Rethinking Science, Technology, and Social Change

Rethinking Science, Technology, and Social Change

Author: Ralph Schroeder

Publisher:

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 202

ISBN-13:

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Rethinking Science, Technology, and Social Change challenges the prevailing notion that science and technology are constructed or socially shaped. The text puts forth a case for technological determinism, based on a realistic and pragmatic account of science and technology, informed by historical comparisons. Schroeder begins by exploring the social organization of scientific and technological advances; the intersecting trajectories of big science and technological systems; and the impact of science and technology on economic change. He goes on to discuss the social implications of technology, including the way that it affects politics and consumption. The book then rethinks traditional theories about the relationship between science, technology, and social change. The argument presented shifts the debate on topics such as the relationship between growth and sustainability, and thus has important policy implications. This book will be of great interest to scholars, scientists, and anyone interested in understanding how science and technology are transforming our world.


The New Science of Social Change

The New Science of Social Change

Author: Lisa Mueller

Publisher: Beacon Press

Published: 2024-08-20

Total Pages: 234

ISBN-13: 0807013501

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In this accessible guide for activists, scholar Lisa Mueller translates cutting-edge empirical research on effective protest to show how to make movements really matter We are in the middle of a historic swell of activism taking place throughout the world. From Occupy Wall Street and the Arab Spring, to pro-democracy uprisings in China, Black Lives Matter, the Women’s March on Washington, and more recent pro-choice protests; folks everywhere are gathering to demand a more just world. Yet despite social engagement being at record highs, there is a divide between the activist community and the scientists—like Lisa Mueller, PhD—who study it. In The New Science of Social Change, Mueller highlights what really works when it comes to group advocacy, to place proven tools in the hands of activists on the ground—in the U.S. and abroad. Drawing on both her decade-long career researching the science of protest and the work of other scholars, she stresses such things as the ingredients of collective action and how protests with cohesive demands are significantly more likely to win concessions than protests with mixed demands. Incorporating interactive exercises and the voices of experienced activists with her analysis, Mueller shows how a working knowledge of social science can help activists implement more effective strategies to create the real-world changes we want to see.


Social Change

Social Change

Author: Joel Wallace

Publisher: Nova Science Publishers

Published: 2015

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781634836395

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Different types of social change agents and catalysts in society operate in a wide range of sectors and industries. In the first chapter, some major theoretical perspectives in the study of social change and individual socioemotional functioning are reviewed. The authors of the second chapter explore the aforementioned agents and catalysts that can create a more meaningful and lasting impact in society if efforts, strategies and resources are aligned. In the third chapter, the effect of radical social change on the diffusion of professional norms across contexts is examined. The fourth chapter helps evaluators and program managers understand the importance of considering culture in program design and evaluations, with particular emphasis on culturally specific vulnerable populations. The fifth chapter studies two social change conceptions, very popular in sociological literature: modernity and modernisation. Chapter 6 explores the effect of social changes and demographic variables on the importance of work outcomes. In Chapter 7, the authors' describe the impact of social welfare and government trust in society on its citizens. The authors of Chapter 8 discuss the recent developments of school music education in China, focusing on Beijing and its long and rich history dating back more than 3,000 years. Chapter 9 aims to investigate the role of entrepreneurial ecosystem in the various steps of the development of a start-up and to verify the role of the social mission as an enabler factor in the enhancement of relationship with the actors in the ecosystem. In Chapter 10, the author theoretically develop and empirically test for the utility of the concept of social intermediaries (SI) in explaining social change. The last chapter of the book aims to give an account of the process of development, adaptation and change in the social structure at the microlevel, as a result of changes in the policies of development and the alteration of the global order.


