Specific Tensions Research Articles

Governmentality and the Common Law: Expansion of “Mind” 1835–1885

AbstractThe nineteenth century saw significant changes in how the law articulated the assessment of those who came before the courts. The judges made greater, and more refined, use of the concept of the mind as a way to refer to the internal lives of the parties. Using a Foucauldian lens, judgments from the sub-disciplines of criminal, succession and contract law will be assessed. Two specific aspects will be considered—the manner in which the law disciplined the subjects themselves and the manner in which the profession operated as a form of externalised governance. This deployment of the term “mind” used by the judges conforms with the idea that the law was taking on a new role in the governance of English society while emphasising specific tensions within each area.

Of sacred animals: the limits of animal rights activism and political veganism in India

ABSTRACT In India, the rise of right-wing politics in the form of what Sahana Udupa terms 'enterprise Hindutva' has triggered conflicting reactions to everyday incidents, highlighting the need for a new language to address unique problems faced by vegans and animal rights activists whose politics clash with Hindutva's anti-secular discourse. 'Sacred animals' as a conceptual framework provides an important entry point into the culturally specific socio-political tensions behind complexities that limit the possibilities of viable intersectional standpoints that engage animal rights activism and political veganism. From a postsecular perspective, the relevance and unique challenges of these movements in India are evaluated, noting that existing posthumanist theories fail to address these new issues adequately. Incidents of mob lynching and violence by the cow vigilantes are recontextualized as structural symptoms instead of sporadic occurrences. The backlash against rightist tendencies has given a critical validation to irrational disregard for political veganism and animal rights activism, based on their perceived alignment with right-wing ideology. Examining food politics around beef, mockery of vegetarianism, and everyday situations where 'veg' becomes a tag of inferior quality, this study challenges unfounded associations and assumptions that undermine the disruptive potential of animal rights activism.

And to thine own self be true: ideological tensions of Orthodox Bible teachers in pluralistic schools

ABSTRACT This phenomenological study looks at the ideological dilemmas that religiously Orthodox Jewish Bible teachers face when teaching in a pluralistic environment, where the majority of students would identify with a non-religious or secular worldview, in its varied manifestations. The study used a theoretical framework of ideological dilemmas, combined with pedagogical hermeneutic orientations, to understand the lived experience of these teachers and to identify the specific tensions that they encounter in classroom interactions. Ten teachers of diverse Orthodox affiliations participated in semi structured interviews to uncover their lived experience of the pluralistic school milieu, their students’ beliefs. Their pedagogical decisions in interpretation of Biblical texts and their hermeneutical approaches, were used as a vehicle for understanding these experiences. Two areas of tension emerged: 1. remaining authentic to their own beliefs while being sensitive to those of their students, and 2. the tension between the value they placed on pluralism from a pedagogical standpoint, while resisting this worldview on a personal level.

‘There is just nothing to hold on to in this case’: legal technicalities and the use of psychological reports in Chilean domestic violence procedures

AbstractThis ethnographic study examines how Chilean family courts adjudicate domestic violence (DV) cases, highlighting a paradoxical shift away from their intended flexibility towards rigid bureaucratic procedure by examining the undue influence of psychological reports, which are expensive and difficult‐to‐obtain documents, on case outcomes. This research explores the role of these reports as ‘legal technicalities’, serving as both products and catalysts of specific social relations and tensions, and reveals an earnest yet unsuccessful effort to establish judicial authority amid poorly conceived DV reform. The article contributes to an empirical, bottom‐up analysis of authority construction techniques used in recent widespread judicial reforms in Chile, providing fresh insights into the complexities of institutional changes within these contexts.

