Shared action spaces:a basis function framework for social re-calibration of sensorimotor representations supporting joint action

The article explores the possibilities of formalizing and explaining the mechanisms that support spatial and social perspective alignment sustained over the duration of a social interaction. The basic proposed principle is that in social contexts the mechanisms for sensorimotor transformations and multisensory integration (learn to) incorporate information relative to the other actor(s), similar to the "re-calibration" of visual receptive fields in response to repeated tool use. This process aligns or merges the co-actors' spatial representations and creates a "Shared Action Space" (SAS) supporting key computations of social interactions and joint actions; for example, the remapping between the coordinate systems and frames of reference of the co-actors, including perspective taking, the sensorimotor transformations required for lifting jointly an object, and the predictions of the sensory effects of such joint action. The social re-calibration is proposed to be based on common basis function maps (BFMs) and could constitute an optimal solution to sensorimotor transformation and multisensory integration in joint action or more in general social interaction contexts. However, certain situations such as discrepant postural and viewpoint alignment and associated differences in perspectives between the co-actors could constrain the process quite differently. We discuss how alignment is achieved in the first place, and how it is maintained over time, providing a taxonomy of various forms and mechanisms of space alignment and overlap based, for instance, on automaticity vs. control of the transformations between the two agents. Finally, we discuss the link between low-level mechanisms for the sharing of space and high-level mechanisms for the sharing of cognitive representations. © 2013 Pezzulo, Iodice, Ferraina and Kessler.

An actor-network theory study of public sector inter-organisational collaboration

EMBARGOED The literature on inter-organisational collaboration, although wide-ranging, offers little guidance on collaboration as process. It focuses in the main on human attributes like leadership, trust and agency, but gives little consideration to the role of objects in the development of inter-organisational collaborations. A central aim of this thesis is to understand the interaction of objects and humans in the development of a particular health and social care partnership in the North East of England. This socio-material perspective was achieved through actor-network theory (ANT) as a methodology, in which the researcher is equally sensitised to the role of human and non-human entities in the development of a network. The case study is that of the North East Lincolnshire Care Trust Plus (CTP). This was a unique health and social care collaboration arrangement between North East Lincolnshire Council and North East Lincolnshire Primary Care Trust, setup to address heath inequalities in the region. The CTP was conceived and developed at a local level by the respective organisation’s decision makers in the face of considerable opposition from regional policy makers and national regulators. However, despite this opposition, the directors eventually achieved their goal and the CTP became operational on 1st September 2007. This study seeks to understand how the CTP was conceived and developed, in the face of this opposition. The thesis makes a number of original contributions. Firstly, it adds to the current body of literature on collaboration by identifying how objects can help problematize issues and cement inter-organisational collaborations. Secondly it provides a novel account describing how two public sector organisations created a unique collaboration, despite pressing resistance from the regulatory authorities; and thirdly it extends Callon’s (1996) notion of problematization to examine how, what is rather vaguely described as ‘context’ in the literature, becomes enmeshed in decisions to collaborate. UNTIL 03/02/2016 THIS THESIS IS ONLY AVAILABLE FOR CONSULTATION AT ASTON UNIVERSITY LIBRARY WITH PRIOR ARRANGEMENT

The social development strategy of the Shiites in Lebanon

This study examines what many scholars have neglected to investigate when addressing post Civil War issues in Lebanon. Most studies have addressed political issues surrounding activities of Shiite movements, such as Harakat Amal or Hizb Allah, while socioeconomic issues have been neglected.^ Imam Musa Sadr challenged the power of traditional Shiite leaders by creating official Shiites institutions and movements like Amal. The Iranian Revolution and the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982 sparked the creation of Hizb Allah which, not only struggled against its foes, but also provided social services to the Shiites. This development program has been central in creating political legitimacy for Hizb Allah, regardless of its military situation, which suggests that socioeconomic development can transform a militia into a legitimate actor on the Lebanese political scene. The survivability of Shiite parties is therefore tantamount to not only their military might, but also to their social involvement. ^

The social development strategy of the shiites in Lebanon

This study examines what many scholars have neglected to investigate when addressing post Civil War issues in Lebanon. Most studies have addressed political issues surrounding activities of Shiite movements, such as Harakat Amal or Hizb Allah, while socioeconomic issues have been neglected. Imam Musa Sadr challenged the power of traditional Shiite leaders by creating official Shiites institutions and movements like Amal. The Iranian Revolution and the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982 sparked the creation of Hizb Allah which, not only struggled against its foes, but also provided social services to the Shiites. This development program has been central in creating political legitimacy for Hizb Allah, regardless of its military situation, which suggests that socioeconomic development can transform a militia into a legitimate actor on the Lebanese political scene. The survivability of Shiite parties is therefore tantamount to not only their military might, but also to their social involvement.

