701 research outputs found
A Review of Institutional Change in the Public Sphere: Views on the Nordic Model Edited by Fredrik Engelstad et al.
No full textAuthor: Pablo Markin Published Online: 2017-08-13 URL: http://openscience.com/a-review-of-institutional-change-in-the-public-sphere-views-on-the-nordic-model-edited-by-fredrik-engelstad-et-al/ This timely volume provides a Nordic and theoretically informed perspective on the transformations that the public sphere has been undergoing in recent decades. Excerpt Published in April 2017 by De Gruyter Open, Institutional Change in the Public Sphere: Views on the Nordic Model, a collection of cont..
Domestic Elites in the Transformation of the "European Polity": the case of Italy
No full textThe article discusses the impact of the process of Europeanisation upon national elites. Using the Hirschmann's concepts of exit, voice and loyalty the author analyzes the different strategies national elites can pursue in an environment increasingly contrained by the process of supra-national integration. A special attention is devoted to the Italian case
Kunnskap og refleksjon : 50 års samfunnsforskning
No full textDenne artikkelsamlingen ble gitt ut i forbindelse med instituttets 50-årsjubileum i 2000. Artiklene tar for seg framveksten og utviklingen av forskningen ved instituttet.
Rapporten er i tre hoveddeler:
1. TILBAKEBLIKK: Om instituttet og norsk samfunnsforskning 1945-1986.
2. FORSKNINGSOMRÅDENE: Om de ulike forskningsområdenes utvilking.
3. UAVHENGIGHET OG OPPDRAG: Om oppdragsforskning og forskningsetik.
Hovedtyngden i dette jubileumsskriftet ligger på instituttets forskning – det er jo den siden ved instituttet som fortjener størst oppmerksomhet. Hvert av instituttets fem hovedområder i jubileumsåret blir beskrevet i ett eller to bidrag. Disse er alle skrevet av nåværende eller tidligere forskningsledere. Noen forskningsfelter har det vært arbeidet på i mange tiår, mens andre er kommet til nokså nylig. Ulikheter i temaer og tradisjoner reflekteres nødvendigvis i fremstillingene, som skiller seg fra hverandre på mange punkter. Alle retter de imidlertid blikket både bakover og fremover. Dermed blir også viktige sider av instituttets historie belyst
The enigma of capitalism - Beyond human power II and John Gabriel Borkman. Bjørnstjere Bjørnson and Henrik Ibsen as critics of capitalism
No full textThe mid-1890s saw the publication of two seminal critiques of capitalism in Norwegian drama: Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson’s Beyond Human Power – Second Play (1895), and Henrik Ibsen’s John Gabriel Borkman (1896). The obvious differences, as well as the similarities of these plays, invite a comparative analysis.
Bjørnson’s play is a sociological depiction of class differences and class struggles, expressed in collective action strategies by employers, and a strange mixture of powerlessness and terrorism by the working class. The main references are work relations and social and political collectivities. Nevertheless, identities and close social relations are a necessary part of social structures as well as dramatic plots. The analysis of Bjørnson’s play focuses on the relationships between individual lives and individual action on the one hand, and the broad social landscape on the other.
John Gabriel Borkman is about a stagnated universe, where all of the main characters are trying to revive the past. Borkman is not about work and collectivities, but about financial capital. To Ibsen, financial capital is the ideal environment for research on the ambitions and shortcomings of individuals. Finance in one sense leads to the aggrandizement of individual power; it makes possible the idea that one man can rule the world. At the same time, there is a world of production in the Ibsenesque universe, as there is a world of social identities in Bjørnson.
The inspiration for both plays may be found in the developments of capitalism during the latter half of the nineteenth century, but also in their intertextual relationships with Nietzsche and Goethe’s Faust
Institute for Social Research 70 years : Reflections on some long term trends
No full textpublishedVersio
The Public Sphere in the Nordic Model
No full textFive institutional fields were pinpointed as the main components of a public sphere in the introductory chapter (Engelstad, Larsen, Rogstad & Steen-Johnsen, this volume). They vary significantly in their institutional structure as well as the distribution of power. These variations to a large extent determine how the public sphere as a whole will function. In the present chapter each of the fields are briefly presented, in order to show some of their specificities, while at the same time pointing to their links to politics and political regulation.
Even though material from Norway is the most prominent in this book, Norwegian society is part of a broader type of social formation. A broader focus on Nordic societies accentuates that the constellation of institutions in one country is not the product of purely random historical processes, but represent more stable institutional clusters. To the degree that there are central commonalities between the Nordic countries also when it comes to the shape of the public sphere, it makes sense to talk of a Nordic model in this respect, not only in the politico-economic sphere, as is most common.
There have been and still are controversies over the fruitfulness of the concept of a Nordic model. Hence, the chapter is introduced by a brief discussion of alternative ways of conceiving a ‘model’. Moreover, the discussion is informed by two important works: Comparing Media Systems (Hallin & Mancini, 2004) and The Media Welfare State (Syvertsen, Enli, Mjøs & Moe, 2014). Even though these works are limited to the media field, and thus cover only part of the topic treated here, they give valuable impulses to the understanding of the public sphere as a whole
Democratic State and Democratic Society
No full textThis book focuses on institutional change in Nordic societies. Among the Nordics, the main emphasis is on Norway, in many ways the best example of neo-corporatism. The main emphasise is put on the interplay of democracy and social institutions
Analyzing Organizational Change in Higher Education
No full textIn this paper an approach for studying organizational change in higher education is presented. Two theoretical perspectives on organizational change are outlined. First, a resource dependence perspective emphasising that organizational change must be understood by looking at how organizations perceive their environments. How do organizations act to control and avoid dependencies in order to maintain organizational discretion and autonomy of action? A (sociological) neo-institutional framework for studying change in higher education organizations emphasizes the cognitive and normative elements in the environment. When organizations change according to institutionalized expectations, they do so in a context of taken for granted norms and beliefs. Both perspectives represent valuable analytical frameworks that can be combined fruitfully. In addition the article focuses on one major environmental actor for higher education, the state. How do government policies and programs influence organizational change processes? With reference to both resource dependence theory and neo-institutional perspective relevant aspects of policymaking as well as characteristics of the content of policies and programs are presented. It is argued that there is a need for seeing interaction of the government with universities and colleges as located in an overall system of state steering of higher education. Four state (or governance) models have been discussed grasping different approaches to national policymaking, steering, and governance of higher education in Europe and the way these affect change processes in universities and colleges
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