An Improved Pedotransfer Function for Soil Hydrological Properties in New Zealand

This paper describes a new pedotransfer function (PTF) for the soil water content of New Zealand soils at seven specific tensions (0, −5, −10, −20, −40, −100, −1500 kPa) using explanatory variables derived from the S-map soil mapping system. The model produces unbiased and physically plausible estimates of the response at each tension, as well as unbiased and physically plausible estimates of the response differences that define derived properties (e.g., macroporosity and total available water content). The PTF is a development of an earlier model using approximately double the number of sites compared with the earlier study, a change in fitting methodology to a semi-parametric GAM Beta response, and the inclusion of sample depth. The results show that the new model has resulted in significant improvements for the soil water content estimates and derived quantities using standard goodness-of-fit measures, based on validation data. A comparison with an international PTF using explanatory variables compatible with variables available from S-map (EUPTF2) suggests that the model is better for prediction of soil water content using the limited information available from the S-map system.

The Cumulative Effects of Marketized Care

Abstract Care is increasingly marketized. Previous marketing and consumer research has focused on specific tensions underlying marketized care provision and the ways in which consumers navigate them. In contrast, this conceptual article draws on interdisciplinary research on care to develop a cumulative understanding of marketized care, that is, based on those effects that build up over time when a critical mass of consumers routinely addresses care needs via markets. Defining marketized care as attending to the welfare needs of human and nonhuman others through the market, we identify four negative cumulative effects: individuating effects on consumer subjectivities, alienating effects on care relationships, responsibilizing effects on consumers as opposed to other institutional actors of care provision, and exploitative effects generated in global care and supply chains. We also outline four principles that can mitigate these effects: interdependent consumer autonomy, affective reconnections, proportionate responsibilization, and market reconfiguration. Our conceptualization moves the literature on marketized care forward by outlining its cumulative nature as well as offering potential solutions that are neither demonizing nor celebratory of markets. In doing so, we offer a series of generative insights for research on marketized care that contribute to addressing collective human and nonhuman flourishing.

Leveraging the Sustainable Development Goals as a boundary object in the City of Bristol

This study examines how the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) can be leveraged to facilitate strategic change towards sustainability involving multiple stakeholders in a pluralistic city environment. By drawing on an exemplary case study of the localisation of the SDGs in Bristol, a medium-sized UK city, we show how the goals can operate as a boundary object. In particular, we identify a pattern in which the discursive localisation of the SDGs moved from problematisation and visioning through strategising and structuring towards embedding and performing. In addition, we elaborate on the three tensions that the SDGs help participants to understand and use productively, that is, across scale, time and different ways of valuing. Our study contributes to research on strategic change in pluralistic settings, such as cities, by offering a nuanced account of the discursive use of the SDGs by organisations involved in a city’s sustainable development. Furthermore, by proposing a framework based on the specific tensions that play an important role in the discursive localisation, our study advances research on the role of city strategising and practice more generally.

Expertise under uncertainty: Comparing policy expert platforms at the global climate–health nexus

AbstractThis paper centres on expert platforms at the nexus between global climate policies and public health. Policy nexus problems have been associated with fragmentation and unclear authority. At the core, however, seem to be uncertainties about the nature of these problems and even about the nature of the nexus itself. The paper focuses on an especially rich ecosystem of policy expert platforms that have emerged at the climate–health nexus over the past decade. It outlines a typology and presents a comparison of selected policy expert platforms in terms of how they deal with these nexus uncertainties. It is argued that these platforms have developed various ways of interlinking science and policy. Insights on contradictions and controversies resulting from these ‘politico‐epistemic logics’ are discussed. Mapping the nexus may inspire current research on political and epistemic uncertainty. It may also be a source of practical inspiration for developing forms of expertise beyond the standards of evidence‐based policy.Points for practitioners The landscape of advisory arrangements at the nexus may be a source of practical inspiration for developing forms of expertise beyond the standards of evidence‐based policy. A commonality across various platforms is the acceptance of uncertainty as a resource that can be used to make knowledge more robust and to keep open multiple pathways. Types of policy expert platforms are associated with specific conflicts and tensions. Being aware of them might be helpful to deal with contradictory expectations and to avoid disappointment.

Better spiritual support for people living with early stage dementia: Developing the diamond conversation model.

