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BEITRÄGE ZUR SOZIALINNOVATION
BOOKS AND ARTICLES

The publication series includes working papers that provide information about the research activities at the Institut für Sozialinnovation.

In view of the increasing complexity of society, the importance of governance as a policy mode is growing. Problem-solving capacities are being outsourced from the state to the public, citizens and organisations of all kinds, via cooperation and partnership. Participation is thus becoming a means of governance – especially at local level. This is linked to the controversial hope that the solutions achieved are more efficient and can point to better anchored legitimacy. Participation does not lead to better solutions without further increasing the complexity of decision-making processes. The demands of participation pose new challenges for public administration in terms of its flexibility in dealing with the diverse, often contradictory concerns of a participative, active citizenry. How can public administrations adapt their organisational structures to these challenges? The article discusses existing empirical studies and theoretical approaches in a critical examination of neo-institutionalist embedding and agency approaches as well as more recent organisational sociological approaches to answering the question of the structural conditions of the possibility of public governance administration.

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Peripheral and non-agglomeration regions can be seen as areas of opportunity for future-oriented development despite, or in some cases precisely because of, their structural deficits compared to the agglomeration ideal. Due to these deficits, they hold untapped potential resources for social change, which must, however, be discovered by the region itself as options for the future. How are regional resources determined in this way, how are they condensed into ideas and finally translated into binding decisions? And how can the regional change informed by this be observed empirically? This concept paper is dedicated to these questions, in which the heuristic of regional regime analysis is derived and explained as a tool for observing social development dynamics with regard to future-oriented regional development from a sociological perspective on spatial change. The heuristic is presented using the example of peripheral regions remote from agglomerations and takes into account the analysis-guiding aspects of regionality, innovativeness and their transformation into binding decisions on regional futures via governance processes.

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The publication was produced as part of the project “Target group analysis for a positive campaign to strengthen plant-based nutrition environments” funded by the Federal Environment Agency and commissioned by Deutsche Umwelthilfe e.V. from October 2022 to February 2023. The purpose of the target group analysis is to work out ways of reaching different groups for a positive campaign on a more plant-based diet, since the willingness to make dietary changes varies greatly depending on age, gender, family situations and other socioeconomic factors.

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The article compares the empirical partial investigation of the agglomeration-remote regions Wartburgkreis and Dithmarschen. The aim is to reveal the conditions of determination of development options by regional actors within the regional regime. This publication was developed in the course of the BMBF-funded project “Expanding Horizons – Changing Perspectives” (FKZ: 01IO1706).

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As one of two regional reports, this article describes the empirical partial investigation of the Wartburgkreis region as a basis for a comparative investigation with the further agglomeration-remote region of Dithmarschen. Both studies took place within the framework of the BMBF-funded project “Expanding Horizons – Changing Perspectives” (FKZ: 01IO1706), which pursued the goal of understanding rural regions as innovation spaces and describing them on a spatial, temporal and social level. Moments of failure as well as potentials for endogenous regional development were made visible.

The text is currently being edited.

As one of two regional reports, this paper describes the empirical sub-study of the Dithmarschen region as a basis for a comparative study with the further agglomeration-remote region Wartburgkreis. Both studies took place within the framework of the BMBF-funded project “Expanding Horizons – Changing Perspectives” (FKZ: 01IO1706), which pursued the goal of understanding rural regions as innovation spaces and describing them on a spatial, temporal and social level. Moments of failure as well as potentials for endogenous regional development were made visible.

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Environmental policy in Germany is also faced with the challenge of increasing urbanization in metropolitan areas, including the associated positive or negative environmental consequences. At the same time, gender relations have shifted in parts of society: The trend of increasing gainful employment, especially of women in West Germany, also leads to changes in the previous arrangements of care work for dependents (children and elders) and taking care of oneself; moreover, partnership models may also change as a result. Urban space is of particular importance not only because of its population densification and the necessary environmental control effects, but also as a real laboratory for sustainable living and housing designs.

This report presents the results of a systematic literature review and analysis. Thus, the state of research on gender aspects in the areas of need housing, mobility, food and clothing was reviewed, insofar as it is relevant for environmental protection or sustainability and in relation to urban space. In addition, the literature was analyzed for two cross-cutting themes that are of particular importance for consumption in the aforementioned areas of need: Digitization and Collaborative Consumption. In a further step, examples of good, gender-reflective research practice were identified on the basis of the literature review and criteria for good gender-reflective research were inductively developed from these. Some of the ‘best practices’ are presented in the report.

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The forced novelty and innovation orientation of today’s society also affects organizations. At the very least, they are disturbed and irritated by the permanent flow of information without it being clear whether the information is relevant. They can only react with their own ideas about the informations. Ideas, however, have concrete originators, namely the employees. In this respect, ideas are desired in the organizations as a resource for orientation or are recommended to them under the various time-diagnostic keywords. However, it is questionable from whom which ideas are expected or are to be expected. It must then be decided whether to reject or implement the ideas that come up. This also raises the question of how the associated opportunities for organisational learning and for structural changes can be used and how the potential for disruption inherent in ideas can be neutralised. Organisations find different ways to do this depending on their structures. An empirical exploration of ten different organisations, which are assigned to the economy, science or administration, shows different solutions in dealing with employee ideas, which typically rely on enforcement, supervision or autonomy in dealing with ideas.

