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Book part
Publication date: 26 July 2016

Michael Schwalbe

If what sociologists call “social structures” are understood to be recurrent patterns of joint action, then the charge that interactionism suffers from an astructural bias falls…

Abstract

If what sociologists call “social structures” are understood to be recurrent patterns of joint action, then the charge that interactionism suffers from an astructural bias falls apart, because such patterns of joint action are what interactionists routinely study. The problem, then, is not that interactionism fails to grasp structure, but that much of the mainstream of sociology fails to grasp process. It is this aprocessual bias that impedes a full understanding of how inequality is created and reproduced. The case of capitalism is used to show how an interactionist focus on process can illuminate the workings of a large-scale economic system. I treat capitalism as a macro interaction order, à la Goffman, and then employ the tools of dramaturgical sociology to analyze the recurrent patterns of joint action of which capitalism consists. This form of dramaturgical analysis is applied to two fictional stories as a way to show how capitalism depends on normative and procedural rules, cognitive presuppositions, and ritual forms – all of which are typically rendered invisible by aprocessual bias. The concepts of side bets, identity stakes, and nets of accountability are developed to complete the analysis.

Details

The Astructural Bias Charge: Myth or Reality?
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78635-036-7

Keywords

Abstract

Details

Games in Everyday Life: For Play
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-83867-937-8

Book part
Publication date: 27 January 2022

Erik O. Kimbrough

Laboratory studies of social interaction have revealed a wide range of phenomena that are difficult to explain using standard economic models. For example, people will often…

Abstract

Laboratory studies of social interaction have revealed a wide range of phenomena that are difficult to explain using standard economic models. For example, people will often sacrifice their own earnings in order to be generous, cooperative, punitive, and retributive in interactions with anonymous strangers. “Behavioral” models that redefine agents’ preferences attempt to provide an account of these phenomena as reflecting a “taste for fairness” or altruism, aversion to inequality, concern about others’ beliefs, and so on. Such models either fail to account for the rich sensitivity of actions to context or in allowing for rich context-dependence, these models ultimately substitute description for explanation. Hayek’s work provides a foundation for thinking about how to explain these phenomena, by conceiving of people as both purpose-seeking (as in economic models) and rule-following. Decisions are shaped both by material interests and by a normative framework that is evoked by context and helps people decide what one ought to do in a particular situation. The implication of this approach is that rather than trying to understand heterogeneity across individuals in terms of preferences, experimenters should instead try to understand heterogeneity across contexts in terms of the rules and norms that operate in the background and guide or constrain people’s purpose-seeking tendencies. What economics needs, then, is a theory of how and why these rules and norms vary with context as they do.

Details

Contemporary Methods and Austrian Economics
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80262-287-4

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Article
Publication date: 14 August 2007

Hans Rudi Fischer

In Bateson's theory of mind, the adaptation of Russell's theory of logical types is of key importance. Korzybski represented the type‐logical difference between language and…

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Abstract

Purpose

In Bateson's theory of mind, the adaptation of Russell's theory of logical types is of key importance. Korzybski represented the type‐logical difference between language and reality as the metaphorical distinction between map and territory. The confounding of logical types generates cognitive, and logical problems, which Bateson reflected in his theory of schizophrenia. In Wittgenstein's philosophy, this type‐logical distinction is of equal significance.

Design/methodology/approach

The present paper, through the elucidation of the concept of language‐game and its relationship with grammar, demonstrates the proximity of Wittgenstein's and Bateson's understanding of language, which allows for a productive improvement of possible therapies of insanity.

Findings

For Bateson, schizophrenia is the attempt to escape from a pathogenic learning context, within which the map of thought has become malformed. Insanity can thus be understood as transformed grammar and can additionally be illuminated by both Wittgenstein's and Kant's conception of insanity. Wittgenstein's idea that in madness the lock is not destroyed, only altered is further reflected in connection with Bateson's theory of schizophrenia. On the basis of this conception of language, we develop an understanding of language that allows us to interpret “insanity” as deviating cognition originating in a family's system of communication.

Originality/value

On account of the “reality‐constitutive” character of language, it can be shown that “insane” thinking is based on a change of grammar. Therefore, the aim of therapy must be the change of pathological language‐games and the creation of bridges between inconsistent self‐interpretations of the patient by means of inventing new language‐games (stories).

Details

Kybernetes, vol. 36 no. 7/8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0368-492X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 February 1987

Roger A. Kerin and Michael G. Harvey

The term “strategic thinking” is a relatively recent addition to the lexicon of marketing concepts. Its popularity arises from increasing discontent with highly formalized…

Abstract

The term “strategic thinking” is a relatively recent addition to the lexicon of marketing concepts. Its popularity arises from increasing discontent with highly formalized marketing planning approaches that replace creativity with paperwork and Jock executives into a dangerously predictable repertoire of strategic options. Despite the frequent call for strategic thinking to augment the marketing planning process, there is woefully little written on the subject. It would seem that the admonition to THINK emphasized by the late Thomas Watson at IBM is not enough. Rather, strategic thinking requires a perspective on what to think about. The properties of games, which we will describe, provide a valuable insight into what an executive should consider when asked to think strategically regarding a marketing problem or opportunity. These properties form the basis for the game theory approaches in decision analysis where mathematics is the dominant feature. Unfortunately, the impenetrable language of mathematics has obscured the fundamental properties of games so that marketing executives cannot readily use them in a corporate setting. We will look here at these fundamental game properties and see what insights they offer for strategic marketing thinking and formulating competitive strategy.

