PR 00144

Keywords to describe our research:

• Cross-disciplinary approach to study social innovation

Abstracts

Identify the purpose (motivation)

• Why did you decide to do this study or project?
• How did you conduct your research?
• Why is this research and your findings important?
• Why should someone read your entire essay?
• This section should include the importance of your work, the difficulty of the area, and the impact it might have if successful.

Explain the problem at hand (problem statement)

• What problem is your research trying to better understand or solve?
• What is the scope of your study - a general problem, or something specific?
• What is your main claim or argument?

Describe the method (approach)

Give your conclusion

• What are the implications of your work?
• Are your results general or very specific?

Outline --> Introduction - Body - Conclusion. Two paragraphs up to one page of text. ~ 300 words.

Paper 1 - Theoretical paper

• De huidige discussie gaat vooral om de verschillende definities van SI (wat is de correcte definitie). Wel aangeven waar in het debat / welke traditie we ons bevinden (maximalistische / minimalistisch en transformative / radical opzoeken).
  • Minimalist - Maximalist: "A third type of radical innovation has been elaborated by Mangabeira Unger. He distinguishes between minimalist social innovations which give a human face to an otherwise unsupportable situation, and maximalist social innovations that aim at deep changes. ”
  • Transformative - Radical
• GAP: hoe het proces in zijn gang gaat is onvoldoende scherp. Zeker wat aan toe te voegen: microniveau. Een scherpere blik op SI.
• Wat gebeurt er? Daar is niet veel naar gekeken.
• Combinatie met Human and Social Geography
• PLACE

ABSTRACT

Social innovation, as a means to an end and an end it itself, has increasingly gained the interest of academics, practisioners and policy makers alike. The discussion has largely focussed on the goals of social innovation as well as on finding common ground regarding the definition. Social innovation addresses local social needs and global societal challenges. It does so by using social means through the development of new, or the transformation of, social relations. These socially innovative actions are driven by different processes to enable groups to better satisfy their human needs and improve their living conditions.

Instead of joining the greater discussion on the content, outcomes and definition of social innovation, this study focusses on the process dimension. More specifically, it aims at elucidating the processes of social learning, individual and collective awareness rising, and socio-political mobilisation. At a microlevel it explores the connections between the different actors partaking in socially innovative actions.

In order to explore the process dimension of social innovation this study takes on a cross-disciplinary approach and draws on human and social geography literature. More specifically, this theoretical paper enhances the discussion on the process of social innovation by introducing the concepts of place and community (? en dan later de rol van narrative en encounter?).

This will extend the

It aims at elucidating what happens during the process.

.... a closer focus on the process

....This study.... takes a social geography lens by drawing on the concepts of place and community

.... looks at micro connections between individuals....

.... a cross-disciplinary approach between policy administration and human & social geography

"Social innovation derives from bringing together different actors that normally do not maintain relationships or only in direct conflict. Reorganise the connections between different actors - mutual learning (narratives?)" (Klein 2010). --> Link this with "The encounter", link to human/social geography

.... The results of this research are relevant for....... researchers, practisioners and policy makers interested in the greater picture of social innovation 

Paper 2 - The process of social innovation

• lijn: mooi dat er wordt gekeken naar het niveau van organisatie; maar wat gebeurt er op het niveau van individuen?
• relatie met overheden: kunnen publieke instellingen ook innovatief zijn?
• inter-organisatorisch kijken. Niet: wie is de leider / kenmerken e.d. Wel: hoe zit het met de verhouding tussen al die mensen. Dat mist in literatuur!
• etnografisch meerwaarde toevoegen. Gebeurt nog niet in bestuurswetenschappen (public administration). Etnografie en innovatie.
• THE ENCOUNTER + NARRATIVE

ABSTRACT

While previous studies often focussed on the organisational level, this study explores the social innovation process on the micro level of the individual. Instead of looking at leadership and the capabilities and competences of human change agents, this study focusses on the relations between the individual people taking part in the social innovation process.

Moulaert: "Social innovation is not innovation in its ends only. SI hence works towards social change through the deepening and the broadening of participation, the establishment of more inclusive organisational procedures, the development of the capacity for collective action and the fundamental change of human attitudes and behaviour."

In vergelijk met Zapf (2003, p.427) "...process of change in the social structure of a society in its constitutive institutions, cultural patterns, associated social actions and conscious awareness"

.... Concepts? The encounter &...?

overdenkingen plaats:

Greep natiestaten verzwakt en decentralisaties -> plaats belangrijker. Relationeel. Verknoping van relaties. Groepen delen weinig behalve de plaats waar ze samenkomen. Gedeelde verantwoordelijkheid. Plaats -> nieuwe gemeenschappelijkheid. Laagdrempelig. Vanuit nabijheid. Afhankelijkheid (krimp?) -> lotsverbondenheid. Samen verantwoordelijkheid nemen voor een plaats veronderstelt een positie van gelijkwaardigheid.

