Emergent Social Phenomena Research Articles

Always on standby: acknowledging the psychosocial risk of our postdigital presence in online digital labour in higher education

ABSTRACT This paper focuses on our experiences as higher education workers and the changing work culture that has resulted in the move to online digital labour. The shift to online and remote teaching has had disastrous impacts on academics’ ability to both pursue research, and maintain a work–life balance. Examined in this paper is an understanding of how online digital labour has created an ontological shift that has inexorably blurred the boundaries between home and work. We theorize how forms of psychosocial risk in the academy has been normalized in both an intensification of digital labour and in part, an entire sector transformation away from physical campuses. Through a nomenclature of ‘postdigital presence’ we discuss how there has been a fundamental change in how we experience academic work, and narrate how it has (re)formed our working worlds. As future projections, we situate notions of the Slow University and Quiet Quitting as counter hegemonic tactics for policy makers to consider, by reflecting on three ‘interruptions’ around Remote and Isolated work, Job Demands, and Digital Fatigue. We conclude that there is a need to engage in critical questioning around digital labour as an emergent social, anthropological and technological phenomena, not only for improved academic well-being, but also due to the financial risk to institutions of academics being always ‘on standby’.

From ‘I’ to ‘we’: an exploration of how theories of cooperation might inform policymaking around sustainable travel behaviour

This article considers how theories of social cooperation might be helpful in developing policy levers for changing travel behaviours towards environmentally beneficial outcomes, especially in reducing private car use. ‘Theories of cooperation’ can be described as a shift away from a ‘traditional’ economic focus on selfish individuals to one where individuals care what those around them are doing and even sometimes identify with, and think as, groups. We use a simplified ‘game’ to show how game theory offers a very constrained backdrop to thinking about cooperation in a transport setting: it neglects important social factors, both strategic ones and the general social interactions and ease that may be required as a backdrop to cooperation in real life. We then apply this to ‘use cases’ (lift sharing, on-site travel planning, safe cycle storage and peer-to-peer information sharing) that bridge the gap between the abstractions of theories of cooperation, on the one hand, and the practicalities of policymaking and lived reality, on the other. In doing this, we show how cooperation in travel behaviour can develop in two different ways: as emergent social phenomena (for example, the informal-economy approach to car or bicycle repair) and purposeful policy initiatives (for example, rail-fare discounts for two people travelling together, such as the UK’s ‘two together’ railcard). Somewhat reductively, these could be described as ‘bottom-up’ and ‘top-down’ elements within behaviour-change processes. The article shows that: (1) cooperation exists ‘naturally’ in the ‘travel-behaviour policy space’; (2) there is a wealth of opportunities for policy to help make cooperation happen more and/or work better; and (3) this includes opportunities to create the conditions required for cooperation to exist and flourish.

When hope messages become the discursive norm: how repertoires of hope shape communicative capacity in conversations on the circular economy

Environmental communication research often conceptualises hope as an internal state of mind, suggesting that messages focused on hope can be used in strategic communication to foster environmental engagement. In this paper, we critique this individualising approach and instead explore hope discourse as an emergent social phenomenon, focusing on how it is constructed and managed in inspirational meetings about the circular economy. Using critical discursive psychology as a methodology, we identify three interpretative repertoires through which hope is constructed: stronger together, change for real, silver lining. We explore what is accomplished by their use, and discuss the social implications within the meetings and beyond. The repertoires facilitate a positive meeting experience and solidarity amongst participants. However, hope discourse also relies on abstraction which prohibits disagreement, critique, and talk about concrete actions.

The disappointment of financial support measures during the COVID-19 pandemic among small business managers’ in Sweden

The COVID-19 pandemic is viewed as an emergent social phenomenon with several negative effects, e.g., financial decline of small businesses, as well as worsened sense of well-being. The aim of this article is to explore small business managers’ perceptions of governmental financial support measures and relate them to how they experienced their own health and consequences on their work environment. This mixed-method study was performed during the COVID-19 pandemic in Sweden. A survey was conducted during the period from October 2020 to February 2021 and answered by 729 small business managers, followed by ten interviews in March 2021. The key result shows that the managers were dissatisfied with the governmental financial support measures implemented. The results show that the attitudes of the small business managers towards the financial support measures may have had a negative impact on their subjective health. The study indicates a mismatch between the needs of small businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic and how society provides resources through support systems. This in turn may have meant a limitation on the government’s ability to assist small business owners with financial support during the pandemic.

Deep Learning Exploration of Agent-Based Social Network Model Parameters.