People with early-stage dementia could benefit greatly from on-going spiritual support. However, health care professionals working in dementia care often do not have a clear idea of what such support might entail. There is a lack of tools that can help professionals provide such support. The Diamond conversation model used in palliative care could provide such a support. Aims: To develop the Diamond model for early-stage dementia so that professionals can provide better spiritual support. Participatory research was conducted. Reflective interviews with chaplains, case managers and health psychologists identified frequently occurring existential and spiritual issues of clients and family members. A core participatory group consisting of chaplains, a psychologist and a researcher further analysed these issues thematically and co-developed the Diamond model for early stage dementia over three co-creation sessions. Researchers with Diamond model expertise provided feedback to the core participatory group in between these sessions based on the session output. Central existential and spiritual issues were found to be: self-confidence and -worth, adaptability and capacity, security and loss, burden and enrichment of memory and faith and meaning. The five polarities of the Diamond model were found helpful to understand tensions surrounding these issues. Specific tensions were identified between maintaining a self and being valued, finding direction in what to do and a way to bear changes in ability, a strong need for attachment and letting go of past ways to relate to one another, the renewed intensity of long term memories and decline of the short term ones and surrendering to one's life situation and wanting certainty and meaning. The newly developed Diamond model for people with early-stage dementia offers a valuable framework to help professionals provide conversational support. More research needs to be done to further test and develop the model in practice.

Coping with paradoxical demands: the dual position of deans in French business schools

ABSTRACT Recent studies have highlighted the major challenges faced by managers in the higher education sector and shown the contradictory demands which foster paradoxical tensions. Previous works have also underlined some specific tensions and rigidities that business school deans regularly face in their role. Yet, few studies have empirically explored which paradoxical tensions deans face and how they cope with them. Our paper addresses this gap. Using a qualitative study, we explore the simultaneous and interrelated contradictions faced by deans in French business schools and address how they manage the tensions related to these conflictual and complicated situations. Our work reveals five main tensions that deans have to face and two individual categories of responses to these tensions. It underlines two types of cognitive mindsets (paradox mindset and dilemma mindset) adopted by deans to deal with paradoxical tensions and highlights how deans have become academic entrepreneurs with hybrid profiles in a paradoxical system.

Impact of institutional quality on ecological footprint: New insights from G20 countries

The complex relationship between institutional quality and ecological footprint (ECF) has been verified in prior literature; however, the subject is still inadequately explored and often disregarded to highlight areas where specific policy tensions exist. Therefore, this study aims to delve into the significance of institutional quality on ECF through a limited information maximum likelihood (LIML) panel analysis in the G20 countries from 2000 to 2022. For a precise evaluation, the study innovatively constructs a composite institutional quality index (IQI) and three indices under the accountability, transparency, and participation dimensions. Additionally, the study develops an economic uncertainty predictor to capture the effects of external economic shocks on the subject. The results obtained from the LIML estimation demonstrate that IQI is substantive in reducing ECF in the recipient panel. Further, the findings highlight that all three dimensions of IQI are significant in abating ECF, while the transparency index yields a higher influence on abating ECF. It is also observed that IQI plays an effective role in modulating the relationships between ECF, financial development, human development, growth, and energy consumption, while it is found to be insignificant in reducing the negative effects of globalization on ECF. Finally, the results indicate that IQI is highly influential in eliminating the adverse impact of external shocks on ECF. The results are robust and have specific policy implications.

A paradox‐constitutive perspective of organizational gossip

AbstractWe review cross‐disciplinary research on gossip and integrate it with two streams of theoretical scholarship: paradox theory and the communicative constitution of organization (CCO) perspective. In doing so, we develop what we label a paradox‐constitutive perspective of organizational gossip. Our perspective holds that gossip does not merely reflect or reveal organizational paradoxes but contributes to constituting them. Drawing on an extensive narrative literature review (N = 184), we conceptualize organizational gossip as a socially constructed category of interpersonal communication that, paradoxically, is regarded as both an exceptionally reliable and exceptionally unreliable source of social information. In turn, we illustrate how this contradictory view of gossip engenders paradoxical tensions when gossip surfaces in organizational life, and we illuminate two specific tensions to which gossip contributes: resistance‐authority tensions and inclusion‐exclusion tensions. Our work has important implications for research on organizational gossip, paradox, and communication and suggests intriguing directions for future investigations.