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The article deals with the question of how responsibility for design intentions and design actions can be assumed in a pluralistic and complex society, if a) the consequences of innovations cannot be fully anticipated in principle and b) the value basis on which these consequences can be assessed as positive or negative cannot be generally defined. Different (political) concepts are discussed to solve the problem of responsibility in the field of tension between value plurality and consequence contingency: the concept of social innovation, the concept of “responsible research and innovation”, mechanisms of invisibilisation of responsibility in organisations and the insurability of negative consequences. These instruments cannot, however, ultimately solve the limits of dealing with responsibility; the social sciences should also address this fundamental unsolvability of the problem of responsibility in modernity in their terminology. These should not be morally charged, since the adoption of political concepts as analytical categories distracts academic debate from the actual question, the analysis of current problems brought about by an accelerated innovation process.

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The distinction between technology and society is a fundamental starting point for today’s contributions to the innovation debate. Yet the reasons for these distinctions – to the extent that they are made at all – are hardly valid: For example, the fundamental argument of the materiality of technology is not convincing when one asks about the concept of materiality or the resulting immateriality of society.

The definition of non-technological innovations is therefore developed against the background of a concept of technology that is not based on reification. With the distinction thus gained between technical and non-technical innovations, it becomes clear how technology and non-technology in social change refer to each other as translational forms in the production and dissolution of causal necessities in contingent social contexts.

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Due to the ongoing digitalisation there is a high demand for computer scientists. This demand cannot be met at present: The number of female computer science students* is too low and the drop-out rate is high. Many topics appear to be too theoretical, abstract and not relevant to practice. In addition, only few students adhere to the standard study periods. The question therefore arises how to explain learning contents in a more practical way and how to get more students interested in computer science topics. Games seem to be particularly suitable as a means of motivation. Therefore, the following question is to be answered in this thesis: Is it possible to increase motivation and learning success for basic programming skills by using a serious games-based learning system?

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The aim of the present working paper is to define criteria for the description and identification of successful regions remote from agglomerations. It is argued that the inclusion of density factors in spatial innovation research is not sufficient to explain the emergence of functional innovation regimes. Based on the perspectives of space, innovation and governance, eight descriptive criteria for the investigation of functional innovation regimes at the regional level are determined. The individual perspectives provide information on the proximity to the agglomeration ideal (space), the preservation of option diversity (innovation) and the degree of functionality of the regional regime (governance). Finally, a proposal for the operationalisation of the established determination criteria as regional profiles based on the LEADER regions is given.

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The achievements of communities committed to the common good on the basis of pluralistic and demoratically negotiated values have for some time been increasingly discussed again for the solutions to social problems. In particular, communities that seek alternative forms of consumption are of some interest. The affinity between the everyday problems they deal with and those of socio-ecological change are possible. To what extent, however, does this motivational coalition play a role in the commitment of the active members of such communities. The representative survey commissioned by the Federal Environment Agency and presented here provides information on this.

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The contribution aims to use the example of the Environmental Awareness Study 2012 and, above all, its practical theoretical orientation as a model to show the methodological consequences of the present subject matter. To this end, it deals with the theory-oriented coupling of instruments in a sequential mixed-method design. It also discusses the challenges and problems that were involved.

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In the more recent discussion since the 1980s, innovations have been differentiated differently. These distinctions can hardly be convincingly demonstrated emprically, but are nevertheless repeatedly cited. Especially the distinction between radical and incremental innovations is still popular. The paper discusses the possibility of making this distinction empirically robust on the basis of the current discussion. This will contribute to the development of a well-founded concept of innovation that can be differentiated again. The present contribution is also the prelude to further discussions of other distinctions.

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The broad field of Citizen Science is presented and typified in an overview. On this basis, initial considerations are made regarding application by departmental research.

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With regard to innovation research, sociology faces the challenge of having to make a real contribution first (Braun-Thürmann 2005: 5). Despite numerous attempts, such a contribution is still missing. In view of this, the article points out two deficits responsible for this situation with a conceptual reflection and a methodological justification. Both the conceptual and the methodological problems of innovation research can be solved if they are tackled simultaneously.

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How does the reference to the environment change in everyday life? In the course of the study “Environmental Awareness in Germany 2012” group discussions were held twice. While the first served the exploration of the field (see BzS 9), the second group discussion in the sense of focus groups aimed at an evaluative discussion of the theses gained from the representative survey and the media analysis (see BzS 13). At the same time, the dynamics of the types of argumentation identified in the first group discussion were identified, which were also related to lifestyles. Communication strategies for re-politics for addressing citizens in a way that is relevant to everyday life and has practical relevance can be derived from this.

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One of the most important international environmental policy events in 2012 was the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development. It was extensively accompanied and commented on by the mass media in Germany. These reports from selected national and regional newspapers and magazines were compared with the assessments of political parties, NGOs and advisory bodies. The result is a mood of disappointment at the failure of global attempts at unification, which nonetheless offers hope for bilateral and multilateral transformation processes. Can this collection of material and analysis be used to draw conclusions about a new mode of international environmental policy?

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German industrial relations are increasingly characterised by the labour market participation of women, migrants and older people. Therefore, even small companies have to deal with the diversity of their workforce and develop strategies for diversity management.

The understanding and management of diversity shapes relationships in the working environment, not only between employees and management, but also among employees.
The Social Research Center Dortmund (SFS) was commissioned by the Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (BAUA) to develop a tool for diversity management as an internet-based analysis tool to support the implementation of diversity management.

Based on the description of this tool, problems arise in the establishment of diversity management when it changes industrial relations in a sustainable way as a routine. Two questions must be answered: How can diversity management gain a foothold in companies and what conditions must be met?

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Criteria for the analysis and systematization of social innovation in the field of sustainable consumption are presented, which form the basis for a typology. The typology enables the classification of various empirical phenomena and trends and identifies design and promotion approaches.

