Planning for Social Environments: Social Capital in the Context of Critical Realism and the Dynamics of Complex Systems

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Milton J. Friesen
Author(s):  
AHMAD SHUKRI ABDUL HAMID

This article discusses the conceptualization of community development through sociological analysis of the concept of social structure and social capital through the lenses of critical realism. The main goal of the discussion is to develop a novel conceptual framework of community development using the typical setting of a Malay community that practices the Islamic way of life as the basis. Social capital theory, structuration theory and critical realism philosophical perspective were utilized as the theoretical basis for the development of the framework. The concept of social capital regards the community as incubators for resources deemed crucial for individual and community well-being. The harnessing of these resources in the form of social capital is considered an important factor in the overall process of community development. perspective provide the theoretical basis capable of delineating the processes and mechanisms involved in the production of social capital and thereby increase the community functioning. The resulting conceptual framework provides a non-conventional view of the process of community development and provides better understanding of the role of religious institutions such as the community mosque. Additionally, structuration theory and critical realism  


Kybernetes ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 48 (8) ◽  
pp. 1626-1652 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maurice Yolles

PurposeComplex systems adapt to survive, but little comparative literature exists on various approaches. Adaptive complex systems are generic, this referring to propositions concerning their bounded instability, adaptability and viability. Two classes of adaptive complex system theories exist: hard and soft. Hard complexity theories include Complex Adaptive Systems (CAS) and Viability Theory, and softer theories, which we refer to as Viable Systems Theories (VSTs), that includes Management Cybernetics at one extreme and Humanism at the other. This paper has a dual purpose distributed across two parts. In part 1 the purpose was to identify the conditions for the complementarity of the two classes of theory. In part 2 the two the purpose is to explore (in part using Agency Theory) the two classes of theory and their proposed complexity continuum.Design/methodology/approachExplanation is provided for the anticipation of behaviour cross-disciplinary fields of theory dealing with adaptive complex systems. A comparative exploration of the theories is undertaken to elicit concepts relevant to a complexity continuum. These explain how agency behaviour can be anticipated under uncertainty. Also included is a philosophical exploration of the complexity continuum, expressing it in terms of a graduated set of philosophical positions that are differentiated in terms of objects and subjects. These are then related to hard and softer theories in the continuum. Agency theory is then introduced as a framework able to comparatively connect the theories on this continuum, from theories of complexity to viable system theories, and how harmony theories can develop.FindingsAnticipation is explained in terms of an agency’s meso-space occupied by a regulatory framework, and it is shown that hard and softer theory are equivalent in this. From a philosophical perspective, the hard-soft continuum is definable in terms of objectivity and subjectivity, but there are equivalences to the external and internal worlds of an agency. A fifth philosophical position of critical realism is shown to be representative of harmony theory in which internal and external worlds can be related. Agency theory is also shown to be able to operate as a harmony paradigm, as it can explore external behaviour of an agent using a hard theory perspective together with an agent’s internal cultural and cognitive-affect causes.Originality/valueThere are very few comparative explorations of the relationship between hard and soft approaches in the field of complexity and even fewer that draw in the notion of harmony. There is also little pragmatic illustration of a harmony paradigm in action within the context of complexity.


2017 ◽  
Vol 62 (2) ◽  
pp. 640-652 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manal Fathi Anabtawi ◽  
Tamara Hamza Al Amad

This article examines the influence of social capital on the experiences of married Syrian refugee women who live in Al-Mafraq Governorate/Al-Mafraq city centre. Focus group discussions were conducted with married Syrian refugee women in order to provide a detailed description of their situation. The findings of the fieldwork with refugee women in Al-Mafraq Governorate gathered from June to September 2015 are presented here. It becomes apparent that married Syrian refugee women living in Al-Mafraq city are encountering many difficulties, regardless of the pre-existing and extensive social capital/networks within the city. Therefore, one can deduce that social capital does not play an important role in alleviating the magnitude of the suffering faced by married Syrian refugee women due to space restrictions, economic conditions, social environments and traumatic experiences.


2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (2020) ◽  
Author(s):  
Christina Vagt

Behavioral design of so called »persuasive computer technologies« is the result of a merger between psychology, economics, and computer engineering. The article discusses its genealogy from the strategic response of military, governmental, and academic players to the general problem that the behavior of complex systems such as humans, societies, or markets is difficult to predict, and that controlling these complex systems means shaping them by designing their technological and social environments.


2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 43-56
Author(s):  
Jesús Manuel Palma-Ruiz ◽  
Ana María Serrano-Bedia ◽  
María Concepción López-Fernández

The assessment of the university and family social environments is relevant due to the influence during the individual's formative years, effecting the individual's development, career and occupational preferences. In an attempt to deepen the understanding of social capital, the authors proposed an examination of its dimensionality. Hypotheses were formulated building upon three dimensions—cognitive, structural, and relational—embedded in both contexts as determinants of entrepreneurial self-efficacy and intention. Implications are discussed promoting an appropriate social capital dimension and favorable environment for individuals to access information, resources, and support, with the purpose to foster and motivate their entrepreneurial spirit. Structural equation modeling was used considering 399 undergraduate students from universities in Mexico and Spain.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 69-89
Author(s):  
Robert Geisler ◽  
Michał Potracki

For many years, social capital has been the subject of research in various areas and social environments. What is worth diagnosing is not so much its functioning or formation, but its management, i.e. deliberate development aimed at achieving individual or collective benefits. The cultural borderland region of the Racibórz area, especially the town, is a good case for an analysis of such phenomena, because, over the centuries, the town has been part of various administrative and economic regimes and thus has developed forms of social capital independent of state structures. The main research questions in this paper are the following: What remains of them today? Are they subject to management processes?


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