The many histories of the conflict thesis: the science vs. religion narrative in nineteenth-century Germany

ABSTRACT The idea of an inevitable conflict between science and religion leading to relentless hostility between the two emerged in the nineteenth century and has become a powerful narrative of modernity. Most historians of science trace the origins of the so-called ‘conflict thesis’ to the English-speaking world, more precisely to scientist-historian John William Draper and literary scholar Andrew Dickson White. Their books on the history of scientific-religious conflict turned into bestsellers. Yet, if we look beyond the Anglo-American world, the conflict thesis appears in new historical settings. This paper argues that the science vs. religion narrative flourished already in Germany before Draper and White announced the warfare between science and religion in England and the USA. Focusing on Germany, we aim to show that the conflict thesis emerged in a polycentric process shaped by various political, cultural, and social struggles. It became a rhetorical weapon for liberal scientists in Germany to oppose Ultramontanism and, at the same time, to discredit their rivals as unscientific, fanatic, or even as ‘henchmen’ of the Pope. Our paper makes a case for a decentred approach to the history of the conflict thesis, which brings to the fore specific political and cultural tensions shaping this narrative in the nineteenth century.

How paradoxical leaders guide their followers to embrace paradox: Cognitive and behavioral mechanisms of paradox mindset development

Organizational members must constantly confront and manage numerous paradoxical tensions inherent in organizational life, such as exploration and exploitation. Although prior research suggests that a paradox mindset helps individuals navigate such tensions, we know little about how paradoxical leaders might engender such a mindset in their followers. To shed light on this issue, we differentiate between cognitive and behavioral influences on followers' paradox mindset development. Drawing on primary data from 273 employees, our study indicates that the two influences are interrelated, with behavioral mechanisms mediating the effects of cognitive mechanisms. Our study advances extant theory by providing insights into how paradoxical leaders guide employees to situationally engage with specific paradoxical tensions and influence followers’ paradox mindset in general.

Unpacking social impact scaling strategies: challenges and responses in African social enterprises as differentiated hybrid organizations

PurposeSocial enterprises (SEs) face tensions when combining financial and social missions, and this is particularly evident in the scaling process. Although extant research mainly focuses on SEs that integrate their social and financial missions, this study aims to unpack social impact scaling strategies in differentiated hybrid organizations (DHOs) through the case of African SEs.Design/methodology/approachThe study entails an inductive multiple case study approach based on four case SEs: work integration social enterprises (WISEs) and fair trade producer social enterprises (FTPSEs) in Uganda and Kenya. A total of 24 semi-structured interviews were collected together with multiple secondary data sources and then coded and analyzed through the rigorous Gioia et al. (2013) methodology to build a theoretical model.FindingsThe results indicate that SEs, as differentiated hybrids, implement four types of social impact scaling strategies toward beneficiaries and benefits (penetration, bundling, spreading and diversification) and unveil different dual mission tensions generated by each scaling strategy. The study also shows mutually reinforcing mechanisms named cross-bracing actions, which are paradoxical actions connected to one another for navigating tensions and ensuring dual mission during scaling.Research limitations/implicationsThis study provides evidence of four strategies for scaling social impact, with associated challenges and response mechanisms based on the cross-bracing effect between social and financial missions. Thus, the research provides a clear framework (social impact scaling matrix) for investigating differentiation in hybridity at scaling and provides new directions on how SEs scale their impact, with implications for social entrepreneurship and dual mission management literature.Practical implicationsThe model offers a practical tool for decision-makers in SEs, such as managers and social entrepreneurs, providing insights into what scaling pathways to implement (one or multiples) and, more importantly, the implications and possible solutions. Response mechanisms are also useful for tackling specific tensions, thereby contributing to addressing the challenges of vulnerable, marginalized and low-income individuals. The study also offers implications for policymakers, governments and other ecosystem actors such as nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and social investors.Originality/valueDespite the growing body of literature on scaling social impact, only a few studies have focused on differentiated hybrids, and no evidence has been provided on how they scale only the social impact (without considering commercial scaling). This study brings a new perspective to paradox theory and hybridity, showing paradoxes come into view at scaling, and documenting how from a differentiation approach to hybridity, DHOs also implemented cross-bracing actions, which are reinforcement mechanisms, thus suggesting connections and synergies among the actions in social and financial mission, where such knowledge is required to better comprehend how SEs can achieve a virtuous cycle of profits and reinvestments in social impact.