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Social science environmental research now has a long tradition of having a significant impact on shaping society. In the context of the exploratory studies for the 2012 Environmental Awareness Study, experts in German environmental research were interviewed about their strengths and future tasks. The summarized results of the expert interviews are presented here.

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The environmental reference in everyday life is expressed not least in the routine transformation of resources. In order to make this access gentle, scientific observations have been made for a long time, warnings and proposals for redesign have been published and rules have been issued. One successful instrument is the environmental awareness survey, which has been conducted every two years since 1996. In connection with the 2012 study, exploratory studies were conducted in advance. The results of the group discussions are presented here.
Questions were asked about which everyday practices are transformed on which occasions, what conditions must exist for this transformation and how these can ultimately be stabilised again as practices, i.e. how they can be removed from the focus of reflection. Can certain patterns of innovative transformation of practices with regard to lifestyle or the structural conditions be identified here? How does the constitution of the problem thereby determine the future form of the practice, and what effects does this in turn have on other practices and the perception of structural conditions?

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Social environmental relations take place manifold through everyday practices. Following this consideration, the ambivalent status of sustainability in relation to everyday practices is to be discussed by means of a concept-critical review. In this context, it is important to clarify what the action-guiding, decision-relevant potential of sustainability can actually consist of. Finally, the potential for change, the innovativeness of practices themselves is brought up for discussion. Despite the inertia of everyday practices in the face of constantly changing demands, they change incrementally and also very suddenly. The discussion of the three topics, firstly, everyday routines and practices, secondly, the value of sustainability, and thirdly, the innovativeness of practices, is intended to provide a framework for examining the questions of the significance of environmental references in everyday actions, reflection on environmental problems with regard to practices, and their sustainably informed change, that is, then transformation.

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The text was written by the three authors as an expert opinion as part of the project ‘Rio+20 on the ground – stocktaking and future prospects of local sustainability processes in Germany’, led by the Institute for Futures Studies and Technology Assessment, Berlin, funded by the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety, the Federal Environment Agency and the German Federal Environmental Foundation.
In the text, innovation and sustainability are discussed in terms of their suitability for monitoring organisational processes using the example of sustainability initiatives and operationalised as indicators of organisational performance.

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Documentation volume of the section session on the topic at the international conference KCTOS: Knowledge, Creativity and Transformations of Societies in Vienna 2007.

Content:

  • Jens Aderhold: Elites in the area of tension between social assertions of deficits and the need for scientific reflection
  • Hilke Rebenstorf: Reread: On the unbroken topicality of Mosca and Pareto in the elite discussion.
  • Grit Straßenberger: The Performance Profile of Political Elites in a Media Democracy
  • Philipp Korom: Intellectuals as Elites? Elites as a source of guidance? – A Plea for the Integration of the Sociology of Intellectuals into the Sociology of Elites
  • Renate Liebold: Self-Image and Self-Staging of the Economic Elite in Autobiographical Self-Representations
  • Lars Vogel: Elite – That’s the Powerful Ones: Self-Image and Concept of the Elite of German Members of Parliament
  • Tobias Jaeck, Katrin Harm, and Jens Aderhold: Triple Professionalization at the Local Level – New Challenges in Elite Action and their Legitimation Consequences.
  • Helmut Fehr: Split Elites. Elite Change in East Central Europe (Poland, Czech Republic)
  • Tamara Scheer: “You will be asked to participate in the re-blooming of your homeland”.
  • Jens Aderhold: Mediation and Simplification Requirements in Elite Action in the Context of Secondary Consequential Problems of Modern Society.

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The problem of corruption is increasingly becoming the focus of social attention. The way this phenomenon is dealt with exacerbates the problem. This not only turns out to be complex, but also contradictory and, in part, analytically uncontrolled. Corruption research supported by various disciplines can be guided in particular by an international comparative macro perspective and an actor-centered micro perspective. Both views are not unproblematic in several respects, so that a third perspective suggests a strategy of demoralization in the context of public metaphorization. We interpret this proposal as requiring a sociologization of the discourse of corruption. This provides, first, for a theoretically guided correction in the rationality assumptions of public and academic corruption monitoring. Second, using the example of policy networks, it will be shown how the current approach to the phenomenon of corruption benefits from taking into account social changes and the associated effects of institutionalized decision-making. Based on these two premises, the problem of corruption can consequently be conceptualized not as a deviation from societal normative specifications (e.g., from the rationality imperatives of modernity), but exclusively from the specifications of the organization.

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Sociology is constantly faced with the challenge of having to assert itself in the context of social communication. As a self-description of society, it must outperform everyday experiences and thus becomes the focus of consulting needs in other functional areas. Misunderstandings are the result: Sociology is overtaxed in terms of its performance because it is simultaneously underchallenged in its possibilities for reflection. Under different circumstances, their current situation resembles that of about three decades ago. Instead of defending the institutional status quo, the performance possibility of sociology will be demonstrated using popular innovation semantics. The conceptual fanning out of this opaque discourse-universal makes simple advice seem impossible, but comprehends the functioning of modern society in its general increase-orientation. This would lead to the conclusion that sociology should be understood as a current self-portrait of society.

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The report is the result of a research cooperation with a German engineering service provider on the topic of employee satisfaction measurement. Employee satisfaction is presented as a multidimensional construct, for whose measurement and measurability a large number of research studies are already available. In this work it becomes again clear that a measurement of the coworker satisfaction corresponding to the statistical quality criteria is only possible, if the appropriate survey instrument is context-specifically, i.e., in and with the enterprise which can be examined together developed. In this paper, the authors, who were also project collaborators in the research collaboration, can demonstrate that they have developed and used a robust, context-specific valid questionnaire. The special nature of surveys conducted online will be addressed. The survey instrument presented here was also used online and proved its worth there as well.

