First Version Abstracts Dec 2017

Paper 1 - Introducing the concept of place in socially innovative actions

• 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

As the position of the nation state has weakened with decentralisation as result, local socially innovative actions have come to the attention of a plethora of actors. As a means to an end and an end in itself, social innovation has increasingly gained the interest of academics, practitioners and policy makers alike. Much has been said about the definition of social innovation and also the outcomes have been discussed at large. The process dimension of socially innovative actions is less explored. Especially the micro level with the individual as a central point of focus has gained little to no attention in the current discussion.

Consequently, this study focusses on what is happening on a micro level during the process of social innovation. More specifically, this first paper enhances the discussion by introducing the concept of place. Decentralisation has enhanced the position of place in organising society. As a location with a purpose it is perceived as something people take shared responsibility of. It presupposes a position of equivalence and pluralism. Place is where the development of new, or the transformation of, social relations between individuals takes place, being at the centre of socially innovative actions.

In order to explore the concept of place in the process of social innovation, this study takes on a cross-disciplinary approach and draws on the human and social geography literature. Instead of looking at shared norms and values and following a pre-given set, it focusses on altering the meaning of what it is to be social in the process. The results are relevant for researchers, practitioners and policy makers interested in the greater picture of social innovation.

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.

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.

Paper 2 - Social innovation and the role of the encounter

• 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

The social innovation process, as a method and a practise, is dynamic and includes a plethora of different actors. It derives from bringing together these different actors that usually do not maintain relationships or only in direct conflict. The previous paper explored the role of place in connecting people. This paper aims at further elucidating the level of the individual in socially innovative actions. It investigates how the relationships between different actors are (re)organised by drawing on the concept of the encounter frequently used in the human and social geography literature. Careful consideration is asked for the types of encounters sought for and avoided by individuals.

Social innovation works towards social change through social actions and conscious awareness. Mutual learning plays an important role in this. The role of the narrative has often come to the forefront implicating its research significance through narrative analyses for interpreting human meaning and experience. Yet, the practical role of the narrative in mutual learning, mobilising action, and bringing about change has received little to no attention in the public administration discipline.

Against the background of decentralisation and the growing importance of investing in a public meeting culture, understanding the role of the encounter in socially innovative actions could support public administrators in facilitating alternative structures for societal change. Introducing the narrative, and hence ethnography in innovation, as a practise could provide policy makers an additional instrument for mutual learning and thus to gain a qualitative insight of the relationships between people and the topics of importance to enhance quality of life from a policy perspective.

• 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"
• "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

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 plaat-gebaseerde vormen van care. Burgerschap als praktijk. Wat mensen concreet doen. Toegenomen belang van plaats in het organiseren van ons samenleven.

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 + THE COMMONS

ABSTRACT

The previous two papers explored the role of place and encounter in the social innovation process. Social dynamics for the development of new or existing relationships between individuals is at the core of social innovation. The development of the capacity of collective action is what aimed for. Still, these social means are often solely perceived as a side effect of the social innovation process. Nevertheless, within the encounter between people, social dynamics are an inevitable factor.

A concept which could meaningfully explain the social dynamics in collective action is the concept of care. Care is at times used as a synonym for solidarity and could be understood as connections that are made between individuals on the basis of natural predispositions. Apart from natural predisposition, moral principles are also influencing the development of relationships in socially innovative actions. Hence, the theory of an ethics of care, in which interpersonal relationships and benevolence are a virtue to moral actions, could meaningfully address the social dynamics in the social innovation process. In short, this paper focusses in particular on how individuals take care of each other. This leads to the question if an ethics of care is a means to an end, or an end in itself in social innovation.

In the current discussion of citizenship different forms of place-based care could potentially influence collective action. In this vein, care may become part of the commons. This study perceives the commons as a group of people taking responsibility for organising and providing local services of importance to them. It is a field of new social practises based on socio-cultural change. Practises of care could inhibit or open up possibilities to change people's attitude towards other individuals and wider social groups. Understanding ethics and care as part of the commons

The results of this research are relevant for public administrators to better understand the role of ethics of care in micro practises. It will enhance the understanding of how the choices of individuals effects societal change.

• But how can we make visible the human relations that underlie care? conception of care - as part of the commons. Care: connections that are made on the basis of our natural predisposition to love, empathise, reciprocate and share meanings. The commons: where community organizes and provides its own services: Instead asking us to understand commons as an informal social activity from the bottom up known as ‘commoning’. This is where the real ideas for change are conceived and grow.

• The Commons – "a vision of empowered citizens taking charge of their lives and their endangered resources"(Bollier & Helfrich 2012) – is a field of possibilities and new social practices, based on sharing, cooperation, reciprocity and socio-cultural change. These practices are providing pioneering solutions to the challenge of how to reproduce our livelihoods beyond market and state.

