Suchergebnisse

Aktuelle lebenswissenschaftliche Forschungen problematisieren zunehmend die Grenze zwischen Natur und Kultur. Ob Adipositas, Alzheimer, psychiatrische Störungen, Gedächtnisleistung oder Stress – all diese Phänomene entziehen sich simplen biologischen Erklärungsmodellen und erfordern neuartige theoretische wie methodische Ansätze. Die internationale empirische Wissenschaftsforschung analysiert diese Entwicklungen und kontextualisiert sie historisch, praxistheoretisch und biopolitisch. Erstmalig für den deutschen Sprachraum bietet dieser Band einen Überblick aktueller Analysen führender Wissenschaftler_innen aus Deutschland, der Schweiz, Kanada und den USA.

Dans cet article, je m'intéresse à la relation qu'une recherche interdisciplinaire sur les conséquences du changement climatique (ou « impacts climatiques ») entretient avec la politique du climat, en particulier en Allemagne. J'esquisserai d'abord le style de pensée dominant dans ce champ de recherche et montrerai comment l'accent mis sur la modélisation rend invisibles certaines différences (sociales) significatives. Sur cette base, et en prenant l'exemple allemand des comités d'experts, j'examinerai la manière dont l'action politique en contexte d'incertitude fait naître entre la science et la politique une relation qui conduit à un rétrécissement – toujours aussi d'ordre disciplinaire – de la pratique scientifique et à une dépolitisation du discours politique. J'opposerai à cette évolution une recherche sur les impacts climatiques qui soit publique, assume sa dimension politique, et s'engage avec tous ses modèles dans un processus de problématisation, dont l'objectif est la recherche d'un nouvel ordre moral qui respecte les limites planétaires.

Chemical risk protection in the workplace relies partly on informing workers about possible risks using material safety data sheets (MSDS). This article reports on phase 2 of a project (phase 1 reported in Cox et al.), which employed a mental models approach to improve on data sheets as communicative interventions for perchloroethylene in dry cleaning and rosin‐based solder flux in the electronics industry within small businesses in the United Kingdom (small enterprises (SEs) < 25 employees in the workplace). It focuses on the efficacy of a multimethod evaluation strategy to assess (1) the capacity of a mental models approach to yield contextually relevant data for intervention design and (2) the effectiveness of the strategy itself in validating the mental models data. The evaluation was conducted using postal questionnaires and semi‐structured verbal protocols to provide responses to the alternative intervention content and to prioritize risk messages. User discussion groups were then employed, particularly as a means of establishing whether contextual information could be obtained that would differ qualitatively from the kind elicited through individual (semi) structured methods. We conclude that the mental models approach as part of an iterative process including systematic multimethod evaluation is successful in supporting the design of relevant communications to the users of chemicals. The overall viability of communicative interventions in the context of health and safety in small businesses remains in question. Future research might aim to develop a more holistic approach to interventions in complex occupational contexts.

Cardiovascular diseases present the leading cause of death worldwide. Over the last decade, their preventio has become not only a central medical and public health issue but also a matter of political concern as well as a major market for pharma, nutrition, and exercise. A preventive assemblage has formed that integrates diverse kinds of knowledges, technologies, and actors, from molecular biology to social work, to foster a specific healthy lifestyle. In this article, the authors analyze this preventive assemblage as a heterogeneous engineer, that is, as an attempt to order complex everyday life into an architecture of modernism. This article draws on research conducted as part of the interdisciplinary research cluster ''preventive self'' (2006-2009) bringing together analyses from social anthropology, history, linguistics, sociology of knowledge, and medicine. The authors report here primarily from ethnographic investigations into biomedical research, primary care, and educational practices in kindergartens. The authors conclude that the preventive assemblage largely fails to install any kind of singular order. Instead, it is translated into existing orderings producing heterogeneity of a different nuance.

Cardiovascular diseases present the leading cause of death worldwide. Over the last decade, their preventio has become not only a central medical and public health issue but also a matter of political concern as well as a major market for pharma, nutrition, and exercise. A preventive assemblage has formed that integrates diverse kinds of knowledges, technologies, and actors, from molecular biology to social work, to foster a specific healthy lifestyle. In this article, the authors analyze this preventive assemblage as a heterogeneous engineer, that is, as an attempt to order complex everyday life into an architecture of modernism. This article draws on research conducted as part of the interdisciplinary research cluster ''preventive self'' (2006-2009) bringing together analyses from social anthropology, history, linguistics, sociology of knowledge, and medicine. The authors report here primarily from ethnographic investigations into biomedical research, primary care, and educational practices in kindergartens. The authors conclude that the preventive assemblage largely fails to install any kind of singular order. Instead, it is translated into existing orderings producing heterogeneity of a different nuance. ; Peer Reviewed