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Elsewhere, a text on this topic has been published in the meantime: Aderhold, Jens; Vordank, Tino (2008): Organisationale Lernprozesse initiieren und nachhaltig handhaben. Das Instrument »Management of the Intangible Resource Cycle«. In: OrganisationsEntwicklung 3/08: 72-84. zum Inhalt von OrganisationsEntwicklung 3/08

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The author examines, from two different perspectives, the possibility of integrating disabled people into normal employment. The innovative idea of the integration company is the focus of the study. However, the integration of disabled people envisaged as a planned social innovation appears highly precarious, both at the organizational level and in the interactions between disabled and non-disabled employees. Can integration companies be expected to provide any innovative impetus at all with regard to the integration of people with disabilities into the world of work? This question is not simply answered negatively by the author. However, his text shows the limits of integration companies. Bearing this in mind, only then can the performance of this social innovation really be assessed.

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The text explores the question of how innovations can be observed in an empirically meaningful way without falling prey to tautologies. To this end, an evolutionist concept of innovation is first developed from which observation perspectives are derived. Organizations are then presented as an empirical field for innovation research and the analytical capacity of the evolutionist concept of innovation is reviewed on the basis of recent studies on change in organizations.

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Here you will find references to publications by members and those that have been produced in collaboration with ISInova.

Melanie Jaeger-Erben, René John, Raj Kollmorgen, Götz Richter, Jana Rückert-John, Cornelius Schubert are editors of the book series Innovation and Society

Contents:
The ‘Innovation and Society’ series is organised by the Institut für Sozialinnovation e.V. (Berlin). The aim is to gather contributions that deal with innovations in society and thus observe social change. The starting point is a comprehensive understanding of innovations that sees them as far-reaching structural changes. The focus of interest is on the conditions, the emergence, the forms and consequences as well as the planning possibilities of shaping innovation and social change.

ISSN: 2193-6633
To the Springer VS-Verlag

Gunther Hirschfelder, Lars Winterberg, René John, Jana Rückert-John, Corinna Schirmer (Hg.) (2024): Fleischwissen.
Zur Verdinglichung des Lebendigen in globalisierten Märkten, Göttingen.

Content:
Meat can be used to illustrate many of society’s major problems, ranging from health issues to animal ethics and ecological objections to the industrialized use of environmental resources. The anthology arose from the context of the discussion in the joint research project “Verdinglichung des Lebendigen” (Reification of the Living)

René John describes the path to the modern production and consumption of meat as one that goes hand in hand with progressive invisibilization.

Jana Rückert-John, Tonia Ruppenthal and Niels Schweers examine the widespread thesis that younger generations of eaters have the potential to change the current meat regime through their consumption behavior.

ISBN: 978-3-525-30253-8
Go to: Vandenhoek&Ruprecht Verlag

Jana Rückert-John (2021): Ernährung. In: Blättel-Mink, B./Schulz-Schäffer, I./Windeler, A. (Hg.): Handbuch Innovationsforschung. Wiesbaden 2020: 779-794.

Content:
The paradox of nutrition in modern society, that the abundance and oversupply of food pose enormous challenges to human survival, underlines the social significance of nutrition. At the same time, there are profound consequences for health and the environment. The negative effects of nutrition thus limit possibilities for society, which justifies the need for more sustainable nutrition and raises questions for sociology about changes in nutrition practices.

ISBN: 978-3-658-17671-6
To Springer VS

René John (2022): Strukturen familienhäuslichen Essalltags: Genese und Dynamik. In: GENDER, 14 (3), S. 43-57.

Content:
Based on interviews with couples on the structure and genesis of their households, the nutrition and its production conditions in everyday family life are examined. The importance of family meals, the appreciation of the production services required for them, and the distribution of household tasks that becomes visible in the process are highlighted. The genesis of the household shows how these structures of everyday family life emerged as practical arrangements rather than being negotiated by the partners.

ISSN: 1868-7245
More on the content: GENDER Zeitschrift

Möhring, Maren / Rückert-John, Jana (Hrsg.) (2021): Jahrbuch für Kulinaristik. The German Journal of Food Studies and Hospitality. Wissenschaft — Kultur — Praxis. Iudicium Verlag.

Content:
Volume 3 of the Jahrbuch für Kulinaristik is dedicated to two highly topical subjects of historical and social science nutrition research, on the one hand meat consumption and meat avoidance (Part I) and secondly nutrition in the context of the current refugee crisis (Part II). Both topics make it clear that food in the modern age is a phenomenon for which global relationships and interconnections are constitutive. Animal and meat production and related consumption touch on global economic, environmental, social and health conflicts and issues.

ISBN: 978-3-86205-527-2
To the Iudicium Verlag

René John & Jana Rückert-John (2021): Innovationen im Feld der Ernährung. In: Blättel-Mink, B./Schulz-Schäffer, I./Windeler, A. (Hg.): Handbuch Innovationsforschung. Wiesbaden 2020: 779-794.

Content:
Nutrition is a basic condition of society, which it must provide for itself. That is why it is subject to change. Nutrition is the occasion for socialization. It includes not only the consumption of food, but also its production and processing. Innovations in the field of nutrition are the target of numerous research activities and alternative business models. Based on such successful changes and the central importance of nutrition for society, social change can be observed scientifically in many ways, but nutrition is still a largely unexplored subject of social science innovation research.