Interactions between humans give rise to complex social networks that are characterized by heterogeneous degree distribution, weight-topology relation, overlapping community structure, and dynamics of links. Understanding these characteristics of social networks is the primary goal of their research as they constitute scaffolds for various emergent social phenomena from disease spreading to political movements. An appropriate tool for studying them is agent-based modeling, in which nodes, representing individuals, make decisions about creating and deleting links, thus yielding various macroscopic behavioral patterns. Here we focus on studying a generalization of the weighted social network model, being one of the most fundamental agent-based models for describing the formation of social ties and social networks. This generalized weighted social network (GWSN) model incorporates triadic closure, homophilic interactions, and various link termination mechanisms, which have been studied separately in the previous works. Accordingly, the GWSN model has an increased number of input parameters and the model behavior gets excessively complex, making it challenging to clarify the model behavior. We have executed massive simulations with a supercomputer and used the results as the training data for deep neural networks to conduct regression analysis for predicting the properties of the generated networks from the input parameters. The obtained regression model was also used for global sensitivity analysis to identify which parameters are influential or insignificant. We believe that this methodology is applicable for a large class of complex network models, thus opening the way for more realistic quantitative agent-based modeling.

Leadership as Phenomenon: Reassessing the Philosophical Ground of Leadership Studies

The purpose of this article is to contribute to a more robust theory of leadership that shifts the frame of reference from leadership as exclusively facilitated through a single inspired leader to one that includes the view of leadership as an emergent and complex social phenomenon. The article begins with a review of the leader-centric approaches that dominated much of twentieth century leadership studies then moves on to present contemporary critiques of leader-centric approaches leading to an alternative perspective of leadership as an emergent and complex social phenomenon. Viewing leadership as an emergent and complex social phenomenon changes our attitude regarding the roles that leaders and others play in the creation of leadership. A central theme of this article is the impact that the concept of emergence has on leadership theory. In response to this changing attitude, the article then moves to return to and reassess the ontological, epistemological and ethical grounds of leadership and concludes that there is an underlying philosophy that supports viewing leadership as an emergent social phenomenon and further suggests that recent work in virtue epistemology along with Calvin Schrag’s theory of communicative praxis and transversal rationality, can facilitate a better understanding of leadership as an emergent social phenomenon.

The role of the state of Hidalgo in the public policies for the Hidalgo inhabitants abroad

<p>A partir de 1990 la migración hacia los Estados Unidos de los hidalguenses se intensificó, posicionándose entonces como un fenómeno social emergente. En respuesta al mismo, las autoridades del estado de Hidalgo, en el año 1999, hicieron esfuerzos de intervención. El objetivo de este documento es describir los antecedentes de las políticas públicas desarrolladas por el gobierno de Hidalgo en atención a sus migrantes en Estados Unidos, esto a través de una metodología de análisis histórico y cualitativo para investigar tres períodos gubernamentales de gestión y las diversas iniciativas desarrolladas por el gobierno estatal.</p>

On language, culture, and controversies

ABSTRACTControversies in applied linguistics are often products of clashes between diverging theoretical perspectives. To overcome controversies and aim towards new forms of knowledge, academics and practitioners therefore need to adopt interdisciplinary approaches to addressing theoretical issues at the heart of controversies, so as to find threads within and across epistemologies and further clarify objects under investigative scrutiny. From this perspective, this essay presents the controversy over whether English as a lingua franca (ELF) constitutes a valid approach to English language learning and teaching as the outcome of conflicting theoretical understandings of language. The article also provides a realist view of language as a stratified and emergent social phenomenon. Finally, some preliminary observations regarding the adoption of a realist approach to ELF-oriented education are offered.

Money and the emergence of knowledge in society

This paper deals with money’s epistemic relevance in society. Money presents theoretical difficulties for neoclassical economics, which treats it as a cost-reducing tool, leading to a socially neutral, aseptic view on money. Drawing from complexity and social theory I provide a socio-epistemic rationalization for money’s irreplaceable role. Building upon Ingham’s Money Is a Social Relation, I argue that money generates a new orderly system of complex social relations that in turn engenders knowledge as an emergent social and ontological phenomenon irreducible to the fragmented knowledge held by members of society. I show that ultimately money cannot be separated from economic knowledge and market rationality. This paper provides sociological and ontological accounts for the emergence of knowledge crucial to coordinate societies, thus extending recent explorations of the ontology of money.