The rapid development of biomedicine demands a trustworthy, proactive regulatory regime that is able to manage progress with genuine regard for ethical, social and legal concerns. With its recent past of eugenics and euthanasia, Germany is particularly concerned with setting up a fair and transparent approach, able to respond quickly to scientific developments as well as societal concerns. This article reports on the development, implementation and evaluation of a citizen scenario workshop as a tool of participatory prognostics, integrating elements from participatory technology assessment and forecasting. In 7 days of highly structured work and expert support, 24 German participants developed four scenarios on "The Relationship of Biomedicine and the Economy in the Year 2014." Results and evaluation both show that the process (1) leads to scenarios that provide a useful perspective beyond expert opinion; (2) enriches the public and political discourse; and (3) offers a social learning opportunity appreciated by nonprofessionals and experts alike. We are confident in recommending this technique as a useful addition to existing foresight and horizon scanning activities. ; Peer Reviewed

Epigenetics is the study of changes in gene expression caused by mechanisms other than changes in the DNA itself. The field is rapidly growing and being widely promoted, attracting attention in diverse arenas. These include those of the social sciences, where some researchers have been encouraged by the resonance between imaginaries of development within epigenetics and social theory. Yet, sustained attention from science and technology studies (STS) scholars to epigenetics and the praxis it propels has been lacking. In this article, we reflexively consider some of the ways in which epigenetics is being constructed as an area of biomedical novelty and discuss the content and logics underlying the ambivalent promises being made by scientists working in this area. We then reflect on the scope, limits and future of engagements between epigenetics and the social sciences. Our discussion is situated within wider literatures on biomedicine and society, the politics of "interventionist STS", and on the problems of "caseness" within empirical social science. ; Peer Reviewed

Wissen als Praxis zu begreifen, ist in der Europäischen Ethnologie heute selbstverständlich. Erkenntnisse der Wissenschafts- und Technikforschung, feministischer Kritiken und praxistheoretischer Entwicklungen haben sich produktiv mit fachlichen Problematisierungen von Rationalität, materieller und epistemischer Kultur verbunden. Im Zuge dieser Entwicklungen ist zunehmend die Performativität von Wissenspraktiken betont worden, d. h. ihre notwendigerweise immer auch gestaltende Weltwirksamkeit. Dies wiederum hat Anthropolog*innen ermutigt, verstärkt mit ethnografischen Methoden zu experimentieren, um eben jene Weltwirksamkeit besser kontrollieren bzw. entfalten zu können. Konzepte von Wissenstransfer und mode 2 Wissensproduktion sind ersetzt worden durch Interventionen, Ko-Produktion/Kreation/Design, Kollaboration, experimental entanglement und Ko-Laboration. Uns interessiert in diesem Beitrag die Frage, was diese Entwicklung praktisch für ethnografische Theorieproduktion bedeutet. Wir entwickeln unsere Argumentation an vier Forschungsfeldern, die derzeit in unserem Labor ethnografisch im Rahmen von fortgeschrittenen Dissertationsprojekten bearbeitet werden: Genesungsbegleitung in psychiatrischen Kliniken (Schmid), Praktiken des Plattformwirtschaftens in digitalen start-up Ökosystemen (Josties), Offener Dialog in der Psychiatrie als prozessuale Therapieform (Cubellis) und Skalierung in Modellen für Mensch-Umwelt Beziehungen (Klein). Wir legen besonderen Wert auf das gemeinschaftliche "Fügen" von Theorie und Reflexivität und beleuchten fallübergreifend drei Fragen genauer: Welche Konsequenzen hat die Verteilung von epistemischer Handlungsträgerschaft für ethnografische Theoriebildung? Wie müssen Differenzierungen in ko-laborativer Forschung kuratiert werden? Wo liegen Herausforderungen, Grenzen und Risiken dieser Herangehensweise?

