Engineering

2019 ◽  
pp. 84-114
Author(s):  
Mehdi F. Harandi
Keyword(s):  
Water Management ◽  
Network Analysis ◽  
Social Practices ◽  
Environmental Damage ◽  
Actor Network ◽  
Practice Analysis ◽  
The Social ◽  
Practice Approach ◽  
Normative Practice

Engineering is one of the social practices for which a normative practice approach in analyzing tensions in the practice can be fruitful, particularly when combined with an actor-network analysis. That is illustrated in this chapter by the Zayandehrud river case of water management in Iran. The modernist hydrocracy that was installed appeared to backfire strongly and resulted in serious environmental damage. The normative practice analysis shows how conflicting norms between different sub-practices can explain the problems that emerged. The analysis also suggests an alternative for this modernist hydrocracy.

Positioning the Normative Practice Approach

2019 ◽  
pp. 31-54
Author(s):  
Jan Hoogland
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Social Action ◽  
Social Practices ◽  
Stepping Stones ◽  
Normative Structure ◽  
The Social ◽  
Practice Approach ◽  
Normative Practice ◽  
Normative Practices ◽  
Definition Of

The concept of social practices has received growing attention in interpretative social sciences. This concept is based on a long tradition of hermeneutical, interpretative, action-theoretical, pragmatist, and phenomenological theories in the social sciences, starting with Weber's famous definition of social action. In this chapter, some crucial stepping stones of this tradition are highlighted. In the line of these theories, a new approach of normative practices will be introduced, partially based on core philosophical insights of the Dutch philosopher Herman Dooyeweerd. Central features of this approach are 1) the multi-layered, intrinsically normative structure of social practices (constitutive side) and 2) the importance of regulative convictions, ideals, and attitudes leading the disclosure and development of those practices (regulative side).

Entanglement, Materiality and the Social Organisation of Construction Workers in Classical Athens

2018 ◽  
pp. 512-528
Author(s):  
Diane Harris Cline
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
Social Network ◽  
Social Network Analysis ◽  
Network Analysis ◽  
Network Theory ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Fifth Century ◽  
Actor Network ◽  
The Social ◽  
Building Program

This chapter views the “Periclean Building Program” through the lens of Actor Network Theory, in order to explore the ways in which the construction of these buildings transformed Athenian society and politics in the fifth century BC. It begins by applying some Actor Network Theory concepts to the process that was involved in getting approval for the building program as described by Thucydides and Plutarch in his Life of Pericles. Actor Network Theory blends entanglement (human-material thing interdependence) with network thinking, so it allows us to reframe our views to include social networks when we think about the political debate and social tensions in Athens that arose from Pericles’s proposal to construct the Parthenon and Propylaea on the Athenian Acropolis, the Telesterion at Eleusis, the Odeon at the base of the South slope of the Acropolis, and the long wall to Peiraeus. Social Network Analysis can model the social networks, and the clusters within them, that existed in mid-fifth century Athens. By using Social Network Analysis we can then show how the construction work itself transformed a fractious city into a harmonious one through sustained, collective efforts that engaged large numbers of lower class citizens, all responding to each other’s needs in a chaine operatoire..

scholarly journals Methodological Problems of Evidential Description of Psychological and Social Practices

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 24-36
Author(s):  
N.P. Busygina ◽  
T.G. Podushkina ◽  
D.A. Zevina
Keyword(s):  
Social Practice ◽  
Social Practices ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Logical Framework ◽  
Practice Analysis ◽  
The Social ◽  
Methodological Problems ◽  
Theoretical Foundations ◽  
Methodological Difficulties

The article discusses the challenges of implementing an evidence-based approach in the field of psychological and social practices. The role of the “Standard of Evidence of Social Practices in the Sphere of Childhood” for the formation of a complex of collaborating science-based practice and practice-oriented science is considered. Four key areas of practice analysis are discussed: the regulation of practice, its validity, the effectiveness of practice (achievement of social results), the validity of data on the social results of practice. Based on the experience of expertise, the authors highlight several methodological difficulties faced by developers of practices in the process of their evidence-based description and presentation: difficulties in highlighting the essence of interventions that lead to change; difficulties in finding theoretical foundations for practices; lack of skills in building a logical framework; difficulties in finding research tools to assess the effects of practices. As an example of a successful, in the opinion of the authors, resolution of these methodological difficulties, a description of the social practice “Do not spill the water” (as in meaning “Thick as Thieves”) of the Charity Foundation “Our Children”.