Overheid: gelijke kansen. Democratische plicht om om te investeren in een publiek ontmoetingsstructuur. Ook: Potentieel van plaatgebaseerde vormen van care. Burgerschap als prijktijk. Wat mensen concreet doen. Toegenomen belang van plaats in het organiseren van ons samenleven.

.... The results of this research are relevant for researchers and practisioners in the public administration discipline. 

Paper 3 - Ethics of care: Means to an end or end in itself?

• link innovatie: rol van ethics in gemeenschap vormen. Is dat:
• zorgdragen voor ipv innovatief menstype te zijn (als individu) of is de ethics of care die in de gemeenschap ontstaat de sociale innovatie?
• CARE + COMMUNITY

ABSTRACT

Role of ethics in micro practices

Concept of ‘care’ sometimes used as an alternative to the concept of solidarity

Specific focus on ethics: how do people take care of each other; ethics of care

Ethics of care: looks at ethics which pays more attention to emotional and private role of ethical judgments.

Look at the actual practices in everyday life settings and grass-roots movements

Care for each other plays everywhere; we look at how it works in neighbourhoods and in the family.

Focus on the individual experiences.

Why: better understanding of how all those individual choices work through the way society changes.

Again: role encounter and place:  We need to think more carefully about which types of encounters are sought, and by whom, and which are avoided, and by whom.

The emphasis is placed not just on immediate contact experiences, but also on how peoples accrued histories of social experience and material circumstances may also contribute to their feelings about different sorts of encounters. In particular, how do 'real' and 'imagined' feelings and practices of care inhibit or open up the possibilities that a bridge being made between people's attitudes to particular individuals and to wider social groups?

aim: to recognize cares and different responsibilities formed in material, technological, symbolic and imagined space. ....can be extended as a form of interest in the... (commons?

(To scan the landscape for evidence and proposals for new ways of gathering diversity into a functioning ‘commons’.

Commons: seen as:)

Argument link with social innovation: the role of ethics in community building:

Not a focus on the innovative individual but:

are the different ways to care for each other that arise in the community a social innovation in itself?

.... The results of this research are relevant for.......

Paper 4 - Politics of care

• Hoe kun je politici hier in meenemen; houding cultiveren. Niet in bestuurlijke zin maar houding als persoon.
• antropologie van beleidsmakers.

ABSTRACT

The involvement of civil society …also renovating democracy. Thus transparancy, ligitimacy and democracy need to be guaranteed with socifik governance technologies. This also depends on a cultural change in public administration, i.e. (focus: decision makers’ and civil servants’ ) capacity in learning to develop spaces for common decisions, integrate different sources of power and aims and elobarate new practices of working together.    

In this paper we look at political responsability and political practice. What might a politics of care be? How might local politics participate in that ethics of care and building new communities and collaboration? Is this paper we will examine the affective dimension of political subjects and opportunities.

Practical ethics

The involvement of civil society …also renovating democracy. Thus transparancy, ligitimacy and democracy need to be guaranteed with specific governance technologies. This also depends on a cultural change in public administration, i.e. decision makers’ and civil servants’ capacity in learning to develop spaces for common decisions, integrate different sources of power and aims and elobarate new practices of working together.  

definition: Social innovation is not innovation in its ends only. SI hence works towards social change through the deepening and the broadening of participation, the establishment of more inclusive organizational procedures, the development of the capacity for collective action and the fundamental change of human attitudes and behavior.

Instead of focussing at the code or the principles, the norms and the values, we focus at the cultivation of the ethical person, the self-formation as an ethical subject involving practices of forming the ethical political subject.

Which attitudes and practices could make possible ethically sensitive, negotiated settlements between different groups and individuals in the collaboration process and the construction of communities?

Focus on the attitude of a divers set of policy makers. Not in an administrative sense.

Antropologie of policy makers: a more informal and affective perspective:

explore some of the ways and means in which antropologie might begin to show more attitude and greater determination in mobilizing action and leading change in an organizational setting

the importance of narrative in interpreting human meaning and experience + understanding performance and action itself

missing part: all about the research significance of narrative, narrative analyses, not its practical significance. The role that narrative and stories might play in mobilizing action + bringing about change (mobilizing narrative)

Social innovation: instead of looking at shared norms and values we ….a closer look into the process. Not follow a pre given set of norms and values but looking at the process of altering the meaning of what is is to be social.

will enable us to identify more precisely the problems associated with…..as the are constructed in the proces of social innovation. We focus on the process dimension of SI as this dimension is most relevant to the governance challenges….

SI is not only innovation that is directed at social goals but also uses social means. Social means refer to the development of new or transformation of social relations.

Look at the interaction among divers conscious actors on a small scale.

Grassroots movements places where they excercise their responsibility. A close look into micropolitical opportunities.

