetics, and general systems theory. We then apply recent developments in complex systems theories to organizational networks. In doing so, we look at communication and knowledge networks from the perspective of agent-based modeling and self-organizing systems. Mattelart and Mattelart (1998) trace the early growth of systems thinking in the social sciences. Adam Smith’s (1776) classic work, The Wealth of Nations, postulated that a laissez-faire system, the division of labor, and channels of communication and transportation were crucial aspects of economic prosperity. The key to economic and therefore social success was the unrestricted circulation of messages, materials, and money through secure networks. According to Mattelart and Mattelart (1998), Francois Quesnay, a French physician and economist, published an economic chart (tableau economique) in 1758. “The chart offers a macroscopic vision of an economy of ‘flows’ in the form of a geometrical zigzag figure in which the lines expressing exchange between human beings and the land, as well as among the three classes making up society, cut across each other and become intertwined”. The Mattelarts note that Claude Henri de Saint Simon’s eighteenth-century work also applied systems theory to the concept of networks. Saint-Simons’s theory conceived of society as “an organic system, a bundle or fabric of networks.... He attributed strategic importance to the development of a system of communication routes”. Out of this background Herbert Spencer (1820–1903) developed the first integrated theory of society built on a direct analogy with biological systems.

Towards an African Qur'anic Hermeneutics

2002 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-76
Author(s):  
Michael Mumisa
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Philosophy Of Language ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Sacred Texts ◽  
Christian Perspective ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Status ◽  
African Perspective

The 20th century has been witness to great developments in theology, philosophy of language and the social sciences. Postmodernism has emerged as an influential philosophical thought. All of these 20th century phenomena have influenced how people approach sacred texts and how they comprehend and interpret them. Muslims have not been immune to these developments, and accordingly there has been a realisation among Muslim theorists that the existing interpretations of the Qur'an and Sunnah (imitado Muhammadi) may be limited and not able to suffice the needs of a changing world. The Islamic world has also been rapidly expanding to incorporate races, cultures and environments of various kinds. Consequently, racial and cultural problems have emerged causing a great need among progressive Muslims, particularly the youth, women, people of colour, and other concerned Muslims for a re-reading of the sacred texts so that they become existentially meaningful in the here and now. Such a reading will have to take into consideration differences of perspective and social location. Although this article proposes an African Qur'anic hermeneutics within the liberative discourse, it is not necessarily proposing an African Muslim perspective of liberation since there can be no such a thing as an ‘African perspective’, ‘feminist perspective’ or even ‘Christian perspective’ of liberation. By confirming the ‘us’ versus ‘them’, or dominant versus ‘other’ in the liberation process, it serves to confirm the status quo which we seek to change.

ACTIVE WALKS: THE FIRST TWELVE YEARS (PART II)

2006 ◽  
Vol 16 (02) ◽  
pp. 239-268 ◽  
Author(s):  
LUI LAM
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Complex Systems ◽  
Surface Reaction ◽  
Economic Systems ◽  
Chinese History ◽  
Human History ◽  
Open Problems ◽  
Site Model ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Relationship

Active Walk (AW) is a paradigm for self-organization and pattern formation in simple and complex systems, originated by Lam in 1992. In an AW, the walker changes the deformable landscape as it walks, and is influenced by the changed landscape in choosing its next step. Active walk models have been applied successfully to various biological, physical, geological and economic systems from both the natural and social sciences. More recently, it has been used to model human history. In Part I of this review, the birth of the AW paradigm, its basic concepts and formulations, a solvable two-site model, and the experiments and AW modeling of surface-reaction filamentary patterns are presented. Part II here continues with properties of AW, and applications of AW in nonliving and living systems — including those from the social sciences and human history. (In particular, unsuspected quantitative laws and a prediction about the Chinese history are given.) A comment on the relationship between physics, social science and complex systems is provided. The review concludes with open problems in the form of workable research projects and general discussions.

scholarly journals Civilizational Approach and the Need of Its Revision under the New Historical Conditions

