Paradoxes of Transformative Social Innovation: From Critical Awareness towards Strategies of Inquiry
Society is transforming through a whirlpool of innovations. This includes technological as well as social innovations, i.e. changes in social relations involving new ways of doing, organizing, framing and knowing. Especially the potentials for transformative social innovation (TSI) are gaining the i...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Universidade Federal do Parana
2022-01-01
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| Series: | Novation |
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| Online Access: | https://revistas.ufpr.br/novation/article/view/91113 |
| _version_ | 1797402034714968064 |
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| author | Bonno Pel Julia M. Wittmayer Flor Avelino Tom Bauler |
| author_facet | Bonno Pel Julia M. Wittmayer Flor Avelino Tom Bauler |
| author_sort | Bonno Pel |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Society is transforming through a whirlpool of innovations. This includes technological as well as social innovations, i.e. changes in social relations involving new ways of doing, organizing, framing and knowing. Especially the potentials for transformative social innovation (TSI) are gaining the interest of progressive political actors and critical scholars. Occurring in the form of new modes of governance and alternative ways of working and living together, TSI involves the challenging, altering or replacing of dominant institutions. As documented in various strands of critical social inquiry and innovation research, TSI praxis is pervaded with contradictions, anomalies and paradoxes. This methodological contribution addresses the challenge that tends to remain: How to elaborate this general critical awareness into more operational ‘strategies of inquiry’? The paper discusses paradoxes of a) system reproduction, b) temporality, and c) reality construction. Identifying distinct kinds of contradictions and distinct empirical phenomena, this differentiation also calls attention to the associated differences between realist, processual and constructivist research philosophies. Gathering the empirical analyses, theoretical interpretations and methodological advances that have been made on these paradoxes, this contribution opens up the scope for critical and practically relevant innovation research: It is important to bridge the divide between rigorous but sterile methodological know-how, and critical-reflexive theorizing that lacks operational insights.
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| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T02:19:30Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-1700882fccba4fdab10d56d4151b7651 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2562-7147 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T02:19:30Z |
| publishDate | 2022-01-01 |
| publisher | Universidade Federal do Parana |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Novation |
| spelling | doaj.art-1700882fccba4fdab10d56d4151b76512023-12-06T18:47:57ZengUniversidade Federal do ParanaNovation2562-71472022-01-01420223562http://dx.doi.org/10.5380/nocsi.v0i4.91113 Paradoxes of Transformative Social Innovation: From Critical Awareness towards Strategies of InquiryBonno Pel0https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6863-2475Julia M. Wittmayer1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4738-6276Flor Avelino2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3709-9791Tom Bauler3https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3958-0818Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Institut de Gestion de l'Environnement et d'Aménagement du Territoire – IGEAT, SOcio-eNvironmental dYnAmics Research Group – SONYA, Brussels, BelgiumErasmus Universiteit Rotterdam (EUR), Dutch Research Institute For Transitions (DRIFT), Rotterdam, NetherlandsUtrecht University (UU), Copernicus Institute for Sustainable Development, Section Innovation Studies, Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam (EUR), Dutch Research Institute For Transitions (DRIFT), NetherlandsUniversité Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Institut de Gestion de l'Environnement et d'Aménagement du Territoire – IGEAT, SOcio-eNvironmental dYnAmics Research Group – SONYA, Brussels, BelgiumSociety is transforming through a whirlpool of innovations. This includes technological as well as social innovations, i.e. changes in social relations involving new ways of doing, organizing, framing and knowing. Especially the potentials for transformative social innovation (TSI) are gaining the interest of progressive political actors and critical scholars. Occurring in the form of new modes of governance and alternative ways of working and living together, TSI involves the challenging, altering or replacing of dominant institutions. As documented in various strands of critical social inquiry and innovation research, TSI praxis is pervaded with contradictions, anomalies and paradoxes. This methodological contribution addresses the challenge that tends to remain: How to elaborate this general critical awareness into more operational ‘strategies of inquiry’? The paper discusses paradoxes of a) system reproduction, b) temporality, and c) reality construction. Identifying distinct kinds of contradictions and distinct empirical phenomena, this differentiation also calls attention to the associated differences between realist, processual and constructivist research philosophies. Gathering the empirical analyses, theoretical interpretations and methodological advances that have been made on these paradoxes, this contribution opens up the scope for critical and practically relevant innovation research: It is important to bridge the divide between rigorous but sterile methodological know-how, and critical-reflexive theorizing that lacks operational insights. https://revistas.ufpr.br/novation/article/view/91113social innovationsocietal transformationparadoxescritical analysismethodology |
| spellingShingle | Bonno Pel Julia M. Wittmayer Flor Avelino Tom Bauler Paradoxes of Transformative Social Innovation: From Critical Awareness towards Strategies of Inquiry Novation social innovation societal transformation paradoxes critical analysis methodology |
| title | Paradoxes of Transformative Social Innovation: From Critical Awareness towards Strategies of Inquiry |
| title_full | Paradoxes of Transformative Social Innovation: From Critical Awareness towards Strategies of Inquiry |
| title_fullStr | Paradoxes of Transformative Social Innovation: From Critical Awareness towards Strategies of Inquiry |
| title_full_unstemmed | Paradoxes of Transformative Social Innovation: From Critical Awareness towards Strategies of Inquiry |
| title_short | Paradoxes of Transformative Social Innovation: From Critical Awareness towards Strategies of Inquiry |
| title_sort | paradoxes of transformative social innovation from critical awareness towards strategies of inquiry |
| topic | social innovation societal transformation paradoxes critical analysis methodology |
| url | https://revistas.ufpr.br/novation/article/view/91113 |
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