"Die These, die 'Natur der Gesellschaft' sei ein soziales Konstrukt, stößt im Rahmen der deutschen Sozialwissenschaften weitestgehend auf Zustimmung. Diese These ermöglicht einerseits, Essentialisierungen und Naturalisierungen in den Blick zu nehmen und einer kritischen sozialen und ethischen Bewertung zuzuführen. Andererseits entzieht sie jedoch das Konstruieren selbst einer genaueren Analyse und beschäftigt sich eher mit den Konsequenzen einer nur scheinbaren wissenschaftlichen Faktizität. Dieser Vortrag stellt vier Thesen zur Diskussion: 1. Die Produktion naturwissenschaftlicher Erkenntnis basiert auf einer komplexen Interaktion zwischen Diskursen, Praxen und Technologien, deren Untersuchung als sozialer Prozess zeigt, dass Naturwissenschaft und Medizin keineswegs monolithisch von einer molekulargenetischen Determiniertheit ausgehen, wie vielfach behauptet wird, sondern versuchen, 'das Soziale' sicht- und beforschbar zu machen. 2. Die zunehmende Molekularisierung naturwissenschaftlicher Methoden vergrößert jedoch die Distanz zwischen Untersuchungsgegenstand und zu erklärendem Phänomen. Die Überbrückung dieser Distanz hängt großteils von semantischen Brücken ab, deren Bausteine oft implizite Narrative und Vorstellungen von Individualität und Gesellschaft darstellen. 3. Wie 'das Soziale' in der Naturwissenschaft operationalisiert wird, wirkt sich nicht nur auf Erkenntnis, sondern an vielfältigen Schnittstellen von Wissenschaft und Gesellschaft auch auf soziale Praxis aus. Dabei zeigt sich zum einen eine zunehmende Präsenz von Formen somatischer Individualität (Rose). Zum anderen führen die Möglichkeiten, 'Natur' im modernen Sinne zu verstehen, weg von sozio-biologischen Erklärungsversuchen hin zu einer Biosozialität (Rabinow), die Natur als 'durch kulturelle Praxis modelliert' versteht (nature modelled on culture as practice). 4. Dieser Wandel sozialer Praxis verändert wiederum den naturwissenschaftlichen Erkenntnisprozess und schließt damit einen Kreis, den man in Anlehnung an Hacking als looping bezeichnen kann. Der Vortrag möchte am Beispiel der biologischen Geschichte des Europäers zeigen, wie biohistorische Narrative, d.h. Erzählungen über die Natur, Geschichten über Vererbung, Diversität und Evolution, in die Produktion naturwissenschaftlich-medizinischen Wissens einfließen. Zum anderen werden die Auswirkungen einer solchen Erkenntnisproduktion sowohl auf medizinische Praxis als auch auf den Umgang mit Gesundheit und Krankheit verdeutlicht. Diskutiert wird, ob und wie die Verbindung von historisch fundierter, praxisorientierter Wissenschaftsforschung und Sozialanthropologie einen konstruktiven Beitrag zu bestehenden soziologischen Theorieangeboten liefern kann, in dem sie Natur als kulturelle Praxis und Kultur als Materialität zugänglich macht." (Autorenreferat)

We adopted a comparative approach to evaluate and extend a generic methodology to analyze the different sets of beliefs held about chemical hazards in the workplace. Our study mapped existing knowledge structures about the risks associated with the use of perchloroethylene and rosin‐based solder flux in differing workplaces. "Influence diagrams" were used to represent beliefs held by chemical experts; "user models" were developed from data elicited from open‐ended interviews with the workplace users of the chemicals. The juxtaposition of expert and user understandings of chemical risks enabled us to identify knowledge gaps and misunderstandings and to reinforce appropriate sets of safety beliefs and behavior relevant to chemical risk communications. By designing safety information to be more relevant to the workplace context of users, we believe that employers and employees may gain improved knowledge about chemical hazards in the workplace, such that better chemical risk management, self‐protection, and informed decision making develop over time.

Land use change is influenced by a complexity of drivers that transcend spatial, institutional and temporal scales. The analytical framework of telecoupling has recently been proposed in land system science to address this complexity, particularly the increasing importance of distal connections, flows and feedbacks characterising change in land systems. This framework holds important potential for advancing the analysis of land system change. In this article, we review the state of the art of the telecoupling framework in the land system science literature. The article traces the development of the framework from teleconnection to telecoupling and presents two approaches to telecoupling analysis currently proposed in the literature. Subsequently, we discuss a number of analytical challenges related to categorisation of systems, system boundaries, hierarchy and scale. Finally, we propose approaches to address these challenges by looking beyond land system science to theoretical perspectives from economic geography, social metabolism studies, political ecology and cultural anthropology. ; Peer Reviewed

In ethnographic research and analysis, reflexivity is vital to achieving constant coordination between field and concept work. However, it has been conceptualized predominantly as an ethnographer's individual mental capacity. In this article, we draw on ten years of experience in conducting research together with partners from social psychiatry and mental health care across different research projects. We unfold three modes of achieving reflexivity co-laboratively: contrasting and discussing disciplinary concepts in interdisciplinary working groups and feedback workshops; joint data interpretation and writing; and participating in political agenda setting. Engaging these modes reveals reflexivity as a distributed process able to strengthen the ethnographer's interpretative authority, and also able to constantly push the conceptual boundaries of the participating disciplines and professions. ; Heinrich Böll Stiftung https://doi.org/10.13039/100009379 ; Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft https://doi.org/10.13039/501100001659 ; Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft https://doi.org/10.13039/501100001659 ; Peer Reviewed

In ethnographic research and analysis, reflexivity is vital to achieving constant coordination between field and concept work. However, it has been conceptualized predominantly as an ethnographer's individual mental capacity. In this article, we draw on ten years of experience in conducting research together with partners from social psychiatry and mental health care across different research projects. We unfold three modes of achieving reflexivity co-laboratively: contrasting and discussing disciplinary concepts in interdisciplinary working groups and feedback workshops; joint data interpretation and writing; and participating in political agenda setting. Engaging these modes reveals reflexivity as a distributed process able to strengthen the ethnographer's interpretative authority, and also able to constantly push the conceptual boundaries of the participating disciplines and professions.