When theory meets methods: the naissance of computer assisted corporate interlock research

In this article, we study the emergence of computer aided network analysis as an example of ‘Mertonian’ multiple discovery. Computer assisted quantitative network analysis emerged around 1970 and small groups of researchers in different universities, who were independent of each other and looking for the right concepts and computer programs to implement graph theory in social analysis, first applied it to corporate interlock networks. We show how mathematical graph theory provided a toolbox for systematic network analysis and that simultaneously in the Netherlands and the United States this toolbox found an application in the study of corporate power. A historical narrative covers the three main centres in which large‐scale corporate network analysis emerged – Amsterdam, California and Stony Brook. For each centre, we provide a sketch of the people involved, the tools they used, and the motivations that brought them to this topic. Our analysis makes clear that one cannot understand the emergence of computer aided network analysis without considering the personal and often political motivations of those who engaged in the first board interlock studies. Insurgent students of political science and sociology pushed for a research agenda on corporate power and found support from scholars who were keen to develop innovative network analysis methods. Hence, corporate network analysis became a legitimate field of research.     

'Exchange is Creation': The Revolutionary Poetics of Muriel Rukeyser and Hugh MacDiarmid

Abstract

The increased cultural authority of science in the early decades of the twentieth century called into question prior cultural assumptions regarding the status of poetry as an important discipline. The debate about the changed nature of the relations between the arts and sciences assumed particular importance for the literary left, as writers, critics and intellectuals debated the role which culture would play in political revolution. In order to broaden our understanding of the left's engagement with the problem of the relationship between the arts and sciences, this article will compare the work of the leftist American poet Muriel Rukeyser with that of the Scottish nationalist and Communist poet Hugh MacDiarmid. In particular, I will explore the ways in which their understanding of the essential similarities between the arts and sciences informed their conception of the relationship between poetics and political praxis.     

The “Three Waves” of Industrial Group Work: Historical Reflections on Current Research on Group Work

This paper deals with the three waves of the discourse on group work in social science and industrial practice that have helped pave the way for the current boom in the introduction of group work in companies. These waves are represented by the human relations approach, the sociotechnical systems approach, and the lean management debate. They are reviewed in two perspectives. The first relates to their concepts of work design and group work, following four questions: (a) What emphasis is put on work factors or on subjective orientations, on the design of working conditions or symbolic strategies? (b) How do the various approaches address the relationship between efficiency and control? (c) Which concepts of participation or democracy are involved? (d) How is the role of the social scientist in the process of industrial modernization conceptualized, explicitly or implicitly? The second perspective from a sociology of science relates to the context of production and utilization of social scientific knowledge. In general, two theses are put forward. The first states that a gap exists between the aspirations and reality of group work because the basic conflict of efficiency and control has been overlooked for ideological reasons. The second postulates that there is no linear progress in the theory and practice of group work. It seems that the socioeconomical context determines reasonably which group concept and ideology dominates certain historical phases of industrial modernization.     

A Popperian View of Change in Innovative Organizations

The cognitive model used by theorists andpractitioners to understand organization change is mostlikely based on Kuhn's paradigm scheme of normal (i.e.,the routine verification of the dominant theory in any historical period) vs. revolutionary(i.e., the abrupt development of a rival paradigm thatcan only be accepted gradually by the scientificcommunity) science. This perspective suggests thatscientific revolutions are rare. However, this articlecontends that changes are occurring so rapidly ininnovative organizations that Kuhnian notions ofscientific revolutions do not adequately describe thisphenomena. Rather, these changes are more congruent withSir Karl Popper's concept of revolution in permanence.The conclusions of this research should alloworganization stakeholders to better understand (1) the process of change in innovative organizations,and (2) how to facilitate these changes.     

Robert Kagan and Noam Chomsky Two ways of being a political intellectual

Abstract

This article analyses various modes of being an intellectual and thinking about the nation-state in the USA, by focusing closely on the work of two emblems: Robert Kagan and Noam Chomsky. They embody very different conceptions of society and two different ways of understanding the link between thought and deed. They serve here as two ideal types: the mandarin speaking with the powers that be and operating within the Machiavellian tradition of being advisor to the Prince; and the libertarian dissident whose conception of truth-seeking transcends any group or ideological affiliation.