Suchergebnisse

Ausgehend davon, daß das Verhältnis von Technikgeneseforschung zu Technikfolgenforschung komplementär sein muß, werden in dem Beitrag die strukturellen, institutionellen und organisatorischen, die kognitiven wie perzeptiven Voraussetzungen dafür untersucht, welche Technikfolgen wie systematisch und rational in frühen Phasen der Technikentstehung wahrgenommen, berücksichtigt und technisch umgesetzt werden und welche nicht, um in der sozialwissenschaftlichen Rekonstruktion der Bedingungen technischer Innovationen die gesellschaftlichen und organisatorischen Einflußparameter, die Selektionsprozesse bei der Neueinführung von Techniken prägen, manifest werden zu lassen. Ziele und Grundlagen der sozialwissenschaftlichen Technikgeneseforschung werden dargestellt. Indem Technikgenese in organisationskulturellen Kontexten analysiert wird, wird ein neuer Forschungsansatz konzipiert, der im Kern beansprucht, das Selektions- und Entscheidungsverhalten von Organisationen mit Hilfe von Erklärungskategorien zu erfassen. Der zentrale Beitrag des organisationskulturellen Forschungsansatzes der Technikgenese liegt in der Möglichkeit, diejenigen Faktoren herauszukristallisieren, die eine Organisation dazu befähigen, innovative Impulse selbst zu generieren oder entsprechende Stimuli aus ihrer Umwelt aufzunehmen und umzusetzen. Abschließend wird das weitere Vorgehen sozialwissenschaftlicher Forschung zur Technikgenese skizziert. (ICA)

Clusters - regional concentrations of related firms and organisations - are a key element of economic growth and innovation. This book discusses the case histories of well-known clusters, including: the Hollywood motion picture cluster Silicon Valley, and Boston and San Francisco biotech regions

This paper addresses the question of 'how and why some places develop expanding industrial complexes while others move along other trajectories', with reference to localized high technology enterprise. It is argued that concern with local resource endowments has led to the neglect of chance events and cumulative processes, key features of path dependence. The emerging industrial ensemble can be conceived as a complex open system, characterized by interdependent activities, sensitive to initial conditions and subject to irreversibilities. In such systems, the relationship between initial conditions and subsequent innovative developments is unpredictable, though common dynamic processes can be detected. The systems approach can address the multidisciplinary features of the innovative milieu, where economic, cultural and political dimensions form an interdependent whole.Cet article explore 'comment et pourquoi certains endroits développent des ensembles industriels grandissants alors que d'autres suivent des trajectoires différentes' en ce qui concerne les entreprises locales de technologie de pointe. Je soutiens qu'un intérêt pour les dotations des ressources locales a conduit à négliger les événements dus au hasard et les processus cumulatifs, éléments centraux de la dépendance du trajectoire. Les ensembles industriels naissants peuvent être vus comme des sytèmes ouverts complexes, caractérisés par des activités interdépendantes, sensibles aux conditions initiales et soumis à des irrévocabilités. Dans de tels systèmes, la relation entre les conditions initiales et les développements innovatifs subséquents est imprévisible, bien que des processus dynamiques communs puissent être détectés. L'approche systémique est appropriée aux éléments multidisciplinaires du milieu innovatif où les dimensions économique, culturelle et politique forment un tout interdépendant.

Symbolic thought is what makes us human. Claude Lévi-Strauss stated that we can never know the genesis of symbolic thought, but in this powerful new study Alan Barnard argues that we can. Continuing the line of analysis initiated in Social Anthropology and Human Origins (Cambridge University Press, 2011), Genesis of Symbolic Thought applies ideas from social anthropology, old and new, to understand some of the areas also being explored in fields as diverse as archaeology, linguistics, genetics and neuroscience. Barnard aims to answer questions including: when and why did language come into being? What was the earliest religion? And what form did social organization take before humanity dispersed from the African continent? Rejecting the notion of hunter-gatherers as 'primitive', Barnard hails the great sophistication of the complex means of their linguistic and symbolic expression and places the possible origin of symbolic thought at as early as 130,000 years ago

The Genesis of Modernity reconstructs the ideas of three of the most important social and political theorists of the Twentieth Century, Max Weber, Michel Foucault and Eric Voegelin, on the distant roots and sources of modernity. Drawing upon the conceptual tools of social theory and political philosophy, complemented by approaches based in the fields of anthropology, comparative mythology and the history of ancient philosophy this book will prove to be a timely and valuable contribution to this developing area, bringing together the ideas of a group of social and political theorists whose work so far has remained largely unconnected. This book will be essential reading for academics and advanced students concerned with social theory, political theory, sociology, history and philosophy.

This paper presents a descriptive and evaluative analysis of the transformation of a face-to-face graduate tax accounting course to an online course. One hundred fifteen students completed the compressed six-week class in 2001 and 2002 using WebCT, classroom environment software that facilitates the creation of webbased educational environments. The paper provides a description of the required technology tools and the class conduct. The students used a combination of asynchronous and synchronous learning methods that allowed them to complete the coursework on a self-determined schedule, subject to semi-weekly quiz constraints. The course material was presented in content pages with links to Excel® problems, Flash examples, audio and video files, and self-tests. Students worked the quizzes and then met in their groups in a chat room to resolve differences in answers. Student surveys indicated satisfaction with the learning methods.