Theories of Institutions

The human condition teems with institutions – intertemporal social arrangements that shape human relations in support of particular values – and the social scientific work developed over the last five decades aimed at understanding them is similarly vast and diverse. This book synthesizes scholarship from across the social sciences, with special focus on political science, sociology, economics, and organizational studies. Drawing out institutions' essentially social and temporal qualities and their varying relationships to efficiency and power, the authors identify more underlying similarity in understandings of institutional origins, maintenance, and change than emerges from overviews from within any given disciplinary tradition. Most importantly, Theories of Institutions identifies dozens of avenues for cross-fertilization, the pursuit of which can help keep this broad and inherently diverse field of study vibrant for future generations of scholars.

Formalization and Knowledge Representation in Advanced Engineering Informatics

The primary goal of this article in the research area of Advanced Engineering Informatics (AEIs) is to depict and formalize engineering knowledge that is multidimensional. This paper introduces conceptual framework and rationality as implicit methodologies to regularize knowledge. The objective of professionals, as well as the circumstances in which they work, should be considered when depicting and standardizing knowledge. The constructs of epistemology, rationality, and context are used to communicate various alternative data analysis techniques and practices that expert can use to institutionalize intricate engineering expertise and to substantiate whether a specialized conceptual model can support engineers with their challenging operations. A bottom-up method of research in advanced engineering, encompassing engineers, is suggested in this article. A social scientific approach to engendering knowledge for formalization and validating it is also recommended by us for scientists.

Körper | Kultur | Konflikt

Society's view of dying and death no longer corresponds to the fixed images with which the corresponding areas of knowledge were associated until a few years ago. For a long time, the supposedly ›unambiguous‹ levels of meaning of this complex issue were stable enough to paralyse social scientific research. For some time now, however, discourses have been emerging that (re)question the normative elements of funeral culture, the treatment of dead bodies and cremation ashes, the labelling of medical diagnoses, and the determination of the boundary between life and death. Today, there is a—quite productive—tension between real practices and cultural guidelines.

ALTERNATIF MODEL PENILAIAN NILAI PENTING PADA BANGUNAN DIDUGA CAGAR BUDAYA DI KOTA DONGGALA, SULAWESI TENGAH [THE ALTERNATIVE MODEL OF SIGNIFICANT VALUES ASSESSMENT ON SUSPECTED BUILDINGS OF CULTURAL HERITAGE IN DONGGALA CITY, CENTRAL SULAWESI]

Bangunan tua di Kota Donggala adalah bangunan bersejarah yang berasal dari periode kolonial. Akan tetapi, bangunan-bangunan ini hingga sekarang belum ditetapkan sebagai cagar budaya karena terbatasnya tenaga ahli cagar budaya di instansi kebudayaan Kota Donggala. Selain itu, metode asesmen penilaian bangunan diduga cagar budaya yang ada umumnya rumit dan tidak komperehensif. Tulisan ini bertujuan memberikan alternatif metode penilaian nilai penting yang sederhana untuk bangunan-bangunan yang diduga cagar budaya, dan dapat dipraktikkan pekerja bidang kebudayaan di instansi pemerintah lokal. Terdapat enam nilai penting yang diamati pada bangunan yaitu nilai sejarah, arsitektural, estetika, sosial, ilmu pengetahuan dan pendidikan. Metode penilaian menggunakan pemberian skor pada masing-masing nilai kriteria yang ditentukan. Pemeringkatan bangunan diklasifikasikan menjadi tiga peringkat yaitu utama, madya, dan minor. Bangunan yang diobservasi ialah Kantor Pusat Koperasi Kopra Daerah (PKKD) Donggala dan Gudang PKKD Donggala, dua peninggalan dari masa kolonial yang berhubungan dengan perdagangan kopra. Dari penilaian yang dilakukan diperoleh hasil yakni Kantor PKKD Donggala memiliki total skor 21 dan berperingkat madya. Gudang PKKD Donggala memiliki total skor 29 dan berperingkat utama. Dengan adanya alternatif model penilaian nilai penting yang lebih sederhana, maka diharapkan pemerintah lokal, dalam hal ini Dinas Kebudayaan yang berwenang, dapat lebih mudah melakukan asesmen awal terhadap bangunan-bangunan yang diduga sebagai cagar budaya meskipun tanpa bantuan tenaga ahli. Some old buildings in Donggala City are historical heritages from colonial period. Thus far, these buildings have not been designated as cultural heritage due to the limited number of experts in the field. In addition, assessment methods for indicated cultural heritage buildings are generally complex and not comprehensive. This research aims to provide an alternative assessment method that can be practiced by cultural workers. There are six important values observed in buildings i.e. history, architecture, aesthetic, social, scientific, and educational. This method used a score for each of those specified criteria values. Building ratings were classified into primary, intermediate, and minor. Based from the assessment, the Donggala PKKD office has a total score of 21, middle ranked. While PKKD Donggala Warehouse has a total score of 29, top ranked. This alternative model as a simpler assessment of significant values can be easily carry out by local government without the help of experts.