ISBN: 978-3-658-17671-6
To Springer VS

Jana Rückert-John (2020): Gemeinsam einsam: Über das Essen in Coronazeiten. In: Armin Nassehi, Peter Felixberger (Hrsg.): Essen fassen. Kursbuch Kulturstiftung gGmbH, Hamburg.

Content:
The coronavirus pandemic has turned familiar everyday routines upside down. Also in terms of food. In her article in Kursbuch 204, sociologist Jana Rückert-John observes how dealing with the pandemic affects our meal patterns. Is the family meal together experiencing a revival? If so, is there also a retraditionalization of responsibilities? In other words: Are women being pushed back to the stove in the pandemic?

ISBN: 978-3961961696
More on the content: Kursbuch Verlag

Kröger, Melanie; Pape, Jens; Wittwer, Alexandra (2020): Einfach weglassen? Ein wissenschaftliches Lesebuch zur Reduktion von Plastikverpackungen im Lebensmittelhandel, oekom-Verlag, München.

Content:
In this book, 21 articles provide a comprehensive overview of the challenges, potentials and opportunities of eliminating packaging. Experts from science and practice will illuminate the topic from different angles, discuss and illustrate the many aspects of packaging reduction in food retailing.

ISBN: 978-3-96238-243-8
More on the content: oekom Verlag

Theresa Martens, Philip Boos & René John (2020): Umdeutung als Mittel erfolgreicher Regionalentwicklung. In: Schroth, Fabian; Schrautner, Martina (Hg.): Horizonte erweitern – Perspektiven ändern. Ländliche Räume als Innovationsräume verstehen und fördern, Berlin: Fraunhofer CeRRI: 36-48.

Content:
Using examples from the regions examined as part of the joint project “Expanding Horizons”, the article describes how regions remote from agglomerations can successfully develop endogenously on the basis of the reinterpretation of existing resources.
To the article

Jaeger-Erben, Melanie; Peuker, Birgit; Rückert-John, Jana (2020): Die Potenziale der Digitalisierung zur Förderung sozialer Innovationen. In: von Hauff, Michael; Reller, Armin (Hg.): Nachhaltige Digitalisierung – eine noch zu bewältigende Zukunftsaufgabe (forum hlz 3). Wiesbaden: Hessische Landeszentrale für politische Bildung: 123-140

Content:
Current forms of alternative consumption are used to discuss the extent to which such changes benefit from digitalization in terms of social innovation.

ISBN: 978-3-943192-55-1
ISSN: 2195-5956
More on the content: forum hlz 3

Jaeger-Erben, Melanie et al. (2020): From niche to mainstream: the dilemmas of scaling up sustainable alternatives. In: GAIA – Ecological Perspectives for Science and Society, Volume 29, Number 3, 2020, pp. 143-147(5). Oekom Verlag.

Content:
At the centre of transition research is the question of how sustainable alternatives can be ‘upscaled’ from a protected niche to the creation of mainstream practices. While upscaling processes are often seen as an essential element, upscaling itself remains a fuzzy concept.
More on the content: oekom Verlag (English)

G. Richter (Hrsg.): Lernen in der digitalen Transformation. Wie arbeitsintegriertes Lernen in der betrieblichen Praxis gelingt 1. Auflage. Stuttgart: Schäffer-Poeschel Verlag 2020.

Content:
The book aims to raise awareness of the potential of learning at work, describes the prerequisites for work-integrated learning in the company and shows operational managers how they can act as learning facilitators and work organisers.

ISBN: 978-3-7910-4822-2
Click here for a reading sample.
To the Schäffer-Poeschel Verlag

Jana Rückert-John und Sophia Reis (2020): Zur Reproduktion der sozialen Sinnform „Mahlzeit“ in Zeiten des globalisierten Lebensmittelmarkts. In: Nina Baur et al. (Hrsg.): Waren – Wissen – Raum: Interdependenz von Produktion, Markt und Konsum in Lebensmittelwarenketten, Springer VS, Wiesbaden.

Content:
Using the example of the food market, this volume examines the three sub-contexts of production, market extraction and consumption in their interrelationships as well as the role of power and knowledge in the coordination of commodity chains. The contributions show the direct connection between knowledge and actions of the actors as well as their effects on the spatial organization and order of the commodity chain.

ISBN: 978-3-658-30718-9
Go to: Springer VS

Jana Rückert-John und Melanie Kröger (Hrsg.) (2019): Fleisch: Vom Wohlstandssymbol zur Gefahr für die Zukunft. Nomos Verlag, Baden-Baden.

Content:
Meat is no longer an unquestioned symbol of prosperity in modern society, but is associated with a variety of consequences for the environment and health. Against this background, the anthology deals with questions of animal husbandry, meat production, meat consumption, social discourses on meat, and alternatives, such as veganism, vegetarianism, and in vitro meat.

ISBN: 978-3-8487-4190-8
More on the content: Nomos-Verlag

Braun-Thürmann, Holger; John, René (2019): Stabilisierung und Selbstbeschreibung: Innovation als Element soziologischer Theorie. In: Schubert, Cornelius; Schulz-Schaeffer, Ingo (Hg.): Berliner Schlüssel zur Techniksoziologie. Wiesbaden: Springer VS

Content:
What role can innovation play in sociological thinking if it is not primarily identified with a new technology or a new service?
ISBN: 978-3-658-22256-7
More on the content: Springer VS

Rückert-John, Jana; John, René (2018): Geschlecht gegessen. Die Bedeutung der Geschlechterperspektive für die Ernährungsforschung. In: Häußler, Angela; Küster, Christine; Ohrem, Sandra; Wagenknecht, Inga (Hg.): Care und die Wissenschaft vom Haushalt. Aktuelle Perspektiven der Haushaltswissenschaft

Content:
This article examines the relationship between gender and nutrition. This is explained by highlighting heteronormative nutritional practices.
ISBN: 978-3-658-19361-4
More on the content: Springer VS

Konrad-Adenauer Stiftung (2018): Normal – Gibt es das noch? Die Politische Meinung, Nr. 552, 63. Jahrgang.