Latent Space and Social Psychological Models of Diffusion

The problem of social diffusion has animated sociological thinking on topics ranging from the spread of an idea, an innovation or a disease, to the foundations of collective behavior and political polarization. While network diffusion has been a productive metaphor, the reality of diffusion processes is often muddier. Ideas and innovations diffuse differently from diseases, but, with a few exceptions, the diffusion of ideas and innovations has been modeled under the same assumptions as the diffusion of disease. In this dissertation, I develop two new diffusion models for "socially meaningful" contagions that address two of the most significant problems with current diffusion models: (1) that contagions can only spread along observed ties, and (2) that contagions do not change as they spread between people. I augment insights from these statistical and simulation models with an analysis of an empirical case of diffusion - the use of enterprise collaboration software in a large technology company. I focus the empirical study on when people abandon innovations, a crucial, and understudied aspect of the diffusion of innovations. Using timestamped posts, I analyze when people abandon software to a high degree of detail.

To address the first problem, I suggest a latent space diffusion model. Rather than treating ties as stable conduits for information, the latent space diffusion model treats ties as random draws from an underlying social space, and simulates diffusion over the social space. Theoretically, the social space model integrates both actor ties and attributes simultaneously in a single social plane, while incorporating schemas into diffusion processes gives an explicit form to the reciprocal influences that cognition and social environment have on each other. Practically, the latent space diffusion model produces statistically consistent diffusion estimates where using the network alone does not, and the diffusion with schemas model shows that introducing some cognitive processing into diffusion processes changes the rate and ultimate distribution of the spreading information. To address the second problem, I suggest a diffusion model with schemas. Rather than treating information as though it is spread without changes, the schema diffusion model allows people to modify information they receive to fit an underlying mental model of the information before they pass the information to others. Combining the latent space models with a schema notion for actors improves our models for social diffusion both theoretically and practically.

The empirical case study focuses on how the changing value of an innovation, introduced by the innovations' network externalities, influences when people abandon the innovation. In it, I find that people are least likely to abandon an innovation when other people in their neighborhood currently use the software as well. The effect is particularly pronounced for supervisors' current use and number of supervisory team members who currently use the software. This case study not only points to an important process in the diffusion of innovation, but also suggests a new approach -- computerized collaboration systems -- to collecting and analyzing data on organizational processes.

Reflexividad y procesos de (re)constitución de lazo social

Nuestro objeto de estudio es el entramado de relaciones sociales desde el cual se constituyen formas de organización política auto-referenciada de parte de sectores populares. La organización que tomamos como estudio de caso es la "Federación de Tierra, Vivienda y Hábitat" (FTV), organización territorial perteneciente a la Central de Trabajadores Argentinos (CTA). El objetivo general de la investigación es contribuir a una explicación sociológica sobre las (re)orientaciones políticas de una parte activa de los sectores populares, las respuestas organizativas desarrolladas y su presencia como actor político en la escena pública. En esta ponencia nos proponemos abordar uno de los aspectos que estamos trabajando en nuestra investigación, aquél vinculado con lo que denominamos politicidad, delineando las características constitutivas de las sensibilidades y actitudes de los actores hacia la política y el hacer política. En función de que el desarrollo de este aspecto de la investigación sea claro, describiremos algunos resultados parciales de la misma referidos a otras dimensiones del objeto. En el marco de esta ponencia nos interesa hacer hincapié en las capacidades reflexivas de los actores por cuanto se orientan hacia esfuerzos organizativos auto-referenciados. El registro reflexivo se identifica como una propiedad de la acción de estos actores que conforma de manera definitoria las características que hacen a la dinámica del tejido social cuya constitución y (re)constitución está en juego. Decimos, entonces, que la mayor reflexividad, en parte producto de la desestructuración de los diferentes ámbitos relacionales, da lugar como condición de posibilidad, a un proceso de (re)constitución de lazo social. Adicionalmente, es precisamente el concepto de reflexividad el que es útil para dar cuenta de las características específicas de auto-referencia y autonomía de la politicidad de los actores