Pharmacological interventions improve myosin-actin cross-bridge function in mice with advanced chronic kidney disease.

Skeletal muscle fiber force production in adult mice with late-stage chronic kidney disease (CKD) is significantly impaired, although by different myofilament and myosin-actin cross-bridge disease responses in the various fiber types. To reverse some of the CKD-induced contractile deficits, we examined the effects of the ATP analog, 2-deoxyadenosine triphosphate (dATP), to enhance cross-bridge kinetics and the troponin sensitizer, Tirasemtiv (2 µM), to increase cross-bridge formation. Single fiber force production, myosin-actin interactions and myofilament properties were measured at 25°C in fibers from soleus and extensor digitorum longus muscles of 16-week-old CKD mice (N=5) and controls (N=5). Late-stage CKD was induced by 0.2% adenine diet for 8 weeks. dATP in myosin heavy chain (MHC) I and IIA fibers with CKD increased cross-bridge kinetics, returning them to control values or faster, leading to more strongly bound cross-bridges for maximal Ca2+-activation (pCa 4.5, pH 7.0, 5 mM Phosphate) and fatiguing (pCa 4.5, pH 6.2, 30 mM Phosphate) conditions. Specific tensions in CKD were also improved 12-21% under maximal and fatiguing conditions, except in maximally Ca2+-activated MHC I fibers, but fell short of control values. Notably, other studies have found that improvements of 13-25% in knee extensor strength in CKD patients improved their physical function, suggesting changes of this magnitude are clinically meaningful. At submaximal Ca2+-activation (pCa 6.0), Tirasemtiv in MHC IIB fibers with CKD increased myofilament stiffness 520%, number of strongly bound cross-bridges 705%, and specific tension 370%, returning specific tension back to control values. This study provides evidence that cellular and molecular contractile function in CKD may be enhanced through use of dATP or Tirasemtiv, which should be tested to potentially improve physical function and overall quality of life in late-stage CKD patients.

Community-led housing: Between 'right to the city', 'actually existing neoliberalism' and post-pandemic cities.

This paper examines the Self-Managed Housing Program (Law 341), in Buenos Aires, Argentina. This programme created 45 cooperative housing units between 2001 and 2020 in consolidated urban areas currently undergoing renewal processes. It investigates the conditions that the programme has generated for the realisation of the 'right to the city' in the context of 'actually existing neoliberalism' and challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper analyses the origins of the process and mode of cooperative housing production, including tangible and intangible aspects and capacities acquired by the inhabitants. This study used a mixed quantitative and qualitative methodology. The analytical strategy focused on defining a set of dimensions that characterised the self-managed mode of production, conditions of social and urban insertion in the case studied and participants' perceptions of the influence of material characteristics and organisational arrangements during the pandemic. This paper contributes to our understanding of the socio-economic dynamics in the production of urban space by elucidating the role of the state and specific tensions arising due to bottom-up policies, specific forms adopted by urban experiences of resistance and their contribution in the promotion of concrete conditions of urban life. Finally, this paper characterises an emergent self-managed urbanism and reflects on its possibilities of dialogue with the construction of alternative local policies that challenge growing territorial inequality caused by the subordination of policies to real estate financialisation and its deepening tendencies in the pandemic context.