Content:
Politics and political education are faced with the task of having to address the increasing number of “normal dropouts” who no longer want to know anything about them. Appropriating popular pedagogy that spreads good intentions and sentiments – or even so-called new narratives – among people tends to trigger allergic reflexes. Instead of cosy representational politics, problem-oriented and citizen-centered political mediation offers far more opportunities to successfully create contact surfaces at eye level.

ISSN 0032-3446
More on the content: Politische Meinung

Jana Rückert-John und Martina Schäfer (Hrsg.) (2017): Governance für eine Gesellschaftstransformation: Herausforderungen des Wandels in Richtung nachhaltige Entwicklung, Springer VS: Wiesbaden.

Content:
This anthology is dedicated to the scientific analysis and discussion of political and institutional design options as well as the conditions and existing barriers to new forms of governance. In addition to conceptual contributions, concrete requirements and innovative design options for sustainable development in selected governance fields, such as energy, agriculture or education, will be presented and discussed.

ISBN: 978-3-658-16559-8
More on the content: Springer VS

Jana Rückert-John (Hrsg.) (2017): Gesellschaftliche Naturkonzeptionen: Ansätze verschiedener Wissenschaftsdisziplinen, Springer VS: Wiesbaden.

Content:
The aim of the contributions to this anthology is to encourage politically-minded nature and environmental research to reflect on its socio-theoretical foundations. In current social science research it is discussed that nature cannot be conceived as a counterpart of society, as the Other, which at the same time is connected with a tendency to empty the meaning of this concept. Rather, it must be a matter of taking a look at the orders of knowledge and their everyday references and contexts, that is, how society conceives of nature in everyday life in order to be able to reflect and work on its problems in it.

ISBN 978-3-658-15732-6
More on the content: Springer VS

Melanie Jaeger-Erben, Jana Rückert-John und Martina Schäfer (Hrsg.) (2017): Soziale Innovationen für nachhaltigen Konsum: Wissenschaftliche Perspektiven, Strategien der Förderung und gelebte Praxis, Springer VS, Wiesbaden.

Content:
The anthology examines how the potential of innovative forms of sustainable consumption – such as collaborative consumption and the commons economy, prosuming and produsing, upcycling and reuse – can be unleashed to promote sustainable development. In addition to suggestions for systematizing the multitude of relevant phenomena, there are empirical insights into the development and diffusion of different types of innovations and their socio-ecological effects.

ISBN: 978-3-658-16544-4
More on the content: Springer VS

Boos, Philip (2017): Spatial manifestation of mobility tactics. In: The Urban Transcript Journal, Volume 1, no. 4, Winter 2017/18

Content:
The article discusses the relationship between the planned design and the practical use of paths in an urban context.
More on the content: The Urban Transcripts

Jaeger-Erben, Melanie; John, René; Rückert-John, Jana (2017): Soziale Innovation: Verheißung oder Verführung? In: GAIA 26/3

Content:
The article discusses the theoretical content and empirical potency of the term “social innovation” against the background of the debate on innovation and practice.
To the article

John, René; Rückert-John, Jana (2016): Innovativität der Konsumpraktiken. In: Besio, Cristina; Romano, Gaetano (Hg.): Zum gesellschaftlichen Umgang mit dem Klimawandel Kooperationen und Kollisionen, Baden-Baden: Nomos

Content:
The article explains changes in consumption as changes in everyday practices. Findings from the Environmental Awareness Study 2012 are cited as examples.
ISBN: 978-3-8487-1481-0
More on the content: Nomos Verlag

Hagen, Kornelia; Rückert-John, Jana (Hg.) (2016): Teilen, tauschen, leihen. Vierteljahrshefte zur Wirtschaftsforschung 2 und 3/2016

Content:
Issue 2: Sustainable models for future economic activity?
More on the contents of issue 2

Issue 3: Effects on the labour market, environment and social issues.
More on the content of issue 3

John, René; Jaeger-Erben, Melanie; Rückert-John, Jana (2016): Elusive Practices: Considerations on limits and possibilities of environmental policy for sustainable consumption. In: Environmental Policy and Governance 26 (2)

Content:
The article analyses how German environmental policy observes the everyday consumption of citizens, how this approach developed and what its weaknesses are. Three reasons are discussed on the basis of practice-theoretical considerations.
More on the content: Wiley Online Library

Rückert-John, Jana; John, René; Jaeger-Erben, Melanie: Neue Formen des Konsums aus Sicht der Politik. In: Forschungsjournal Soziale Bewegungen 2/2015

Content:
The article analyzes alternative consumption patterns and their political promotion. A typology of alternative consumption patterns is then presented. Through political support, however, consumption patterns lose their alternative character and are not pursued further. That is why environmental policy should enable alternative consumption patterns as everyday practices.
More on the content: Go to Fachjournal Soziale Bewegungen

von Wissel, Carsten; Schneidewind, Uwe (2015): Tranformative Wissenschaft, in: Forum Wissenschaft 4/15; Die Eigenlogik der Wissenschaft neu verhandeln, in: GAIA 24/3 (2015)

Content:
The article outlines the discussion about the role of science in society and the new forms of democratisation and future challenges that are being addressed.
democratisation and future challenges.
To the article

