scholarly journals Work and Social-Ecological Transitions: A Critical Review of Five Contrasting Approaches

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (14) ◽  
pp. 3852 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick Bottazzi
Keyword(s):  
Political Ecology ◽  
Critical Review ◽  
Industrial Revolution ◽  
Modern Human ◽  
Green Jobs ◽  
Critical Theories ◽  
Social Ecological ◽  
Unlimited Growth ◽  
Critical Approaches ◽  
Lock In

Going to work has become such a ritualized activity for the modern human that few people challenge its relevance from a sustainability perspective. Since the Industrial Revolution, the prospect of unlimited growth with the aim of jobs creation has been dramatically associated with a massive social-ecological degradation that puts the Earth system at risk. In recent decades, a number of heterodox theories and policies are reconsidering our relationship with work in view of contemporaneous social-ecological challenges. This paper offers critical review of five contrasting approaches. Those promoting ‘green jobs’ consider the possibility of transforming ecological constraints into economic opportunities by incentivising eco-efficient innovations and generating new jobs. Conversely, critical approaches, such as working-time reduction (WTR), labour environmentalism, political ecology of work, and contributive economy and justice, defend decommodifying work to liberate pro-social and pro-environmental behaviours. We additionally present two opposing scenarios mainly inspired by critical theories. One illustrates the root causes of systemic lock-in leading to the present social-ecological work-life degradation, while the other illustrates perspectives on the ‘politics of free time’ and contributive economy and justice oriented towards building capabilities, and workers’ emancipation and justice in search for more sustainable relationships with ecosystems.

scholarly journals Scalar fixes of environmental management in Java, Indonesia

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 565-589 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin C Lukas ◽  
Michael Flitner
Keyword(s):  
Political Ecology ◽  
Ecological Processes ◽  
Environmental Conflicts ◽  
Social Ecological ◽  
Environmental Narratives ◽  
Segara Anakan Lagoon ◽  
Lock In ◽  
Cultural And Political Ecology ◽  
Knowledge Claims ◽  
Scalar Analysis

This paper analyses the emergence and fixing of scales in struggles over environmental issues. Using the example of watershed and coastal management in Java, we show how political framings of environmental matters and struggles over resources are linked to scalar regimes. We conceptualise these regimes as scalar fixes in which scales of intervention and scales of knowledge production are bound by environmental narratives and social–ecological processes to produce lock-in effects for prolonged periods of time. In our empirical case, particular scales were central in providing ‘problem closure’ and legitimising interventions while precluding other problematisations. Sedimentation of the Segara Anakan lagoon, first desired to support conversion into a rice bowl, was later framed as threat caused by upland peasants. The lock-in of interpretive framings and scales of observation and intervention, which was linked to politics of forest control, impeded debate on the various causes of sedimentation. With our newly defined concept of scalar fixes we contribute to understanding environmental narratives and related knowledge, providing a complement to the micro-perspectives on the stabilisation of knowledge claims currently discussed in cultural and political ecology. In doing so, we offer an approach to scalar analysis of environmental conflicts linking environmental narratives with the material social–ecological processes enrolled.

Transforming wood energy in Sweden and Chile

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 361-377
Author(s):  
Cristián Alarcón
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Renewable Energy ◽  
Political Ecology ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
Environmental Communication ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Social Ecological ◽  
Wood Energy ◽  
Critical Approaches ◽  
International Forestry

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to critically analyse and problematize the relations between international forestry companies and wood energy in the context of climate change in Chile and Sweden. Design/methodology/approach Based on interviews, field observations and analysis of documents, case studies of international forestry companies and wood energy in local areas of Chile and Sweden are examined comparatively. A conceptual framework combining political ecology and environmental communication is developed to approach the cases. Findings The paper finds that the two international forestry companies studied here have widely incorporated the use of wood energy as a renewable and carbon neutral energy strategy for their forestry business. Second, the paper finds that wood energy is used as a way to reproduce forestry development in the two countries, which is contested by NGOs and activists which are today articulating critical approaches to forestry development in the two countries. Third, related to the former finding, the paper finds that the incorporation of wood energy into the forest sector’s interests in Chile and Sweden takes place in the context of important social-ecological conflicts related to industrial forestry development. Originality/value The paper’s analytical framework helps to analyse the social-ecological nature of international business and the way they organise material practices and communicative meaning around renewable energy. The paper’s findings and analysis shed light on important problematic aspects of the material and symbolic struggles around renewable energy in the context of climate change. The comparative dimension of the analysis has the value to offer a cross-border analysis to improve the understanding of some of the most important aspects of international businesses concerning wood energy today.

scholarly journals Online and Offline Representations of Biocultural Diversity: A Political Ecology Perspective on Nature-Based Tourism and Indigenous Communities in the Brazilian Pantanal

