Inside co‐production: Stakeholder meaning and situated practice

Co‐production has risen to the fore of contemporary policymaking, with the intention of placing citizens at the heart of public service design and production. Although this may lead to more democratic and legitimate decision‐making, achieving “meaningful” co‐production can be difficult. In this qualitative study, we examine what constitutes meaningful co‐production, in particular asking whether there is a disconnect between the elite policy narrative that legitimizes co‐production and stakeholder experiences of this approach. Our research adopts a decentred approach to examine the different ways that actors understand and participate in co‐production, both as a methodology and as an interactive social practice. We conclude that a lack of synergy between local narratives may undermine the potential success of co‐production.     

Co‐production,governance and practice: The dynamics and effects of User Voice Prison Councils

Drawing on Bevir's (2013) decentered theory of governance, and Donati's (2016) theory of the relational subject, this article explores how User Voice Prison Councils in England have contributed to shifts in aspects of prison governance and practice. It discusses the cultural and policy context in which the Councils emerged and operate before exploring their perceived purposes, dynamics, and effects. User Voice Prison Councils represent an important example of different actors co‐producing alternative patterns of governance through innovations in democratic participation. Interviews with Prison Council participants, User Voice and prison staff revealed that the development of such “bottom–up” participatory governance practices require and restore interpersonal trust, the mechanisms of which are interactions underpinned by a distinct manner of relating and the establishment of a network of relations oriented to the common good. The effects include enhanced institutional legitimacy; improvements in prison officer‐prisoner relations; and greater quality of life for prisoners. Revealing the “how” of co‐production, from the “inside”, the argument advanced here is that while the effects of co‐production may be more ameliorative than transformative, such collaborative and dialogic approaches can enable differently situated people to forge new norms of interactions and forms of democratic participation to achieve collective goals.     

The circular construction of “risk” for children of oppressed groups: Israeli social workers' perspectives on children of Ethiopian origin

This article presents the findings of a research project that explored the perceptions and constructions of Israeli social workers, serving families of Ethiopian origin in Israel, regarding “risk” vis‐à‐vis the children of this community. Thirty semistructured in‐depth interviews with social workers of Ethiopian and non‐Ethiopian origin were conducted and thematically analysed. The study findings indicate that the risk posed to children from the Ethiopian community, as conceived by the social workers charged with their treatment, tends to emerge in the interface between four main contexts: the societal, the neighbourhood, the education system, and the welfare system. Resembling the cycle of poverty, in which a cyclical set of forces trap people in perpetual poverty, children from minority groups are often caught in a cycle of risk. In each of these four contexts, a circular movement was observed in the construction of risk. Breaking the circularity of “risk” requires a context‐informed approach that adopts the perspectives of critical theories, which consider structural factors, power relations, and sociopolitical context when assessing “risk” for children in general, and for children of oppressed groups in particular.     

Modifying the Modifier: Body Modification as Social Incarnation

The notion that body modification occurs when one undertakes practices like tattooing, piercing or scarification, engenders discourses in which: (i) body modifiers endorse such practices as self‐constructive, distancing their practitioners from social regulation and a deterministic biology, whereas; (ii) critics condemn their seemingly violent, corporeal interference. However, in suspecting that such analysis should be attentive to the concurrent individual and social co‐constitution of behaviours, a sociological and post‐structural interrogation of this characterization of body modification as a “sovereign, denaturalizing” endeavour is demanded. An engagement with the originary violence of Derridian deconstruction will duly re‐conceive body modification practice as not something which introduces violence to corporeality. Rather, violence will present as a primordial differentiating process which bodies always already condition, and by which they are conditioned/produced/modified. The second issue at stake in this article will thus develop as a contestation to the characterization of “body modification” as an exclusive category of practice. Such practices do not arrive, pre‐existing, but rather manifest as the originary violence/differentiation of bodies‐as‐modifications‐which‐modify. This re‐defines modification from something that agentive subjects introduce to bodies, to something that subjects‐as‐bodies cannot help but be. Consequently, individual agency is not divorced from behaviour, but emerges as a corporeal, social production.     