Professional Practices and User Practices: An Explorative Study in Health Care

2017 ◽  
Vol 82 (2) ◽  
pp. 167-191 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maarten J. Verkerk ◽  
Fred C. Holtkamp ◽  
Eveline J.M. Wouters ◽  
Joost van Hoof
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Health Care System ◽  
Professional Practices ◽  
Present System ◽  
New Concepts ◽  
The Social ◽  
Practice Approach ◽  
Normative Practice ◽  
Care System

In Western countries the health care system faces numerous challenges. We explore the potential of the normative practice approach to analyze the present system, to provide new insights in the redesign of the health care network, and to offer new concepts to understand the needs and wishes of patients. We present a case study of assistive devices in orthopaedics. This article shows that the Triple I variant of the practice model is very fruitful to understand the organizational embedding of professional practices, to understand the health care system as chains of professional practices, and to understand the influence of stakeholders. In this study we introduce the idea of user practices to investigate the social environment of patients and to make the needs and wishes of patients explicit.

scholarly journals Dynamic actor network analysis for diffuse pollution in the province of North-Holland

2004 ◽  
Vol 49 (3) ◽  
pp. 205-212 ◽  
Author(s):  
L.M. Hermans
Keyword(s):  
Water Management ◽  
Network Analysis ◽  
Public Space ◽  
Policy Development ◽  
Practical Experience ◽  
Diffuse Pollution ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Analysis Tool ◽  
Actor Network ◽  
Promising Tool

Diffuse pollution problems involve numerous different organizations and this requires decision makers to involve different actors if they want to develop policies that have a chance of being implemented effectively. A first step in such interactive policy development would be to gain an overview of the different actors involved in diffuse pollution problems, as well as their views on the problem, their interests and their means to influence policy development and implementation. Dynamic Actor Network Analysis (DANA) offers a method that helps analysts in providing such an overview, and the use of this method is explored through its application to a case in the Dutch province of North Holland. The described case specifically focuses on the use of herbicides in public space and involves actors from regional water management authorities, municipalities and private sector users. An important finding is that there is an imbalance in the perceptions of actors that needs to be addressed by water management authorities. The paper concludes that DANA is a promising tool for offering new and useful insights to decision makers, although more practical experience is needed to better assess the utility of this analysis tool.

A Process Model of Social Development Supervision in Social Work

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mpumelelo Ncube
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Development ◽  
Process Model ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Supervision Practice ◽  
The Social ◽  
Practice Approach ◽  
Dialectical Relationship ◽  
Development Approach

Supervision practice in social work is understood as the mainstay of the profession. However, various studies have pointed to the inadequacies of supervision to facilitate quality service provision. Previous studies have reflected a general misalignment between the approach to supervision practice and the approach to social work practice as one inadequacy leading to the failure of supervision practice. Although there are numerous supervision models in the profession, some of which are aligned with certain practice approaches, none is directly identifiable with the social development approach, which should be at the core of social work orientation in South Africa. Thus, this article provides a process model of supervision in social work that aims to establish a dialectical relationship between supervision and the social development practice approach. The study was underpinned by Thomas’ research and design process, which was used to design and develop a social work supervision model mirroring a social development approach. The paper concludes with recommendations related to the use of the developed model.

Narrative as active inference

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nabil Bouizegarene ◽  
maxwell ramstead ◽  
Axel Constant ◽  
Karl Friston ◽  
Laurence Kirmayer
Keyword(s):  
Well Being ◽  
Social Practices ◽  
Human Adaptation ◽  
Active Inference ◽  
Future Projection ◽  
Future Developments ◽  
The Social ◽  
Parsimonious Model ◽  
Living Organisms ◽  
Theory Research

The ubiquity and importance of narratives in human adaptation has been recognized by many scholars. Research has identified several functions of narratives that are conducive to individuals’ well-being and adaptation as well as to coordinated social practices and enculturation. In this paper, we characterize the social and cognitive functions of narratives in terms of the framework of active inference. Active inference depicts the fundamental tendency of living organisms to adapt by creating, updating, and maintaining inferences about their environment. We review the literature on the functions of narratives in identity, event segmentation, episodic memory, future projection, storytelling practices, and enculturation. We then re-cast these functions of narratives in terms of active inference, outlining a parsimonious model that can guide future developments in narrative theory, research, and clinical applications.

Unravelling the phenotypic tangle of autistic, schizotypal and social anxiety traits: A Network Analysis

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Orestis Zavlis ◽  
Myles Jones
Keyword(s):  
Network Analysis ◽  
Social Anxiety ◽  
Factor Structure ◽  
Adult Population ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Underlying Structure ◽  
Schizotypal Personality ◽  
The Social ◽  
Trait Level ◽  
General Adult Population

Substantial overlap exists between schizophrenia and autism spectrum disorders, with part of that overlap hypothesised to be due to comorbid social anxiety. The current paper investigates the interactions and factor structure of these disorders at a personality trait level, through the lens of a network model. The items of the Autism Quotient (AQ), Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire Brief-Revised (SPQ-BR), and the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale (L-SAS) were combined and completed by 345 members of the general adult population. An Exploratory Graph Analysis (EGA) on the AQ-SPQ-BR combined inventory revealed two communities (factors), which reflected the general autism and schizotypal phenotypes. An additional EGA on all inventories validated the AQ-SPQ-BR factor structure and revealed another community, Social Anxiety (L-SAS). A Network Analysis (NA) on all inventories revealed several moderately central subscales, which collectively reflected the social-interpersonal impairments of the three disorders. The current results suggest that a combination of recent network- and traditional factor-analytic techniques may present a fruitful approach to understanding the underlying structure as well as relation of different psychopathologies.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document