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This paper aims to discuss tourism development, tourism policy development and its challenges in Rotterdam through the lens of “new urban tourism”, reviewing the relevance of the concept.

This paper comprises a review of the concept of new urban tourism and a case study of Rotterdam. Methods used include a literature review and social media search, an analysis of policy documents and street interviews.

Tourism in Rotterdam has grown rapidly, exhibiting aspects of new urban tourism such as encounters with the ordinary and everydayness, authenticity and de-differentiation. Details about tourism motives and nature of tourism are unknown. It is concluded that the concept of new urban tourism is a rather elusive and difficult notion to apply to the case of Rotterdam.

This research is a case study of one city.

This paper suggests that different tourism information and statistics are needed for policymaking and for understanding urban tourism.

The Rotterdam case raises new questions about new urban tourism, as the concept appears to be rather indefinable.

Explores the relationship between new trends in management thought (e.g. corporate culture, the Excellence literature) and postmodernist ideas. Argues that a central theme of postmodernism is the de‐differentiation of the spheres of economy and culture. Suggests that this theme is present in new management philosophies that celebrate the virtues of play, flexibility and indeterminacy. But that this celebration is partial and instrumental as, paradoxically, it is intended to extend the life of modernist institutions.

Draws a distinction, via the edited text of an interview, between a sociology of postmodernity and postmodernism: the latter has an emphasis on theory and its intertextuality while the former would focus more evidently on discontinuities in the empirical world which serve to mark a difference from the ways in which that world has been appropriated and appreciated through a more modernist perspective. For organization theory the difference is articulated in particular by the awareness that there are now counter‐factuals available to challenge some predominant assumptions about the way in which organization occurs. The assumptions have a predominantly “Western” basis; some elements of the challenge come from an increasing knowledge of the specificities of Asian practice. A crucial axis for comparison between relevant tendencies towards “modernism” and “postmodernism” is that of “differentiation”. Proposes that modernist tendencies are towards the increase of differentiation, postmodern towards the increase of de‐differentiation – the throwing into reverse of the tendency towards differentiation. Considers contrasting models of what a postmodern, de‐differentiated future might look like in terms of their democratic potential.

In this chapter, we argue from a theoretical perspective that globalisation has impacted differentiation within higher education systems. The three propositions about mechanisms affecting diversity distinguished by van Vught (environmental conditions, competition for resources and academic norms) remain the same, but the initial conditions have changed. Governmental policy, in particular, affects the degree of openness of higher education systems (positively or negatively), either through (de-)regulation or by affecting higher education institutions’ strategies for internationalisation. Thus, we add as a fourth proposition that increasing institutional autonomy increases system diversity in the context of globalisation.

We re‐evaluate modern segmentation assumptions and methods by referencing several postmodern characteristics of consumers in global markets. Drawing on contributions from sociology, political sociology, social theory, anthropology, philosophy, psychology, consumer behavior, and international marketing, we posit three research questions, discussion of which leads to the formulation of research propositions. Real‐life consumer and marketing examples are quoted as evidence of the need to go beyond reliance on modern segmentation to incorporate postmodern thinking into consumer analysis as a necessary ‘second step.’ This paper invites reflection on how marketers should adapt to new, complex, and changing consumer realities, which are summarized as multi‐dimensionality, unpredictability, inconsistency, search for meaning, and peak experiences by means of consumption.

The purpose of this paper is to compare two scandals related to the care of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) in the USA and the UK.

A descriptive case study methodology was used to conduct an in-depth qualitative analysis of the two scandals to examine the process of scandal development, and to survey the policy response against policy trends and theories of abuse in each case. The two cases were systematically analysed against a theoretical framework derived from Bonnie and Wallace (2003) theoretical framework for understanding abuse based on its sociocultural context, the social embeddedness of organisations providing care, and the individual level characteristics and interactions of subjects and carers.

In both cases the process of scandal construction was comparable, and each case offered confirmatory support to extant theories of abuse, and to wider policy trends within I/DD.

The study examines only the short-term policy responses to the scandals in two countries, based on published material only.

This paper contributes an international comparison of the similarities and differences in the social construction of scandal and the policy responses to abuse and neglect of a vulnerable population using systematic analytical frameworks.

As more and more organizations establish their presence on the World Wide Web, the question of interacting in the new medium presents challenges to practitioners and academics alike. How should economic and symbolic activity be conducted and conceptualized? Different assumptions about the new medium will result in disparate activities ‐ and concomitantly varying degrees of success or failure. In this article we explore the phenomenon of the Web using themes which characterize postmodernism. Postmodernism is a rubric of praxes and thoughts that “dis‐embodies” the information age, and thus offers unique insights into information‐rich contexts such as the Web. The article is set out as follows. First, the signifiers of “modern” and “postmodern” are discussed. Second, the Web is explored using key themes of postmodernism. We conclude that a postmodern perspective will illuminate thinking in the new information medium, just as modernism facilitated thinking in traditional physical medium.

This case study of a worker-owned factory in Mexico illustrates the distinct character of the cooperativist division of labor, bringing into question the tendency to equate cooperativism with de-differentiation. An analysis of this practical alternative shows how workers' participatory culture shapes the politics and relations in production at the shopfloor, transforming the vertical and horizontal division of labor. The conflictive and dynamic character of workers' participation not only limits oligarchic and authoritarian tendencies at the organization, but also sustains a balance between two apparently contradictory goals: to uphold efficiency and a more humane work environment. For the workers, the enterprise becomes a tool at their service, playing an educational and nutritional role. In the process it also reduces the division of labor in society.

Drawing on the functional structural systems theory of Niklas Luhmann and the theory of colonisation of the social lifeworld advanced by Jurgen Habermas, it is argued that the Big Society project in the UK is about the creation of an alternative non-state welfare infrastructure by the linking of wealthy donors with opportunities to engage in venture philanthropy in the third sector. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

The paper outlines key features of Luhmann's theory relating to autopoiesis and structural coupling to illustrate its conceptual strength in making the colonisation process visible.

The paper illustrates the ways in which system imperatives underpinning the colonisation process absorb and subordinate public activism to narrow market principles forcing the third sector to communicate in the language of the market rather than caritas.

The real implication of these developments for the character of the voluntary sector requires further critical examination not only because the state's enduring commitment to welfare may be in question but also for the growing significance of entrepreneurial philanthropy in shaping the character of volunteering and charitable activities and welfare relationships.

The paper applies Luhmann's theory relating to autopoiesis and structural coupling to make key features of government colonisation of the third sector visible.

This article discusses how the concepts of exploration and exploitation are fruitful for understanding individual fantasies of escape from the demands of contemporary workplaces. We examine one influential articulation of such fantasies, namely the best-selling self-help book “The 4-Hour Workweek.” This book advocates that individuals outsource the bulk of the routine (“exploitation”) tasks of their lives, leaving themselves free for creativity, play, and leisure (“exploration”). In this way, a radical separation of exploitation and exploration at the individual level is proposed. We examine the meanings and contradictions of such ideas by discussing how they may function as powerful escape fantasies for those facing corporate overwork. However, we argue that the solution proposed is unsatisfactory because of its individualism, which fails to see the inherently social nature of work and life.