The aim of this study is to recognise care and different responsibilities formed in material, technological, symbolic and imagined space. ....can be extended as a form of interest in the commons.

The emphasis is placed not just on immediate contact experiences, but also on how the accrued histories of social experience and material circumstances contributing to the individual's 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 is being made between people's attitudes to particular individuals and to wider social groups.

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.

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.

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

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?

Paper 4 - Politics of care for social innovation

• 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 to bring about social change while also renovating democracy has gained importance in public administration. Transparency, legitimacy and democracy need to be guaranteed with specific governance mechanisms. Apart from bringing about cultural change amongst civil society, this also depends on a cultural change in public administration. Social innovation aims at eliminating the long lines set by rules and regulations by bypassing existing welfare state institutions. Local forms of social innovation tend to highlight the need for recognition and reprensentation and could hence help to improve conventional welfare state politics. Still, a sense of togetherness and pluralism does not rest alone on an the idea of recognision and community (the commons)

Instead of looking at the code or the principles, the norms and the values, this paper focusses on the cultivation of the political person. In particular, the self-formation as an ethical subject involving practices of forming the ethical political subject. It puts emphasis on the attitude of a divers set of policy makers rather than looking at the administrative perspective. Which attitudes and practices could enable ethically sensitive, negotiated settlements between different groups and individuals in the social innovation process and the construction of the commons. It looks at what a politics of care could be and how local politics participate in ethics of care and building new communities and collaboration.

The aim is to explore the anthropology of policy makers to enable a more affective and informal perspective for the political subject. More so, to explore how anthropology, as a means, could enable more attitude and greater determination in mobilising action and leading change in an organisational settings.

The paper looks at places where the commons exercise their responsibility in order to provide policy makers a closer look into micro political opportunities. Hence, the results are relevant for public administration and policy makers in particular.

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 elaborate new practices of working together.

While the previous papers focussed especially on the individual in the social innovation process, this paper concentrates on political responsibility and political practice. Referring to the concept of care

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….

• (Chambon, David and Devevey 1982). Chambon et al. argue that social innovation practices are different from existing practices because they respond to a society which is blocked by ‘institutions’. Social innovation rejects ‘long circuits’ and aims to shorten way between appearance of need and its satisfaction by bypassing existing (welfare) state institutions.

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

The up-scaling of local socially innovative actions is of paramount importance to a variety of actors included and excluded in the process. The so-called best practise should lead by example and practises should become transferrable to other cases and contexts. Yet, the local social innovation is oftentimes context-bound and running on bottom-up initiatives and practises. Gaining publicity could work as an accelerator but may also act as a boundary for succes.

The social innovation process is often influenced by political pressure, in itself influenced by socio-economic and socio-demographic challenges such as legitimacy and inclusiveness. Public institutions and in particular the key persons involved in the process are facing great challenges. Favourable conditions need to be created, yet simultaneously a risk assessment is asked for taking into account inequality, keeping in control of the exclusionary process and avoiding risks of delegation and passive subsidiary. At the same time the local organisation, i.e. the local promoters, are equally concerned with the dynamics of internal relations, living up to the expectations of policy makers, the pressure of subsidies, timeframes and publicity. Hence, a functioning connection between the bottom up perspective and top down practices is of paramount importance.

Local socially innovative actions act as micro-processes making macro-political settlements possible. This paper takes a closer look at the practise of social innovation to identify in more detail the governance challenges and dilemma's faced when becoming a succes story. The focus shall not solely be on the intervention or action in isolation but includes its spatial form and institutional embedding as well. It looks at contextual conditions, collaboration, interdependence, the awareness of it and the actual creation of active trust and reflexive engagement. This paper analyses how these tensions play out in actual practices as they are constructed in practices of social innovation.

The aim of this paper is to gain a better understanding of the balance among social, managerial and political aims, devoting special attention to responsibility and accountability, both within the commons and public institutions as well as their partnerships with different kind of actors. The unit of analysis are localised social innovations and include its spatial form and institutional embedding. In particular, the case of Ulrum is utilised as an example in this paper. The results of this research are relevant for actors partaking in the social innovation process as well as public administration.

That is its multi scaler and networked nature as a complex assemblage of actors, institutions and instruments, as an intrinsic part of the social innovation process.

The focus of this paper is on governance challenges and dilemma’s .... on a regional and national level.

Look into the possibilities and the boundaries of citizenship.

and include its spatial form and institutional embedding

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

vraag naar participatie en inspraak: nieuwe uitdagingen. Ulrum geeft door opzet en veelheid aan partners mogelijkheden.

proces: risks

best practice -> exposure -> effects?