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 3643 ◽  
Author(s):  
Koen Arts ◽  
Maiara Rabelo ◽  
Daniela de Figueiredo ◽  
Georgina Maffey ◽  
Antonio Ioris ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Political Ecology ◽  
Social Inequalities ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Lower Class ◽  
Biocultural Diversity ◽  
Power Structures ◽  
Social Ecological ◽  
Counter Narratives ◽  
Conceptual Flexibility ◽  
Brazilian Pantanal

The concept of biocultural diversity is confronted with contemporary changes that impact on local communities, such as globalization and digital transformations. Engaging the conceptual flexibility of ‘biocultural diversity’, we studied nature-based tourism at the intersection of indigenous communities and the digital realm. We employed a political ecology perspective to examine online and offline representations of biocultural diversity in the Brazilian Pantanal, one of the biggest wetlands in the world, and home to groups of peoples known as the Pantaneiros. Data from interviews with 48 stakeholders in the tourist sector were structured along three ‘myths’—the Uncivilised, Unrestrained, and Unchanged—for which we have also constructed counter narratives. Each myth denoted the primacy of biodiversity, and ignored broader dimensions of the Pantanal as a bioculturally diverse landscape. The relationships of the Pantaneiros with their environment were found to be intricate and had clear repercussions for tourism, but ironically, reference to the Pantaneiro culture in nature-based tourism was superficial. Moreover, thriving on the myths, this form of tourism perpetuates skewed power structures and social inequalities. Lower-class Pantaneiros likely suffer most from this. We recommend stakeholder engagement with a biocultural design that facilitates the integration of other-than-biodiversity values, and that thereby promotes sustainability of the entire social-ecological system.

scholarly journals UX in AR-Supported Industrial Human–Robot Collaborative Tasks: A Systematic Review

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (21) ◽  
pp. 10448
Author(s):  
Riccardo Karim Khamaisi ◽  
Elisa Prati ◽  
Margherita Peruzzini ◽  
Roberto Raffaeli ◽  
Marcello Pellicciari
Keyword(s):  
Augmented Reality ◽  
Industrial Revolution ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Recent Literature ◽  
Modern Human ◽  
Assessment Procedure ◽  
Functional Requirements ◽  
Collaborative Robotics ◽  
Fourth Industrial Revolution ◽  
Standardization Process

The fourth industrial revolution is promoting the Operator 4.0 paradigm, originating from a renovated attention towards human factors, growingly involved in the design of modern, human-centered processes. New technologies, such as augmented reality or collaborative robotics are thus increasingly studied and progressively applied to solve the modern operators’ needs. Human-centered design approaches can help to identify user’s needs and functional requirements, solving usability issues, or reducing cognitive or physical stress. The paper reviews the recent literature on augmented reality-supported collaborative robotics from a human-centered perspective. To this end, the study analyzed 21 papers selected after a quality assessment procedure and remarks the poor adoption of user-centered approaches and methodologies to drive the development of human-centered augmented reality applications to promote an efficient collaboration between humans and robots. To remedy this deficiency, the paper ultimately proposes a structured framework driven by User eXperience approaches to design augmented reality interfaces by encompassing previous research works. Future developments are discussed, stimulating fruitful reflections and a decisive standardization process.

scholarly journals Capturing digital (in)equity in teaching and learning: a sociocritical approach

2019 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 169-180 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Collin ◽  
Périne Brotcorne
Keyword(s):  
Digital Technology ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Critical Dimension ◽  
Technology In Education ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Equity In Education ◽  
Equity Issues ◽  
Critical Tradition ◽  
Critical Theories ◽  
Critical Approaches

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present a sociocritical approach and describe how it is relevant to the study of digital equity in education. Design/methodology/approach The method is based on a synthesis of the literature regarding critical approaches to digital technology in education. Findings A sociocritical approach is an attempt to formulate a sociological perspective combined with a critical dimension. It provides a relevant theoretical basis for addressing digital (in)equity issues. Originality/value Little use has been made of critical theories in the study of digital technology in education. That may seem surprising insofar as the study of digital technology in education is related to other fields having a well-established critical tradition. The authors build on their work and tailor it to the case of digital technology in education.

scholarly journals Interdependent Infrastructure as Linked Social, Ecological, and Technological Systems (SETSs) to Address Lock‐in and Enhance Resilience

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (12) ◽  
pp. 1638-1659 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samuel A. Markolf ◽  
Mikhail V. Chester ◽  
Daniel A. Eisenberg ◽  
David M. Iwaniec ◽  
Cliff I. Davidson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Technological Systems ◽  
Social Ecological ◽  
Lock In ◽  
Interdependent Infrastructure

scholarly journals Organization of higher education in context of digitalization: online learning experience at pandemic, development trends

2021 ◽  
Vol 273 ◽  
pp. 12052
Author(s):  
Larisa Kobysheva ◽  
Anna Luginina ◽  
Nataliya Gafiatulina ◽  
Yana Artamonova
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Information Technology ◽  
Online Learning ◽  
Distance Learning ◽  
Information And Communication Technologies ◽  
Industrial Revolution ◽  
Learning Experience ◽  
Modern Human ◽  
Educational Environment ◽  
Teaching Staff