In another overview article, Carsten von Wissel summarises the current debate.
To the article

John, René, Langhof, Antonia (Hg.) (2014): Scheitern – Ein Desiderat der Moderne? Wiesbaden: Springer VS

Content:
Failure is hardly recognised by the social sciences to the extent that it occurs in society, according to the initial thesis of the anthology. The contributions strive for conceptual determinations and empirical descriptions, because it is from here that the conditions of the possibility of success become clear in the first place.
ISBN: 978-3-531-19181-2
More on the content: Springer VS

Cevolini, Alberto (Hg.) (2014): Die Ordnung des Kontingenten. Beiträge zur zahlenmäßigen Selbstbeschreibung der modernen Gesellschaft. Wiesbaden: Springer VS

Content:
The self-description of modern society by means of numbers is omnipresent. But what are the reasons for this? Starting from the beginnings in population observation by the state in the 17th and The significance for modern society of the abstraction this set in motion in the 18th century is discussed.
ISBN: 978-3-531-19235-2
More on the content: Springer VS

Rückert-John, Jana (Hg.) (2013): Soziale Innovation und Nachhaltigkeit. Perspektiven sozialen Wandels. Wiesbaden: Springer VS

Contents:
Political perspectives on innovation and sustainability.- Conceptual considerations and “bridging”.- Facets of an alliance of innovation and sustainability.- Fields of application of social innovations in the sustainability process.
ISBN: 978-3-531-18974-1
More on the content: Springer VS

John, René; Rückert-John, Jana; Esposito, Elena (Hg.) (2013): Ontologien der Moderne. Wiesbaden: Springer VS

Content:
The experience of the world can only take place under the condition of its actuality. For this, their constructiveness must disappear behind ontic references. If the first arrangement of the world is contingent, it is not arbitrary. The construction has necessary consequences as facts. If the memory of the initial construction is not successful, reflection is only abbreviated and inadequate.
ISBN: 978-3-531-94128-8
More on the content: Springer VS

Rürup, Matthias; Bormann, Inka (Hg.) (2012): Innovationen im Bildungswesen. Analytische Zugänge und empirische Befunde. Wiesbaden: Springer VS

Contents:
The volume endeavors to systematically link the educational governance perspective with innovation research, which has now become established in educational science. This is discussed from different theoretical perspectives and methodological approaches. At the same time, a systematic overview of current fields and findings in education system-related innovation research is provided. With contributions by René John and others
ISBN: 978-3-531-19701-2
More on the content: Springer VS

Bormann, Inka; John, René; Aderhold, Jens (Hg.) (2012): Indikatoren des Neuen. Innovation als Sozialmethodologie oder Sozialtechnologie? Wiesbaden: Springer VS

Contents:
The discussion in this volume provides a factual foundation and dissemination of the debate on social innovation. The relationship between innovation and society, particularly in the observation of social change in both specific organisational and general social contexts, is shown: innovations must be addressed as temporarily fixed solutions to social problems.
ISBN: 978-3-531-94043-4
More on the content: Springer VS

Howald, Jürgen; Jacobsen, Heike (Hg.)(2010): Soziale Innovation. Auf dem Weg zu einem postindustriellen Innovationsparadigma. Wiesbaden: Springer VS

Contents:
This volume takes up the debate on social innovations in discussions on modernisation theory and the sociology of technology and science. It combines theoretical definitions, research-guiding concepts and empirical findings.
Contributions by Holger Braun-Thürmann, René John and Jens Aderhold, among others
ISBN: 978-3-531-92469-4
More on the content: Springer VS

John, René; Henkel, Anna; Rückert-John, Jana (Hg.) (2010): Methologien des Systems. Wie kommt man zum Fall und wie dahinter? Wiesbaden: Springer VS

Contents:
International contributions to the state of the discussion on the possibility of empirical research on a systems-theoretical basis.
ISBN: 978-3-531-92435-9
More on the content: Springer VS

Wetzel, Ralf; Aderhold, Jens; Rückert-John, Jana (Hg.) (2009): Die Organisation in unruhigen Zeiten. Heidelberg: Carl-Auer-Verlag

Contents:
This volume sets out in search of indications and symptoms that provide insights into the current and prospective state of the organisation. Empirical, conceptual and analytical considerations from different perspectives are used to search for possibilities of description that indicate a considerable backlog in empirical observation, conceptual work and design.
ISBN: 978-3-89670-910-3
More on the content: Carl-Auer Verlag

John, René (2008): Die Modernität der Gemeinschaft. Soziologische Beobachtungen zur Oderflut 1997. Bielefeld: transcript Verlag

Contents:
Community is an answer to the problem of individual self-description in a multi-contextual society – a genuinely modern phenomenon.
ISBN: 978-3-89942-886-5
More on the content: transcript Verlag

Rückert-John, Jana (2007): Natürlich Essen. Kantinen und Restaurants auf dem Weg zu nachhaltiger Ernährung

Contents:
Motives, constellations, problems and solutions and organizational-structural consequences of the introduction of organic food in out-of-home catering are examined on the basis of four case analyses.
ISBN: 978-3-593-38484-9
More on the content: Campus Verlag

Abel, Roland (2007): Erwerbsregulierung in kleinen Handwerksunternehmen – untersucht am Beispiel von Tischlereien. München, Mehring: Rainer Hampp-Verlag

Contents:
The impact of collective bargaining coverage on labour regulation and employment conditions in craft enterprises on the basis of an empirical study on this important but hitherto largely unexplored subject.
ISBN: 978-3-86618-158-8
More on the content (PDF download from website)