Access to social services as a rite of integration: Power,rights, and identity

Access to social services is a multifaceted and multifactorial process, involving social policy lines, services organization, and professional front line practices. It appears to have a crucial role in how personal social services work: depending on the way the process is handled, access to social services could provide a bridge to an inclusive and solidarizing community or worsen discrimination and marginalization. Many underline how studying the actual encounters between citizens and practitioners can provide a privileged site to highlight the interconnections between the abovementioned factors. This is the focus of our research that explored access in a specific Italian region using a case study strategy. After a pilot study, the main points of access to social services were identified, and three units were selected as best examples of different approaches. The three units were explored using mainly qualitative methods inspired by ethnography. We were able to gain in depth understanding of three cultural approaches to access, defined as the “ethical duty,” the “good organization,” and the “professional approach” and reach an in‐depth understanding of their impact on access. There is a vast literature on the power of street‐level bureaucrats, seen as similar to gatekeepers. However, our research suggests that specific organizational cultures also play an important part: different organizational cultures may impact the implementation of local social policy, the organizational procedures, and social workers' practices.     

“一体多面”：中华帝制时期的国家—社会关系再研究

关于中华帝制时期国家与社会的关系特征国内外学术界提出了诸多理论概括,诸如“士绅自治”“吏民社会”“官民合作”,等等。本文从行政发包制理论的视角重新审视关于中华帝制时期国家—社会关系的现有理论概括,借助“行政外包”这一分析概念,强调特定的治理领域特征与行政外包的具体形态之间的对应关系,进而揭示国家与社会互动关系的运行机制和内在逻辑。本文试图提出“一体多面”的概念,重新概括中华帝制时期国家与社会关系的总体特征,为理解中华帝制的“权力一元性”与“治理多样性”的奇妙结合提供新的观察视角和分析框架。     

调控失灵与社会的生产: 以房地产业为个案及个案拓展

房地产业具有市场性和社会性双重性格。国家对房地产业调控失灵根源于中央政府和地方政府的利益获取方式的不一致,权力化市场制造了市场强势：一方面封闭了中央调控制度的执行;另一方面瓦解了社会成员自组织的抵抗行动。“强政府”体制的弱调控力这一悖论事实背后是地方保护主义。中央政府应该调整“放权”的内涵：从“放权于地方”的内部权力分配转向“放权于民”,形成两条腿走路的社会治理模式,建构国家与社会“共建”关系格局,联合对抗权力化市场的侵蚀,这是中国“社会”能够成功“生产”的根本出路。     

Linear symmetric rankings for TU-games

We define ranking as an equivalence relation on the set of power indices and study those that have a linear and symmetric representative. Moreover, we classify—or parametrize—those rankings that reward “positive” payoffs for “positive” participation. It is shown that these are in 1-1 correspondence with the points of the standard simplex. Moreover, this correspondence is convex. Finally, we contrast this classification with Saari–Sieberg’s approach via “positive” semi-values.     

The Drug‐Laden Balloon: U.S. Military Assistance and Coca Production in the Central Andes*

Objective. This article explores the empirical effects of U.S. drug policy on coca cultivation in the Central Andes. We assess the impact of U.S. military assistance on the production of coca in the Central Andes, while controlling for other explanatory variables that influence coca cultivation. Method. Using data from 1980–2001 for Colombia, Bolivia, and Peru, we perform a pooled cross‐sectional time‐series analysis. Results. The effects of U.S. military assistance on coca cultivation are not uniform across the Central Andes. Coca production decreased in Bolivia and Peru and increased in Colombia. Total coca production in the Central Andes, however, remained unchanged. Conclusion. This study is consistent with existing literature that points out the obstacles governments face as they attempt to suppress illicit goods. Specifically, our empirical findings support the idea of the “balloon effect,” whereby government efforts to “squeeze” illicit trade in one area result in the expansion of that trade elsewhere.     

"Mirror Neurons," Collective Objects and the Problem of Transmission: Reconsidering Stephen Turner's Critique of Practice Theory

In this paper, I critically examine Stephen Turner's (1994) critique of practice theory in light of recent neurophysiological discoveries regarding the “mirror neuron system” in the pre‐frontal mo‐tor cortex of humans and other primates. I argue that two of Turner's strongest objections against the sociological version of the practice‐theoretical account, the problem of transmission and the problem of sameness, are substantially undermined when examined from the perspective of re‐cently systematized accounts of embodied learning and intersubjective action understanding in‐spired by these developments. In addition, I show that the practice‐theoretical framework out‐lined by Pierre Bourdieu in the Logic of Practice and other works is, in contrast to Turner's por‐trayal of a confused hodgepodge of logical errors and empirical impossibilities, largely consistent with the latest neurophysiological evidence and as such fundamentally foreshadowed more recent understandings of the neurocognitive foundations of the perception, understanding and structure of the motor schemes productive of action in the world. Also in line with these newer neurosci‐entific developments, the practice‐theoretical focus on the body as the central matrix generative of tacit understandings and analogical operations responsible for “higher order” systems of classi‐fication emerges as the key to solving some of the thorniest problems in the theory of action: eliminating to need to resort to unwarranted “collective object” explanations for the origins of shared presuppositional frameworks.     