Organizing Practice and Practicing Organization: An Outline of Translational Mobilization Theory

Understanding the relationship between emergent social phenomena and the stabilizing mechanisms that make collective action possible is a longstanding concern in social science, but remains an inadequately theorized area. This article sets out a middle range theory - Translational Mobilization Theory – to address this challenge. Adopting a practice-based approach, we connect interactionist perspectives on social order, analyses of socio-technical networks, and theories of strategic action fields, to describe and explain how projects of institutionally sanctioned collective action are progressed by actors interacting with and through socially constructed objects. Investigating these mechanisms is a prerequisite to advancing empirical and theoretical understanding of the complex organizational processes and structures that characterize contemporary society.

Next stop, Pleasure Town: Identity transformation and women's erotic consumption

This study examines erotic consumption by a diverse group of Brazilian women with a particular focus on material culture. Its specific objectives are to understand (1) how women are transformed by their relationships with the erotic products industry and (2) how the erotic products industry may be transformed by its relationship with women. The ethnographic research draws from and interrogates Miller's dialectical theory of material culture. Female orgasm is a key outcome of the assemblages created by women's erotic consumption. That embodied experience becomes a key actor in other emergent assemblages or agencements encompassing identity, conjugal and social relationships, the erotic products industry, and Brazilian society itself. A key contribution of this research is the use of theories of material culture to explain individual consumer identity as a psycho-socio-technical assemblage constructed and transformed in the contexts of other constantly emergent social phenomena.

Agent-based Modelling, a new kind of research

We discuss the use of Agent-based Modelling for the development and testing of theories about emergent social phenomena in marketing and the social sciences in general. We address both theoretical aspects about the types of phenomena that are suitably addressed with this approach and practical guidelines to help plan and structure the development of a theory about the causes of such a phenomenon in conjunction with a matching ABM. We argue that research about complex social phenomena is still largely fundamental research and therefore an iterative and cyclical development process of both theory and model is to be expected. To better anticipate and manage this process, we provide theoretical and practical guidelines. These may help to identify and structure the domain of candidate explanations for a social phenomenon, and furthermore assist the process of model implementation and subsequent development. The main goal of this paper was to make research on complex social systems more accessible and help anticipate and structure the research process.

Eleven mechanisms for the evolution of cooperation

Abstract:Cooperation is one of the basic elements of social life. It is essential for emergent social phenomena, such as the formation of families, groups, and societies. However, evolutionary forces counter cooperation. The trait of supporting others is dominated by selfish behavior. In the last few decades scientists, in particular biologists, achieved extraordinary progress regarding the question of how cooperation is possible despite of evolutionary forces. This produced an enormous amount of literature. This paper identifies and reviews the known solutions explaining cooperation under evolutionary forces. Using bibliometric methods in combination with extant review articles and traditional reviewing of original literature, it is possible to isolate 11 mechanisms of cooperation under the conditions of evolution. Developing a categorization of the mechanisms according to shared characteristics establishes a fundamental framework for institutional and mechanism design activities. Implications for future research paths are identified, in particular for the mechanism of indirect reciprocity.

A Theoretical Agent‐Based Model to simulate an Artificial Social Evolution

Agent‐based social simulation as a computational approach to social simulation has been largely used to explore social phenomena. The purpose of this paper is to build a theoretical agent‐based model to simulate the social evolution of a set of agents/artificial societies. In this model, each agent (artificial society) has an available number of social behaviours that compete among each other. The agent/agent interactions are carried out by their social otherwise, the agent/environment interactions are expressed through the consumption of ecological resources in repression and satisfaction by social behaviours of the agent. In this work, we will present the structure and the formulation of our model. This model can capture emergent social phenomena such as globalization and polarization, and it can help to understand the social migration process. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Social elites can emerge naturally when interaction in networks is restricted

Animal (and human) societies characterized by dominance hierarchies invariably suffer from inequality. The rise of inequality has 3 main prerequisites: 1) a group in which inequality can emerge, 2) the existence of differences in payoff, and 3) a mechanism that initiates, accumulates, and propagates the differences. Hitherto, 2 kinds of models have been used to study the processes involved. In winner–loser models of inequality (typical in zoology), the 3 elements are independent. In division-of-labor models of inequality, the first 2 elements are linked, whereas the third is independent. In this article, we propose a new model, that of synchronized group action, in which all 3 elements are linked. Under these conditions, agent-based simulations of communal action in multilayered communities naturally give rise to endogenous status, emergent social stratification, and the rise of elite cliques. We show that our 3 emergent social phenomena (status, stratification, and elite formation) react to natural variations in merit (the capacity to influence others’ decisions). We also show that the group-level efficiency and inequality consequences of these emergent phenomena define a space for social institutions that optimize efficiency gain in some fitness-related respect, while controlling the loss of efficiency and equality in other respects.