2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (2) ◽  
pp. 7-26
Author(s):  
Rimma I. Sokolova
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Scientific Method ◽  
Scientific Discovery ◽  
Interdisciplinary Approach ◽  
The West ◽  
Theoretical Understanding ◽  
Main Research ◽  
Scientific Analysis ◽  
The Social

The article discusses the civilizational approach which was formed in the 20th century and has become one of the main research approaches both in Russia and in the Western countries. The author presents a brief overview of the main milestones in the development of civilizational theory and its main representatives in Russia and the West. It is shown that in Russia, the importance of the civilizational approach is caused by the “change of epochs” that occurred after the 1990s and demanded to consider the civilization principles in the social sciences and in the socio-political structure of the country. A brief description of the civilizational theory in the West, which has its own characteristics, not only demonstrates the universality of this scientific method but also reveals both its positive and negative aspects that were identified by the researchers. Although the Russian and Western scholars focus on the specifics of their own situations, they agree that in order to overcome the limitations of the civilizational approach, it is necessary to supplement it with other methods of scientific analysis. Since this article deals with the problems faced by Russia, the author presents the arguments of the Russian researchers, who suggest supplementing the civilizational analysis with the logic of sense, formations, geopolitical, ideological and worldview research approaches. It should be noted that the logic of sense approach is the latest achievement of the philosophical thought and a kind of scientific discovery (authored by A.V. Smirnov). It is concluded that all the supplementing methods find their meaning and place in relation to each other only within the framework of a holistic interdisciplinary approach, which provides a theoretical understanding of a larger set of problems that the country is facing today.

scholarly journals Computational and neurocognitive approaches to the political brain: key insights and future avenues for political neuroscience

2021 ◽  
Vol 376 (1822) ◽  
pp. 20200130
Author(s):  
Leor Zmigrod ◽  
Manos Tsakiris
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Biological Sciences ◽  
Cognitive Structure ◽  
The Political ◽  
Theme Issue ◽  
Political Behaviour ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
The Social ◽  
Methodological Approaches ◽  
Core Questions

Although the study of political behaviour has been traditionally restricted to the social sciences, new advances in political neuroscience and computational cognitive science highlight that the biological sciences can offer crucial insights into the roots of ideological thought and action. Echoing the dazzling diversity of human ideologies, this theme issue seeks to reflect the multiplicity of theoretical and methodological approaches to understanding the nature of the political brain. Cutting-edge research along three thematic strands is presented, including (i) computational approaches that zoom in on fine-grained mechanisms underlying political behaviour, (ii) neurocognitive perspectives that harness neuroimaging and psychophysiological techniques to study ideological processes, and (iii) behavioural studies and policy-minded analyses of such understandings across cultures and across ideological domains. Synthesizing these findings together, the issue elucidates core questions regarding the nature of uncertainty in political cognition, the mechanisms of social influence and the cognitive structure of ideological beliefs. This offers key directions for future biologically grounded research as well as a guiding map for citizens, psychologists and policymakers traversing the uneven landscape of modern polarization, misinformation, intolerance and dogmatism. This article is part of the theme issue ‘The political brain: neurocognitive and computational mechanisms'.

scholarly journals Symbol Systems and Social Structures

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vanina Leschziner ◽  
Gordon Brett
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Field Theory ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Social Structures ◽  
Social Origins ◽  
Symbol Systems ◽  
Culture And Cognition ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Historical Legacies

Symbol systems and social structures are prominent concepts with long historical legacies in the social sciences. This chapter traces how symbol systems and social structures have been theorized independently of each other in the social sciences during the 20th century, before elaborating the ways in which sociologists have theorized the relationship between the two. Marx, Weber, and Simmel offered important ideas about this relationship, but Durkheim’s account of the social origins of mental structures provides the most direct and elaborated theory about the relationship between mental and social structures within the classical sociological period. Subsequently, we trace Durkheim’s legacy through three contemporary perspectives: field theory, neo-institutionalism, and culture and cognition. While maintaining analytical continuity with the Durkheimian tradition, these perspectives also represent new theoretical, analytical, and methodological advances in locating and specifying correspondences between symbol systems and social structures. Nevertheless, we find that pressing questions remain pertaining to how symbol systems and social structures interrelate, and how exactly this relationship shapes both cognition and action.

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