It is highlighted in the study that digital transformations of the fourth industrial revolution are changing the modern human world, encouraging a person to acquire new competencies and become a qualified specialist in the digital economy. In connection with the progressive scientific and technical development, the institute of higher education is being transformed; new previously unknown approaches to the organization of higher education appear. One of such approaches is the introduction of online learning in higher education. The authors refer to the experience of 2020, when, during the pandemic of the new coronavirus infection, the whole world began to actively transfer work processes to a remote format, which also affected the institute of education. Universities around the world introduced distance learning using information technology, which helped students and faculty communicate at a distance. Based on the analysis, the following conclusions were drawn: digitalization of higher education in Russian universities is currently associated with the use of information and communication technologies in the educational environment and to a lesser extent with the use of electronic educational environment in the indirect interaction of students and teaching staff. In our opinion, it is necessary for the digitalization process to be consistent and not to be reduced to full distance learning, but to competently integrate information technology into the traditional learning process.

scholarly journals Social-Ecological Peace – A framework to analyze the transition from violence to peace in post-conflict areas, applied to Aceh, Indonesia

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yanuardi Yanuardi ◽  
Bettina Bluemling ◽  
Frank Biermann
Keyword(s):  
Political Ecology ◽  
Structural Effects ◽  
Conflict Studies ◽  
New Era ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Cultural Violence ◽  
Social Ecological ◽  
Time Structures ◽  
Slow Violence ◽  
Ecological Dimension

While the analysis of peace often stops with "negative peace" in conflict studies (Shields 2017), critical structural analyses of a transition towards peace risk to analytically emphasize how wartime structures extend into post-conflict times (see e.g. Lee 2020). In this article, by engaging with the two fields of conflict studies and political ecology, a framework is developed that allows a critical analysis of resilient structures and discourses from times of conflict, as well as of possible leverage points that could support a transition towards what is here conceptualized as "social ecological peace". The framework hence helps to understand in how far dimensions of prior violence have transformed into peace, and if certain dimensions of violence have continued, even though they manifest themselves in a different way. The framework builds on Galtung’s conceptualization of violence and peace, but realigns "cultural violence" with Pierre Bourdieu's "symbolic violence". Additionally, for extending the framework with an ecological dimension and historical dimension, the notion of 'slow violence' by Rob Nixon is introduced. Applying the framework to Aceh, Indonesia, shows how cultural peace allows individuals to narrate and act out of a new identity, and in this way, enables them to put into effect structures of a new era of positivesocial-ecological peace. At the same time, discourses that are inherited from wartime and transform into peace time structures risk to carry violence in them. It becomes important to lay open the structural effects of the very discourses that have supported Aceh’s autonomy, so that they may not further extend structural violence into peace times. This is likely to remain a challenge in a context that is described as still negotiating and struggling to enhance its autonomy (Setyowati 2020a).

Social–ecological dynamics in irrigated agriculture in dry zone Sri Lanka: a political ecology

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 629-637 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sören Köpke ◽  
Sisira Saddhamangala Withanachchi ◽  
Ruwan Pathiranage ◽  
Chandana Rohana Withanachchi ◽  
Angelika Ploeger
Keyword(s):  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Political Ecology ◽  
Irrigated Agriculture ◽  
Ecological Dynamics ◽  
Social Ecological ◽  
Dry Zone

scholarly journals ENCODING REALITY INTO FICTION/ DECODING FICTION AS REALITY: POSTMODERN HISTORIOGRAPHY AS CRITICAL THEORY

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 99-105
Author(s):  
Oana Celia GHEORGHIU ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Critical Theory ◽  
Literature Review ◽  
Critical Review ◽  
Cultural Context ◽  
Salman Rushdie ◽  
Contemporary Fiction ◽  
New Historicism ◽  
Cultural Representations ◽  
Cultural Materialism ◽  
Critical Theories

This paper is intended as a brief critical review of three interrelated, fairly similar critical theories, born out the necessity of looking into cultural forms and products with a view to finding the politics at work therein. While American New Historicism is more historically oriented, British Cultural Materialism, with its more obvious influence from Marxism, Postcolonialism and other theories which place the margin at their centre, seems to be more in tune with contemporaneity, and so is the area of Cultural Studies, with its emphasis on cultural representations. It is advocated here that contemporary fiction cannot be fully separated from other textual forms, which are considered here historiographic (not historical) because of their nature of texts produced subjectively, within a certain political, social and cultural context, irrespective of their assumed scientific objectivity. Literature, it is further argued, has become a discourse-oriented endeavour with an active participation, an idea supported in the present study by making reference to several critical and polemic writings by Salman Rushdie, which, in a topsyturvy, postmodernist manner, are foregrounded before, and not after the literature review proper.

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