Change

Change

Author: Damon Centola

Publisher: Little, Brown Spark

Published: 2021-01-19

Total Pages: 320

ISBN-13: 0316457345

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How to create the change you want to see in the world using the paradigm-busting ideas in this "utterly fascinating" (Adam Grant) big-idea book.​ Most of what we know about how ideas spread comes from bestselling authors who give us a compelling picture of a world, in which "influencers" are king, "sticky" ideas "go viral," and good behavior is "nudged" forward. The problem is that the world they describe is a world where information spreads, but beliefs and behaviors stay the same. When it comes to lasting change in what we think or the way we live, the dynamics are different: beliefs and behaviors are not transmitted from person to person in the simple way that a virus is. The real story of social change is more complex. When we are exposed to a new idea, our social networks guide our responses in striking and surprising ways. Drawing on deep-yet-accessible research and fascinating examples from the spread of coronavirus to the success of the Black Lives Matter movement, the failure of Google+, and the rise of political polarization, Change presents groundbreaking and paradigm-shifting new science for understanding what drives change, and how we can change the world around us.


Redirect

Redirect

Author: Timothy D. Wilson

Publisher: Back Bay Books

Published: 2015-01-06

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9780316051903

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"There are few academics who write with as much grace and wisdom as Timothy Wilson. REDIRECT is a masterpiece." -Malcolm Gladwell What if there were a magic pill that could make you happier, turn you into a better parent, solve a number of your teenager's behavior problems, reduce racial prejudice, and close the achievement gap in education? There is no such pill, but story editing - the scientifically based approach described in REDIRECT - can accomplish all of this. The world-renowned psychologist Timothy Wilson shows us how to redirect the stories we tell about ourselves and the world around us, with subtle prompts, in ways that lead to lasting change. Fascinating, groundbreaking, and practical, REDIRECT demonstrates the remarkable power small changes can have on the ways we see ourselves and our environment, and how we can use this in our everyday lives.


Systems Thinking For Social Change

Systems Thinking For Social Change

Author: David Peter Stroh

Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing

Published: 2015-09-24

Total Pages: 266

ISBN-13: 1603585818

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"David Stroh has produced an elegant and cogent guide to what works. Research with early learners is showing that children are natural systems thinkers. This book will help to resuscitate these intuitive capabilities and strengthen them in the fire of facing our toughest problems."—Peter Senge, author of The Fifth Discipline Concrete guidance on how to incorporate systems thinking in problem solving, decision making, and strategic planning—for everyone! Donors, leaders of nonprofits, and public policy makers usually have the best of intentions to serve society and improve social conditions. But often their solutions fall far short of what they want to accomplish and what is truly needed. Moreover, the answers they propose and fund often produce the opposite of what they want over time. We end up with temporary shelters that increase homelessness, drug busts that increase drug-related crime, or food aid that increases starvation. How do these unintended consequences come about and how can we avoid them? By applying conventional thinking to complex social problems, we often perpetuate the very problems we try so hard to solve, but it is possible to think differently, and get different results. Systems Thinking for Social Change enables readers to contribute more effectively to society by helping them understand what systems thinking is and why it is so important in their work. It also gives concrete guidance on how to incorporate systems thinking in problem solving, decision making, and strategic planning without becoming a technical expert. Systems thinking leader David Stroh walks readers through techniques he has used to help people improve their efforts on complex problems like: ending homelessness improving public health strengthening education designing a system for early childhood development protecting child welfare developing rural economies facilitating the reentry of formerly incarcerated people into society resolving identity-based conflicts and more! The result is a highly readable, effective guide to understanding systems and using that knowledge to get the results you want.


Transitions and Social Change

Transitions and Social Change

Author: Dennis P. Hogan

Publisher: Elsevier

Published: 2013-10-22

Total Pages: 249

ISBN-13: 1483260445

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Transitions and Social Change: The Early Lives of American Men deals with the timing and synchronization of transition events that signify the passage of American males from adolescence to adulthood. The book is divided into four parts. Part I is an introduction to the study and its data and methods. This part also deals with the passage to adulthood, education, work, and adolescence. Part II covers the intercohort differences in the transition to adulthood. Part III studies the effects of social background differentials such as social class background, the size of the community, and ethnic ancestry to the transition to adulthood. Part IV talks about the possible consequences of early life-course transition behavior, transition to adulthood and marital stability, and social change and the transition to adulthood. The text is recommended for anthropologists, sociologists, psychologists, and any experts in the field who wish to know more about the transition of American adolescent males into adulthood, the factors that affect it, and its effects.