My adventures with nick and hannah: Anthropological explorations into sexdolls and the potential implications for human intimacy

This paper introduces two anthropological case-studies; one in which the (female) author personally rented a male sexdoll to experience, and one in which an owner of a sexdoll was observed in her house, interacting with her doll. Through the first case, in which the anthropological methodology of participation and reflection is used, it is explored what sexdoll-intimacy could look like for a heterosexual female. The second case study uses observation and in-depth interviewing to explore what sexdolls may mean for an atypical group of users: asexuals. Both case-studies serve to reflect on the potential positive impacts for human intimacy, as well as on potential challenges or concerns. It discusses the wider theme of intimacy and human relationships, using sociological literature on former important technological innovations and their societal impact. One of the major conclusions of the paper is that instead of focusing on the ‘humanification’ of robots and sexdolls, as is currently happening in this field of innovation, it is useful for social scientists to turn the topic up side down: focusing on the potential of robotification of humans. This also means a shift from focusing on the (possible) future, to current societal dynamics. Another conclusion is that, while social-scientific scholars have been largely critical on sexdoll innovations; it is equally useful to take a more descriptive approach and experience, rather than moralize, what sexdolls may bring individuals and the larger society.

Growing the Green Giant: Ecological Threats, Political Threats, and U.S. Membership in Sierra Club, 1892-Present

A growing body of research examines questions related to the emergence of environmental organizations and the growth of the environmental organizational field in the United States, but we need to know more about why particular environmental organizations grow or decline in terms of membership size over time. In this article, we draw on both qualitative and quantitative data to assess factors contributing to the growth of the Sierra Club, one of the United States’ oldest and largest environmental organizations. First, through an analytic narrative that synthesizes insights from secondary accounts of the history of the Sierra Club, we identify a variety of ecological and political threats that have led to growth in the Sierra Club from its founding in 1892 to the present day. Then, through time-series analyses of quantitative data, we show that two particular types of environmental and political threats—growth in carbon dioxide emissions and the presence of Republican Presidents—have led to growth in the Sierra Club from 1960 (when it began mass recruitment of members) to 2016. We contextualize these findings within the broader social scientific literature on neoliberalism and its consequences for environmental degradation and environmental mobilization. Overall, our findings provide support for threat-based models of mobilization and hold significant implications for research on environmental organizations.

Austria’s Digital Vaccination Registry: Stakeholder Views and Implications for Governance

In this study, we explore the recent setup of a digital vaccination record in Austria. Working from a social-scientific perspective, we find that the introduction of the electronic vaccination pass was substantially accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Our interviews with key stakeholders (n = 16) indicated that three main factors drove this acceleration. The pandemic (1) sidelined historical conflicts regarding data ownership and invoked a shared sense of the value of data, (2) accentuated the need for enhanced administrative efficiency in an institutionally fragmented system, and (3) helped invoke the national vaccination registry as an indispensable infrastructure for public health governance with the potential to innovate its healthcare system in the long term.