Co‐producing innovation or innovating co‐production? Responding to the contact needs of non‐resident parents in the Republic of Ireland

The empowerment and participation of children and families in both the design and the delivery of services oriented towards them is now an accepted norm, if not always the accepted practice. Yet, challenges still remain, particularly where parents are separated and contact issues are problematic. Although contact centres are common in some Western countries including Australia, New Zealand, the UK, France, and the USA, this is not the case in the Republic of Ireland. The relatively recent introduction of divorce, increases in separation and childbirth outside of marriage have led to the need for service planners to respond to the growing issue of non‐resident contact with children. Using Bovaird's co‐production framework, the purpose of this paper is to outline and discuss specific findings relating to service user involvement emanating from a formative evaluation of an innovative supported contact service in Ireland. What emerges from the findings is a picture of co‐production where the broad parameters of the service are professionally defined and where the specifics of service user involvement in delivery vary from family to family but within the bounds of professional control.     

The evolution of Homo Discens: natural selection and human learning

This article takes an evolutionary “reverse engineering” standpoint on Homo discens, learning man, to track down the (learning) mechanisms that played a pivotal role in the natural selection of human being. The approach is “evolutionary sociological”—as opposed to gene‐centred or psychologising—and utilises notions of co‐evolutionary organism–environment transactions and niche construction. These are compatible with a Deweyan theory of action, which entails that in action one cannot but learn and one can only learn in action. Special attention is paid to apprentice‐like learning‐by‐doing peculiar to human socio‐cultural niches since the Pleistocene, which has permitted each subsequent generation to learn the many habits and skills needed in utilising the affordances of action that constitute their ecological niche. Affordances and actions have changed over the history of human–environment transactions, but the core mechanisms of human learning have not changed much. It is increasingly important to appreciate these mechanisms now in the global age “knowledge society,” which is in a way similar to the Pleistocene era: characterised by uncertainty and life‐determining problem‐situations without any ready‐made solutions, it calls for capacities to adapt to changing circumstances, and thus apprentice‐like learning in action supported by savvy epistemological engineering of learning environments.     

Talking about citizenship in New Zealand

Abstract

This paper fleshes out the rather sparse empirical literature on citizenship with data collected from seven focus groups involving a wide range of New Zealanders. Results indicate that the term “citizenship” is relatively unimportant to identity and belonging compared to “family” and “community”. Yet there is considerable agreement about the key elements of citizenship and what makes a “good citizen”. Knowledge about citizenship, however, is not evenly distributed or experienced in the same way by different groups of New Zealanders, with Maori participants offering notably more negative perspectives on citizenship, and benefit recipients most likely to feel like “second‐class citizens”. Against predictions, the findings further suggest that neo‐liberal reforms have not eliminated a belief in community spirit and collective solutions to social problems. Although New Zealanders do believe that individuals should be responsible for themselves, they also expect government to ensure the social and economic conditions that make this possible.     

What children want to know about in‐ and out‐groups,and how knowledge affects their intergroup attitudes

One of the key factors contributing to the development of negative attitudes toward out‐groups is lack of knowledge about them. The present study investigated what type of information 3‐ to 4‐ and 5‐ to 6‐ year‐old Jewish Israeli children (N = 82) are interested in acquiring about unfamiliar in‐ and out‐group individuals, and how providing children with the requested information affects their intergroup attitudes. Children were shown pictures of individuals from three groups—an in‐group (“Jews”), a “conflict” out‐group (“Arabs”), and a “neutral” out‐group (“Scots”)—and were asked what they would like to know about them. The experimenter responded by either answering all of children's questions, half of the questions, or none. Children's attitudes toward the groups were also assessed. It was found that children asked the most questions in regard to conflict out‐group individuals. Moreover, the older age group asked more questions regarding the psychological characteristics, and fewer questions regarding the social identity, of the conflict out‐group than of the other two groups. Finally, full provision of information improved attitudes toward the groups, especially among 3‐ to 4‐year olds, and especially regarding the conflict out‐group. These findings have implications for understanding the sources of intergroup biases, and for developing interventions to reduce them.     