Social Change

Social Change

Author: Jay Weinstein

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Published: 2010-06-16

Total Pages: 459

ISBN-13: 1442203013

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This introduction to social change covers the momentous and relatively recent changes that have occurred in the human condition, examining not only the major causes and conditions underlying our current situation, but also the main choices and options we face as we strive to shape our individual and collective futures. This edition of Social Change has been thoroughly updated and revised. Building on previous editions, the book introduces a social scientific approach to change, discusses the components of change and the factors driving them, examines change on the macro-level, then looks toward the future with a discussion of planned change. Most chapters explore societies of yesterday, today, and tomorrow, and include comparative dimensions, especially along First, Second, and Third World lines. The engaging narrative traces several themes, such as the rise of capitalism and the socialist alternative, or civil rights movements in the United States and elsewhere, throughout the book. Social Change, Third Edition features a new discussion of the recent economic crisis and the interconnectedness of the global economy, new empirical data on globalization, and updated discussions of the concepts of evolution and altruism. It also incorporates the dramatic changes in India and China throughout the book.


Social Change 2.0

Social Change 2.0

Author: David Gershon

Publisher:

Published: 2009

Total Pages: 424

ISBN-13:

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If "change" is the mantra of our moment in history, Social Change 2.0 may be poised to become its bible. Drawing on his three decades in the trenches of large-scale societal transformation, David Gershon--founder and president of Empowerment Institute, and described by the United Nations as a "graceful revolutionary"--offers an original and comprehensive roadmap to bring about fundamental change in our world. His goal is to empower change agents to tackle pressing social problems or unmet social needs by providing them with strategies and tools to effect transformative change at any level of scale.From his initiation as architect of the United Nations-sponsored First Earth Run--a mythic passing of fire around the world symbolizing humanity's quest for peace on earth that drew tens of millions of participants, the planet's political leaders and, through the media, over a billion people at the height of the cold war--to his recent climate-change work helping citizens, cities, and entire states measurably reduce their carbon footprint (using his book Low Carbon Diet), Gershon offers readers strategies to evolve an effective new model for social change. These include: The first comprehensive social-change model with proven, practical strategies and tools to either launch a social change initiative or improve the efficacy of any existing change program. A "Practitioner's Guide" accompanying each chapter, to help readers apply this social change framework to their initiative. The result is a riveting, enlightening, and inspiring book that will quickly find its way onto the desks--and into the hearts--of the tens of thousands of change agents engaged in the work of building a better world. Social Change 2.0 speaks to a wide range of practitioners across the spectrum of social change including social and environmental activists, social entrepreneurs, community organizers, and civic, government, and business leaders, as well as the vast number of baby boomers looking for a way to give back and the millennials just raring to go.


Public Policy and Social Change

Public Policy and Social Change

Author: Roque Kyros

Publisher:

Published: 2017-12

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781536129625

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In this book, the evolution of building a modern and creative society in China is explored in juxtaposition with the development of school education in China. The authors examine how music education may help initiate a policy dialogue on creativity in Chinas school music education and the challenges between contemporary cultural and social values and communist ideologies, and between collectivism and individualism. Next, the authors propose a framework for effective policy practice and detail evidence-based strategies for competent social service policy practice. The framework is drawn from research, professional experience, the experience of colleagues, and the experience of social work students. A study is presented on junior secondary school students preferred musical styles and how different social factors have fashioned their musical preferences in contemporary Hong Kong culture. This study showed that music listening functioned as an aesthetic and leisure activity, but more importantly as a means of socialization. An important chapter is included that defines powerful network actors in public policy, demonstrates the effects of their actions, and explains reasons behind different types of networking. The authors review the five stages of policy cycle: formation, formulation, decision-making, implementation, and evaluation, placing greater emphasis on implementation. In closing, the concept of social change is examined from various angles, using differing definitions as given by many sociologists. The authors maintain that society, in conjunctio with social change, is dynamic and in a constant state of transformation.