Internal relations (+ encounter with the stranger)

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

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).

Paper 6 - Auto-Ethnography for social innovation

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

ABSTRACT

The last paper focusses on the role of the intermediary, the facilitator, the professional in the process of social innovation. Concentrating on managing and creating innovative and productive contexts and to value each others strengths and avoid each other weaknesses is one of the tasks of the intermediary.

The central supporting role of the professional and the public meeting culture is compelling in the social innovation process. It is of importance to explore this role if only to undermine the illusion of spontaneous care and direct solidarity. Place-bound and local forms of direct types of care are strongly interwoven with the indirect care of the welfare state through financing professionals and the meeting culture. The role of reflection and balancing power through perpetuating or imposing priorities from outside is what the professional needs to cope with.

Through auto-ethnography this paper explores the field of tension between distance and involvement of alienation and appropriation, the self-evidence of the researcher and the informants in thinking, feeling and doing. It provides an insight of the dynamics in the case of Ulrum.

The aim of this paper is presenting an alternative for making personal experiences relevant for people in similar positions and the pedagogy discipline in particular. The results of this research are relevant for pedagogy and practitioners of social innovation.

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.

Analytische auto-etnografie als methode?

encounter with 'the stranger'

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"

Ethnografie als methode: Ulrum: aan den lijve kunnen ondervinden hoe ‘het’ er aan toe gaat + hoe (het systeem) werkt. Zie ook best-practice zijn. Meer inzicht verkregen in de interactie tussen de verschillende actoren / vertegenwoordigers van….

Jeff Ferrell zet zich met zijn auto-etnografische benadering af tegen de positivistische onderzoeksbenadering die geen oog heeft voor de ‘situated logic and emotion which define criminal experience’ (1998: 20). Hij stelt dat deze benadering meer recht doet aan de dagelijkse praktijk van participerende observatie. Hij is dan ook een voorstander van wat hij ‘true confessions’ noemt: ‘accounts of field research that in fact undermine absolutist notions of scholarly truth by incorporating situationally truthfully representations of field researchers’ lived and limiting experiences’.

Ferrells auto-etnografische benadering, die in dienst staat van het beschrijven van de sociale wereld van …, komt tot uiting in drie aspecten: (a) representatie, (b) analyse en (c) de rol van de onderzoeker in de tekst.

De verdiensten van de auto-etnografie (als vanzelfsprekend onderdeel van de etnografie) hebben betrekking op:

1.    het integreren van de persoonlijke ervaringen van onderzoekers in teksten om zo te komen tot een rijkere beschrijving van de sociale werelden die zij onderzoeken;

2.    het expliciteren van de rol van de onderzoeker in publicaties; en

3.    het ontwikkelen van nieuwe (meer aansprekende) vormen van representatie.

Ferrell geeft aan dat auto-etnografische inzichten vooral ontwikkeld kunnen worden als onderzoekers zelf zo veel als mogelijk deelnemen aan de sociale wereld die zij bestuderen. Ferrell gaat hierin veel verder dan de meeste onderzoekers: ‘I will try not to hide behind the cloak of a researcher or scholar, but rather participate as fully as possible in these risky social processes’ (Ferrell, 1998: 21). In feite komt zijn doel tijdens veldwerk neer op going native (drie jaar lang elke maand een week daar gewoond)

alle ruimte geven aan de day-to-day reality van de … en richt zich hierbij op de ‘situational meanings and emotions – its moments of pleasure and pain, its emergent logics and excitement’ (Ferrell, 1998: 24-25). Doel ligt vooral in het zo levensecht mogelijk beschrijven van de sociale wereld van / process van SI…. Wel reflecteren op de eerder genoemde concepten. Bijvoorbeeld:

hoe de bewoners met hun handelingen betekenis kunnen geven aan hun dorp.

ook: nadere analyse van: interacties tussen vreemden in de openbare ruimte (Müller, 2011).

Ferrell duidelijk dat auto-etnografie vooral als methode kan werken wanneer er sprake is van een proces van going native, waarin onderzoekers worden geconfronteerd met nieuwe ervaringen die afwijken van wat zij gewend zijn. Juist door de eigen emotionele reactie op een nieuwe sociale situatie serieus te nemen en daarover na te denken kan inzicht worden verkregen in cruciale aspecten van de te onderzoeken sociale wereld.

In het spanningsveld van distantie en betrokkenheid vervreemding en toe-eigening worden de vanzelfsprekendheden (van de onderzoeker en de informanten) in denken, voelen en doen ontdekt en inzichtelijk gemaakt.