Reflexividad y procesos de (re)constitución de lazo social

Nuestro objeto de estudio es el entramado de relaciones sociales desde el cual se constituyen formas de organización política auto-referenciada de parte de sectores populares. La organización que tomamos como estudio de caso es la "Federación de Tierra, Vivienda y Hábitat" (FTV), organización territorial perteneciente a la Central de Trabajadores Argentinos (CTA). El objetivo general de la investigación es contribuir a una explicación sociológica sobre las (re)orientaciones políticas de una parte activa de los sectores populares, las respuestas organizativas desarrolladas y su presencia como actor político en la escena pública. En esta ponencia nos proponemos abordar uno de los aspectos que estamos trabajando en nuestra investigación, aquél vinculado con lo que denominamos politicidad, delineando las características constitutivas de las sensibilidades y actitudes de los actores hacia la política y el hacer política. En función de que el desarrollo de este aspecto de la investigación sea claro, describiremos algunos resultados parciales de la misma referidos a otras dimensiones del objeto. En el marco de esta ponencia nos interesa hacer hincapié en las capacidades reflexivas de los actores por cuanto se orientan hacia esfuerzos organizativos auto-referenciados. El registro reflexivo se identifica como una propiedad de la acción de estos actores que conforma de manera definitoria las características que hacen a la dinámica del tejido social cuya constitución y (re)constitución está en juego. Decimos, entonces, que la mayor reflexividad, en parte producto de la desestructuración de los diferentes ámbitos relacionales, da lugar como condición de posibilidad, a un proceso de (re)constitución de lazo social. Adicionalmente, es precisamente el concepto de reflexividad el que es útil para dar cuenta de las características específicas de auto-referencia y autonomía de la politicidad de los actores

Reflexividad y procesos de (re)constitución de lazo social

Nuestro objeto de estudio es el entramado de relaciones sociales desde el cual se constituyen formas de organización política auto-referenciada de parte de sectores populares. La organización que tomamos como estudio de caso es la "Federación de Tierra, Vivienda y Hábitat" (FTV), organización territorial perteneciente a la Central de Trabajadores Argentinos (CTA). El objetivo general de la investigación es contribuir a una explicación sociológica sobre las (re)orientaciones políticas de una parte activa de los sectores populares, las respuestas organizativas desarrolladas y su presencia como actor político en la escena pública. En esta ponencia nos proponemos abordar uno de los aspectos que estamos trabajando en nuestra investigación, aquél vinculado con lo que denominamos politicidad, delineando las características constitutivas de las sensibilidades y actitudes de los actores hacia la política y el hacer política. En función de que el desarrollo de este aspecto de la investigación sea claro, describiremos algunos resultados parciales de la misma referidos a otras dimensiones del objeto. En el marco de esta ponencia nos interesa hacer hincapié en las capacidades reflexivas de los actores por cuanto se orientan hacia esfuerzos organizativos auto-referenciados. El registro reflexivo se identifica como una propiedad de la acción de estos actores que conforma de manera definitoria las características que hacen a la dinámica del tejido social cuya constitución y (re)constitución está en juego. Decimos, entonces, que la mayor reflexividad, en parte producto de la desestructuración de los diferentes ámbitos relacionales, da lugar como condición de posibilidad, a un proceso de (re)constitución de lazo social. Adicionalmente, es precisamente el concepto de reflexividad el que es útil para dar cuenta de las características específicas de auto-referencia y autonomía de la politicidad de los actores

The Electoral Rise of Populist Radical Right Parties in Europe: Ideological Parameters and Social Motivations

Populist radical right parties have become major political actors in Europe. This paper analyses the path and the different phases that have led them from the fringes of public debate to their present signifi cance, which is based on their capacity to attract electoral support and infl uence the political agendas in their respective countries. Besides, an analysis of the core ideological beliefs of these parties, and of the topics on which their mobilization capacity rests, is provided, as well as of the type of voters that are attracted by them. Finally, the authors discuss the meaning and impact of the growing popularity of the ideas and proposals put forward by the populist radical right parties.