Details

Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, vol. 2 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0885-8624

Article
Publication date: 15 January 2019

Niamh M. Brennan

A doctoral dissertation is a challenging undertaking requiring determination, persistence and resilience over a long time: four to six years’ study or more. These PhD “rules of the

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Abstract

Purpose

A doctoral dissertation is a challenging undertaking requiring determination, persistence and resilience over a long time: four to six years’ study or more. These PhD “rules of the game” are intended to help students successfully navigate this challenge.

Design/methodology/approach

The author has assembled 100 PhD rules of the game from the author’s work over many years with masters and doctoral students. Each rule is accompanied by some further short guidance. Additional citations are included directing readers to resources embellishing the 100 PhD rules of the game.

Findings

The paper documents 100 PhD rules of the game.

Research limitations/implications

There are many other PhD rules of the game not included in the author’s list of 100 PhD rules of the game.

Originality/value

This paper is a one-stop-shop brief introduction to the author’s 100 PhD rules of the game.

Details

Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, vol. 32 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0951-3574

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 13 October 2022

Christopher McMahon

Abstract

Details

The Corruption of Play: Mapping the Ideological Play-Space of AAA Videogames
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80117-736-8

Article
Publication date: 1 August 2016

Carole Tansley, Ella Hafermalz and Kristine Dery

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between the use of sophisticated talent selection processes such as gamification and training and development…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between the use of sophisticated talent selection processes such as gamification and training and development interventions designed to ensure that candidates can successfully navigate the talent assessment process. Gamification is the application of game elements to non-game activities through the adoption of gaming tools, and little is known about how candidates (“talent”) struggle to learn about the structural mechanics of gamification as they engage with the hidden rules of talent selection, such as goals, rules, “levelling up”, feedback and engagement in competitive – collaborative activities. The term “talent development gamification” is coined and used as an analytical tool to consider how young talent are supported by development interventions in their inter-subjectivity as they learn how to survive and win in talent selection games.

Design/methodology/approach

Studying hidden dynamics in development processes inherent in gamified talent selection is challenging, so a cult work of fiction, “Ender’s Game”, is examined to address the questions: “How do candidates in talent selection programmes learn to make sense of the structural mechanics of gamification”, “How does this make the hidden rules of talent selection explicit to them?” and “What does this mean for talent development?”

Findings

Talent development in selection gamification processes is illustrated through nuanced theoretical accounts of how a multiplicity of shifting and competing developmental learning opportunities are played out as a form of “double-consciousness” by potential organizational talent for them to “win the selection game”.

Research limitations/implications

Using novels as an aid to understanding management and the organization of work is ontologically and epistemologically problematic. But analysing novels which are “good reads” also has educational value and can produce new knowledge from its analysis. In exploring how “Characters are made to live dangerously, to face predicaments that, as readers, we experience as vicarious pleasure. We imagine, for example, how a particular character may react or, more importantly, what we would do in similar circumstances” (Knights and Willmott, 1999, p. 5). This future-oriented fictional narrative is both illustrative and provides an analogy to illuminate current organisational development challenges.

Originality/value

The term “talent development gamification in selection processes” is coined to allow analysis and provide lessons for talent development practice in a little studied area. Our case study analysis identifies a number of areas for consideration by talent management/talent development specialists involved in developing talent assessment centres incorporating gamification. These include the importance of understanding and taking account of rites of passage through the assessment centre, in particular the role of liminal space, what talent development interventions might be of benefit and the necessity of appreciating and managing talent in developing the skill of double consciousness in game simulations.

Details

European Journal of Training and Development, vol. 40 no. 7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2046-9012

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 28 May 2019

Niamh M. Brennan

There are several basic, and at times minor, pedantic principles required to successfully publish in good-quality international peer-reviewed journals. These are what the author…

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Abstract

Purpose

There are several basic, and at times minor, pedantic principles required to successfully publish in good-quality international peer-reviewed journals. These are what the author calls therules of the game”. Many are so basic, so taken-for-granted, tacit knowledge, that at times supervisors do not tell their students about them. The paper aims to discuss this issue.

Design/methodology/approach

The author has assembled 100 research rules of the game from her work over many years with doctoral students and early career researchers. Each rule is accompanied by short advice. Additional citations are included directing readers to further resources on the 100 research rules of the game.

Findings

The paper documents 100 research rules of the game.

Research limitations/implications

There are many other rules of the game not included in the author’s list of 100 research rules of the game.

Originality/value

This paper is a one-stop-shop brief introduction to the author’s 100 research rules of the game.

Details

Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, vol. 32 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0951-3574

Keywords

Abstract

Details

Individualism, Holism and the Central Dilemma of Sociological Theory
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78769-038-7

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