Uncovering the role of the industrial symbiosis facilitator in literature and practice in Nordic countries: An action-skill framework

As a collective approach for achieving economic, environmental, and social effects, industrial symbiosis is considered an important tool to realize a circular economy. In both literature and practice, the need for a third party facilitating the development of these resource exchanges between companies has been highlighted. This paper explores the actions and skills needed for achieving successful facilitation of industrial symbiosis by unfolding the facilitator role. It develops an analytical action-skill framework by systematically examining the relevant literature and conducting an in-depth analysis of a Danish facilitation team, and tests the developed action-skill framework by analyzing experiences obtained from seven facilitators in Nordic countries. In doing so, the study reveals a variety of actions of the industrial symbiosis facilitator that can be identified across literature and practice, belonging to five overarching tasks: Developing linkages, coordinating, capacity & knowledge management, value assessment & distribution, and developing beneficial conditions & scaling up. The results indicate that we observe a role in the process of homogenization. Another contribution is the uncovering of industrial symbiosis facilitator skills. The paper points to five overarching skills that are relevant to the facilitator role: Social skills, work approach, motivation & interest, ethics & responsibility, and knowledge. Subsequently, eight specific tensions between the identified actions are discussed. These make the role of the industrial symbiosis facilitator skill demanding and context-dependent and show an additional, implicit skillset.

Changing Tune: Exploring Processes and Tensions in the Transition from Movement to Business

The evolution of movement-based communities is drawing increasing attention among both scholars and practitioners. In their pursuit of scale and profits, movements tend to face the dual goals of drawing mainstream participation while preserving authenticity. Prior research tends to focus on uncoordinated initiatives led by multiple actors engaged with market logics, thus providing a gamut of offerings where different members of the community partake. Those movements that instead attempt to channel their entire communities into single business initiatives face the challenge to accommodate the different – sometimes conflicting – needs of their members. Yet, these challenges remain theoretically and empirically underexplored. Hence, we investigate the process by which community-based movements turn into single businesses by developing a qualitative, longitudinal (2014 – 2021) analysis of Rockin’1000 – also known as “The Biggest Rock Band in the World” – which originated as a movement of rock enthusiasts, and later morphed into a fully-fledged enterprise. By deploying a new perspective at the intersection of research on movements and value propositions, we conceptualize a generalizable, four-phase process. We show that each milestone throughout the transition becomes source of specific tensions, which alter movements’ equilibrium, and triggers a process of members shakeout, which may result in the decline of the initiative if not adequately addressed.

GAME OF GREEN THRONES. Sustainability Tensions and Power in Global Value Chains

A rising literature suggests the benefits for organizations to take a paradox perspective toward tensions emerging when aiming at increasing corporate sustainability performance. We suggest that if companies have not full agency in responding to such tensions, the effectiveness of this approach can be heavily undermined. We argue this is especially the case of suppliers part of Global Value Chains (GVCs), which characterize an increasing number of industries. Suppliers are significantly constrained by their powerful lead firms in deciding how to address sustainability challenges, so that even if they are willing to manage sustainability tensions, they might finally not to, resulting in poor sustainability performance. By the mean of an in-depth analysis of a specific tensions, we investigate the role of agency in coping with sustainability related tensions using a paradox lens and adopting a multi-level perspective, considering the different actors part of the chain. Our analysis suggests that considerable tensions are generated by working in GVCs, because of the different framing of sustainability of buyers and suppliers, worsening the overall sustainability outcomes of the system despite the best intentions and effort of the actors engaged. Furthermore, we show that the management of such tensions depends on the agency of the actors, resolving in actions that emphasizes one pole of contradiction – the one of the most powerful actor. Accordingly, we contribute to a critical reading of paradox theory in sustainability by i) taking a GVC wide (vs organizational wide) perspective, responding to the call for a systems approach in paradox studies; and ii) focusing on a critical contextual condition in influencing the response that actors can implement in managing tensions: bargaining power.