Blättel-Mink, Birgit (2006): Kompendium der Innovationsforschung. Wiesbaden: Springer VS

Contents:
History of the term, Social and political significance, History of innovation research, Current topics, Main works of innovation research, etc. with a contribution by René John and Jens Aderhold.
ISBN: 978-3-531-19971-9
More on the content: Springer VS

Abel, Roland; Bass, Hans H.; Ernst-Siebert, Robert (Hg.) (2006): Kleine und mittelgroße Unternehmen im globalen Innovationswettbewerb. Technikgestaltung, Internationalisierungsstrategien, Beschäftigungsschaffung. München u. Mering: Hampp-Verlag

Contents:
Can small and medium-sized enterprises, the ‘job machines’ of the economy, achieve competitive advantages on international markets through innovation? Which factors promote, which inhibit their innovative strength? And what can, what should economic policy do? Economists and sociologists provide answers to these questions in this volume.
ISBN: 978-3866180765

Aderhold, Jens; John, René (Hg.) (2005): Innovation. Sozialwissenschaftliche Perspektiven. Konstanz: UVK

Contents:
Authors from different social science disciplines show the theoretical perspectives of social science research and look at specific social fields. Social counselling, trade unions and health insurance companies in Germany, management training, protest movements such as Attac and the Al Qaeda terror movement as well as the development of free software and the renewal of the Berlin Schaubühne are examined from the historical perspective of social innovation.
ISBN: 978-3896695222

Aderhold, Jens (2005): Form und Funktion sozialer Netzwerke in Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft. Beziehungsgeflechte als Vermittler zwischen Erreichbarkeit und Zugänglichkeit. Wiesbaden: Springer VS

Contents:
The question of what networks are has been on our minds for more than a century now, and it looks like we haven’t gotten very far in answering this question. This is due, among other things, to the fact that we were impressed by very particular perspectives; with the effect of a chattiness that functions without reference point. What has been missing so far is a scientific foundation based on generalization and access to social theory issues.
ISBN: 978-3-322-83386-0
More on the content: Springer VS

Ralf Wetzel (2004): Eine Widerspenstige und keine Zähmung. Systemtheoretische Beiträge zu einer Theorie der Behinderung. Heidelberg: Carl-Auer-Verlag.

Contents:
Organisations play an immense role in modern society. It is hard to imagine a social activity that takes place outside of their catchment area. But not only their presence is unmistakable, also their functions and peculiarities. Organisations regulate people’s access to functional areas of society and at the same time skilfully evade the various attempts at change that are made against them.
ISBN: 978-3896703316

Rückert-John, Jana (2002): Interorganisationale Netzwerke aus systemtheoretischer Perspektive. In: Hentrich, Jörg; Hoß, Dietrich (Hg.): RKW-Diskurs Arbeiten und Lernen in Netzwerken. Eine Zwischenbilanz zu neuen Formen sozialer und wirtschaftlicher Kooperationen. Eschborn: RKW-Verlag

Content:
Based on system-theoretical considerations on networks, inter-organisational networks are presented as loose structural couplings between organisations. As loose couplings, networks always contain specific latency. The associated risk must be bound by trust. Networks are unstable and are transformed by ongoing network communications into other forms, into dissolutions or stricter bonds of cooperation.

Richter, Götz (2002): Anpassung oder Gestaltung? Betriebliche Beschäftigungsbündnisse in der deutschen Metall- und Elektroindustrie. In: Hartmut Seifert (Hg.): Betriebliche Bündnisse für Arbeit. Rahmenbedingungen – Praxiserfahrungen – Zukunftsbedingungen. Berlin, edition sigma

Content:
How do company pacts for work come about and how do they prove their worth? This anthology shows in a multitude of facets and on the basis of a rich selection of concrete agreements how alliances came about, which contents were agreed upon and which problems had to be mastered during implementation. The combination of empiricism and reflection results in a broad overview that not least helps operational players to utilise experience and exploit opportunities.
ISBN: 978-3894048969

Bothfeld, Silke; Gronbach, Sigrid; Riedmüller, Barbara (Hg.) (2002): Gender Mainstreaming – eine Innovation in der Gleichstellungspolitik. Frankfurt am Main: Campus Verlag

Content:
Gender mainstreaming means that gender relations are generally taken into account in all political and administrative institutions. Here, academics and practitioners discuss whether and what new opportunities this concept offers for gender equality policy.
ISBN: 978-3593370385
More on the content: Campus Verlag

Hagen, Kornelia; Rückert-John, Jana (2001): Netzwerke – Ein Beitrag zur regionalen Innovations- und Beschäftigungssicherung? In: Hoß, D.; Schrick, G. (Hg.): Die Region – Experimentierfeld gesellschaftlicher Innovation, Münster: Westfälisches Dampfboot

Content:
There is a growing awareness of the importance of regional networks for increasing competitiveness, securing the location and promoting employment. Increasing attention is also being paid to the fact that economic competitiveness and innovative strength depend on a variety of factors in the social and institutional environment of companies. As a result, the region has become a true “experimental field of social innovation.”

Hinrichs, Wilhelm; Priller, Eckhard (Hg.) (2001): Handeln im Wandel. Akteurskonstellationen in der Transformation. In: Berliner Debatte 2 (2003)

Content:
This anthology, which was produced on the occasion of a conference to mark the retirement of Professor Horst Berger, discusses the German transformation process from an East German perspective. This paper highlights the one-sidedness of the policy and the research perspective that follows it. Furthermore, the article on social capital by Priller is recommended. Here one finds reflections on current social questions and problems, which therefore also leaves behind the narrow framework of East German transformation problems.