Local forms of social innovation tend to highlight the need for necognition and reprensentation and could hence help to improve conventional welfare state politics.

.... The results of this research are relevant for.......

Paper 5 - What happens when you become the best practise

• Dit bekijken met een externe blik en hoe het het project en de mensen en de plaats heeft veranderd
• de rol van plaats
• vanuit het perspectief van best practice / reflectie over de eigen positie
• sociale mobiliteit / creëert hiërarchie / hoe valt dat in de groep

ABSTRACT

Unit of analysis: localized social innovations (against the restructuring of the well-fare state)

and include its spatial form and institutional embedding

best pracice: Ulrum (+ dZH?)

we approach localized forms of SI against the backdrop of the restructering of the wellfare state + new social challenges (participation and joint decision making?)

focus: governance challenges + dilemma’s

proces: risks

best practice -> exposure -> effects?

Internal relations (+ encounter with the stranger)

Leaving space to citizens’ and communities’ self-organisation -> risks for:

the local organisation (focus local promoters): what happens with internal relations, living up to expectations,  pressure (subsidies), timeframes  and publicity

public institutions (focus key persons in strategic public institutions): their biggest challenge is to create favourable conditions + risks (inequality, keeping control over exclusionary processes, avoiding risks of delegation and passive subsidiary).

Influenced by political pressures which are again influenced by socio-economic and socio-demographic challenges like legitimacy and inclusiveness. Look into the posibilities and the boundaries of citizenship.

Actors putting forward SI initiatives should learn to actively act (on different scales)

the question is: how is it possible to create a good balance between public care and responsibility.

Place making: look at the potential of place-based forms of solidarity and care. Recent thinking about citizenship. Look at what people actually do. Who is active in the public space? Increased importance of place in our society. Making place becomes an important project.

functions as a microprocess that makes macropolitical settlement possible

a better uderstanding of the balance among social, manegerial and political aims, devoting a special attention to responsability and accountability, both within the grass roots movement and public institutions as well as their partnerships with different kind of actors. (?)

Closer look into practice of social innovation: to identify more precisely the specific problems associated;  a closer look at the collaboration, interdependence, the awareness of it and the actual creation of active trust and reflexive engagement.

Analyse how these tensions play out in actual practices as they are constructed in practice of social innovation.

Also contextual conditions that facilitate or hinder si.

.... The results of this research are relevant for.......

Paper 6 - Auto-Ethnography

• Professional als object van solidariteit.
• buffer zijn / risico absorberen
• pedagogie als discipline?

ABSTRACT

Another way of making personal experiences relevant for ....

Auto-etnografie:

Kracht auto-etnografie: inzicht verschaffen in de doorwerking van gebeurtenissen, maatregelen, wetgeving, normen en waarden en concrete levens maar ook inzicht in de totstandkoming van onderzoeksresultaten en conclusies.

encounter with 'the stranger'

role of intermediary

Role facilitator / intermediary in SI needs: managing and creating innovative and productive contexts to value each others stenghts and avoid each other weaknesses.

Experiment with new theories, techniques, methods of research and, in this case: representation.

Massey: "Unavoidably we had to think about the politics and ethics of out academic 'locality'. And here choice looms as a daily challenge: a choice of the theorist, not to try to 'get is right' but to persue inventiveness"

Opvallend is de centrale ondersteunende rol van 'professionals' en 'publieke ontmoetingsstructuur'. De positie van professionals (in 4 politics hier anders bedoeld). Rol van reflectie en machtsverhoudingen (bestendigen of prioriteiten van buiten opleggen). Het is echter belangrijk om deze rol zichtbaar te maken (alleen al omdat het mythes over het spontane karakter van zorg voor elkaar en directe solidariteit onderuit haalt). De plaatsgebonden vormen van directe vormen van solidariteit (care) zijn via de financiering van professionals en ontmoetingsstructuur sterk verweven met de indirecte solidariteit (care) van de verzorgingsstaat. In Ulrum ook: Ook andere sporen van overheidssfinanciering: het gebruik maken van publiek gefinancierde onderzoeksinstellingen. Sterk verweven in de praktijk (indirect en direct).

Zie ook Kok: "de overheid was nog nooit zo betrokken"

The results of this research are relevant for.......

Written papers and articles

Startdatum

juli 6, 2017

Einddatum

Onderwerpen

Subprojecten

Project	Startdatum	Einddatum	Samenvatting
Paper 1	3 oktober 2017		Social innovation and the role of the encounter
Paper 2	1 oktober 2018		Introducing the concept of place in socially innovative actions
Paper 3	1 oktober 2018		Ethics of Care: Means to an end or end in itself?
Paper 4	1 oktober 2018		Politics of care for social innovation
Paper 5	1 oktober 2018		What happens when you become the best practise?
Paper 6	1 oktober 2018		Auto-ethnography for social innovation