From “Either‐Or” to “When and How”: A Context‐Dependent Model of Culture in Action

In this article, I outline a framework for the sociological study of culture that connects three intertwined elements of human culture (cultural motivations, resources, and meanings) and demonstrates the concrete contexts under which each most critically influences actions and their subsequent outcomes. In contrast to models that cast motivations, resources, and meanings as competing explanations of how culture affects action, I argue that these are fundamental constituent elements of culture that are inseparable, interdependent, and simultaneously operative. Which element provides the strongest link to action, and how this link operates, must be understood as a function of the actor's position within wider social contexts. I argue that on average motivations have the most discernable link to action within a social strata, cultural resources provide the strongest link across strata, and meanings have the greatest direct influence when codified and sanctioned. I then offer a reframing and synthesis that reintegrates previously “competing” theories of culture into a more holistic context‐dependent model of culture in action. Finally, I use evidence from prior empirical research, as well as new data from an ongoing ethnographic study of health behaviors among the aged, to show how various elements of culture are concretely linked to action in eight different social contexts. In doing so, I provide a roadmap for the transition out of the “either‐or” logic underlying much of cultural theory and reemphasize the importance of the classical sociological concern for “when” and “how” various aspects of culture influence action and outcomes in concrete social contexts.     

Entangling the social: Comments on Alexander Wendt,Quantum Mind and Social Science

Alexander Wendt suggests that an emerging field of research on quantum consciousness may have important implications for our understanding of the social world as well. He wants us to consider that the operations of the brain are not “classical” but rather quantum‐mechanical, and that this sheds light on the social worker as well. This article casts doubt on these claims. First, the idea of panpsychism (all physical things possess features of consciousness) is implausible on its face. Second, the findings of “quantum decision theory” are much more limited than Wendt recognizes. Third, the biological quantum effects currently subject to investigation are limited in their application to brains and persons by unavoidable limits of time and space scale on quantum effects. The “brain as quantum computer” or “brain as wave function” theory is very implausible given current knowledge.     

The Racial Structure of Economic Inequality in the United States: Understanding Change and Continuity in an Era of “Great Divergence”*

The “great divergence” of America's rich from its middle class and poor has led some observers to see a country increasingly stratified by income and wealth, more so than by race. In this article, the first in a two‐part series, we argue that this conclusion overlooks the persistent importance of the racial “structure” of inequality. A decomposition of income inequality between 1980 and 2010 using the Theil Index shows that inequality between racial groups accounts for a rising share of total income inequality over this period nationally and in most states. We also demonstrate that within‐state trends in the between‐race component of inequality are not fully accounted for by trends in income inequality and racial diversity per se. These findings lay the groundwork for a forthcoming companion piece in Social Science Quarterly that shows that between‐race inequality is strongly linked to welfare policy outcomes in the United States.     

Technology Spillovers in the Multinational Outsourcing System and Technological Innovation in Recipient Countries

Unlike technology spillovers from FDI or international trade, which operate through a single channel, technology spillovers from multinational outsourcing operate through the combined effect of multiple channels including import spillovers, export spillovers and pure knowledge spillovers. On the basis of the knowledge production function approach, this paper constructs an international R&D spillover regression equation to test the effect of different technology spillover channels on technological innovation in China’s manufacturing industry. Research shows that import spillovers are the only channel to have a significant effect, and this varies from industry to industry. Its significance is low in high- tech industry and medium-high in mid-tech and low-tech industries. Empirical findings indicate that China’s local enterprises are unlikely to achieve technological innovation via “learning from importing” or “learning from communication.”     

Out of Sight,Out of Mind: Distancing and the Geographic Relationship Between Electricity Consumption and Production in Massachusetts*

Objective. Based on the concept of “distancing” and its implications for ecological feedback and environmental inequality, this article examines the influence of geographic distance from power plants on residential electricity consumption in Massachusetts. Methods. Mean geographic distance to all power plants in Massachusetts was calculated to a rasterized surface and aggregated by municipality for 243 cities and towns. Using stepwise regression, annual per household residential electricity consumption by municipality was regressed on mean distance to power plants, median household income, percent minority, median number of rooms, and median age. Results. Mean geographic distance to power plants and median number of rooms emerged as statistically significant predictors of per household residential electricity consumption. Conclusions. The findings lend support to the concept of “distancing” and its implications for consumption in a domestic context. This analysis offers evidence of scale‐independent similarity between global and local phenomena of environmental inequality and resource consumption.