Reshaping social theory from complexity and ecological perspectives

This article argues that Durkheim’s founding insight – uniquely social phenomena – presents us with both a foundation for the discipline of sociology and the risk that the discipline will become isolated. This, we argue, has happened. Our contention is that the emergent social phenomena need to be understood in relation to, but not reduced to, their biological and psychological substrates. Similarly, there are a number of other characteristics, notably of self-organization, which are distinguishing properties of social phenomena but also of quite different phenomena. The comparison is instructive. We therefore argue for an ecological approach to sociological theory, which has important relationships to the general theories and philosophy of ecology and biology. We explore a number of terminological and conceptual parallels that may inform our understanding of the relation of social theory to these and other disciplines.

Quantitative analysis of bloggers’ collective behavior powered by emotions

Large-scale data resulting from users’ online interactions provide the ultimatesource of information to study emergent social phenomena on the Web. Fromindividual actions of users to observable collective behaviors, different mechanismsinvolving emotions expressed in the posted text play a role. Here we combineapproaches of statistical physics with machine-learning methods of text analysisto study the emergence of emotional behavior among Web users. Mapping thehigh-resolution data from digg.com onto bipartite networks of users and theircomments onto posted stories, we identify user communities centered aroundcertain popular posts and determine emotional contents of the related commentsby the emotion classifier developed for this type of text. Applied over differenttime periods, this framework reveals strong correlations between the excess ofnegative emotions and the evolution of communities. We observe avalanches ofemotional comments exhibiting significant self-organized critical behavior andtemporal correlations. To explore the robustness of these critical states, we design anetwork-automaton model on realistic network connections and several controlparameters, which can be inferred from the dataset. Dissemination of emotionsby a small fraction of very active users appears to critically tune the collectivestates.

Patología psiquiátrica en el inmigrante

Immigration is an emergent social phenomenon with a great impact on health systems. Psychiatric disorders are said to be universal phenomenon, but their clinical expression may be determined by cultural factors. Indeed, immigration acts as a risk factor for the development of mental diseases, as it works as a stress generating factor. The adaptability process for both the immigrants and the receptor environment, involves a social and cultural effort that modifies interindividual relationships, mainly at the therapeutic level. Psychiatry faces up to a new therapeutic and diagnostic challenge, where ethnocultural barriers (either individual or collective) and social and biological barriers need to be got over. Barriers to access to Mental Health Services or social resources and language differences mean an important obstacle which has to be got over by health systems providing special mental health programs, either segregationist or integrative. This review tries to summarize the different issues that limit or interfere with daily clinical practice when treating the immigrant population, meaningful both in quantitative and qualitative psychiatric terms.

Measuring emergent social phenomena: Dynamism, polarization, and clustering as order parameters of social systems

We derive three system order parameters: dynamism, polarization, and clustering, to describe global states of attitude distribution and change for human social systems. Dynamism (f) captures the rate of change in a system, while polarization (Pt) refers to the increase or decrease of a minority position over time. Clustering (e) defines the spatial segregation of opinion based on system topography. These measures suggest a conception of human systems rooted in time and space that is distinct from other approaches. Their utility is illustrated through computer simulations showing that under a wide variety of circumstances, social influence models incorporating spatial distributions lead to unexpected outcomes of incomplete polarization and clustering, with alternative theories of how individuals encode information leading to quantitatively distinct results. A second set of simulations describes the intrusion of temperature, or unexplained randomness into these systems. Surprisingly, the self-organizational tendencies emerging from the iteration of simple laws of individual attitude change derived from Latané's (1981) metatheory of social impact appear to increase with moderate levels of randomness. We consider other approaches for measuring group level processes, among them network analysis-inspired indices and spatial autocorrelation, and suggest how our system order parameters could be used to predict political elections.

Physician Oversupply as a Socially Constructed Reality

This paper utilizes a social constructionist perspective to examine the widespread belief among phy'sicians during the early 1980s that an oversupply of doctors was either present or imminent. It was found that the timing and growl'th of physician beliefs in a 'physician glut during this period could not be adequately explained by net increases in the physician supply, either on an absolute level or relative to the growth of the general population. Rather, this 'fact of a phIsician surplus was found to be more fruitfully explored as an emergent social phenomenon grounded in the historical evolution of physician-suppl! themes and the particular clinical practice environment in which physicians found themselves in the late 1970s and early 1980s.