Using social network analysis to identify key stakeholders in agricultural biodiversity governance and related land-use decisions at regional and local level

In 2013 the European Commission launched its new green infrastructure strategy to make another attempt to stop and possibly reverse the loss of biodiversity until 2020, by connecting habitats in the wider landscape. This means that conservation would go beyond current practices to include landscapes that are dominated by conventional agriculture, where biodiversity conservation plays a minor role at best. The green infrastructure strategy aims at bottom-up rather than top-down implementation, and suggests including local and regional stakeholders. Therefore, it is important to know which stakeholders influence land-use decisions concerning green infrastructure at the local and regional level. The research presented in this paper served to select stakeholders in preparation for a participatory scenario development process to analyze consequences of different implementation options of the European green infrastructure strategy. We used a mix of qualitative and quantitative social network analysis (SNA) methods to combine actors’ attributes, especially concerning their perceived influence, with structural and relational measures. Further, our analysis provides information on institutional backgrounds and governance settings for green infrastructure and agricultural policy. The investigation started with key informant interviews at the regional level in administrative units responsible for relevant policies and procedures such as regional planners, representatives of federal ministries, and continued at the local level with farmers and other members of the community. The analysis revealed the importance of information flows and regulations but also of social pressure, considerably influencing biodiversity governance with respect to green infrastructure and biodiversity.

La Reforma de salud en el Ecuador: discursos y prácticas de una demanda social su impacto para la atención primaria de la salud

Se analiza como el Neoliberalismo, desde sus concepciones doctrinarias, ha generado una crisis insostenible, frente a la cual ni los compromisos y declaraciones internacionales logran tener efectos, razón por la cual y ante la demanda del mercado mundial, el sistema busca la figura de un estado mínimo o subsidiario, que garantice el dominio del mercado en las relaciones sociales. Dentro de esta lógica de reforma del Estado, surgen propuestas de cambiar los modelos de salud, las que en lugar de garantizar un desarrollo humano, pretenden privatizar la salud, ahondando más las inequidades. Se evidencia además que el tratamiento del tema no se limita a la acción macro política, sino que en la práctica se vienen operativizando modelos concretos de ejecución de la reforma a nivel local, que con distintos matices van desbrozando el camino para su ejecución. Con el conjunto de ese análisis y nutridos de elementos planteados por la sociedad civil, se elabora una contrapropuesta de reforma que trabaja un marco referencial de otra vía de reconstrucción del Estado y la salud pública, proponiendo una reforma de salud que reconoce tres niveles: el sistema de relaciones, el modelo de atención y calidad de los servicios de salud, y el rol de la comunidad como actor básico de una salud que democratice la sociedad.

From social action to business action - A qualitative research on the professionalization process of a blogger: Case P.s. I Love Fashion -blog

Blogging is one of the most common forms of social media today. Blogs have become a powerful media and bloggers are settled stakeholders to marketers. Commercialization of the blogosphere has enabled an increasing number of bloggers professionalize and blog as a full-time occupation. The purpose of this study is to understand the professionalization process of a blogger from an amateur blogger to a professional actor. The following sub-questions were used to further elaborate the topic: What have been the meaningful events and developments fostering professionalization? What are the prerequisites for popularity in blogging? Are there any key success factors to acknowledge in order being able to make business out of your blog? The theoretical framework of this study was formed based on the two chosen focus areas for professionalization; social drivers and business drivers. The theoretical framework is based on literature from fields of marketing and social sciences, as well as previous research on social media, blogging and professionalization. The study is a qualitative case-study and the research data was collected in a semi-structured interview. The case chosen to this study is a lifestyle-blog. The writer of the case blog has been able to develop her blog to become a full-time professional blogger. Based on the results, the professionalization process of a blogger is not a defined process, but instead comprised of coincidental events as well as considered advancements. Success in blogging is based on the bloggers own motivation and passion for writing and expressing oneself in the form of a blog, instead of a systematic construction of a successful career in blogging. Networking with other bloggers as well as affiliates was seen as an important success factor. Popularity in the blogosphere and a high number of followers enable professionalization, as marketers actively seek to collaborate with popular bloggers with strong personal brands. Bloggers with strong personal brands are especially attractive due to their opinion leadership in their reference group. A blogger can act professionally either as entrepreneur or blogging for a commercial webpage. According to the results of this study, it is beneficial for the blogger’s professional development as well as career progress, to act on different operating models