Social Theory and Philosophy for Information Systems

John Mingers is Professor of OR and Information Systems and Director of Research at Kent Business School, University of Kent, UK. His research interests include the use of systems methodologies in problem situations, particularly the mixing of different methodologies within an intervention (multimethodology); the development of critical realism as a philosophy for information systems; the development of theory concerning the nature of information and meaning; and autopoiesis and its applications. He has published several books, including Self-Producing Systems: Implications and Applications of Autopoiesis and Information Systems: An Emerging Discipline? (with Professor Frank Stowell). Leslie P. Willcocks is Professor of Information Management at Warwick Business School. He received a doctorate from the University of Cambridge, is visiting professor at Erasmus and Melbourne Universities, and joint Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Information Technology. He is co-author of 23 books, and has published over 140 papers in journals ranging from Harvard Business Review to MIS Quarterly, MISQ Executive and Journal of Management Studies. His research interests include organizational issues, politics, outsourcing, implementation, e-business and evaluation.

"...I would highly recommend that all libraries...acquire a copy of this book..." (Journal of the Operational Research Society, No 57, 2006)

• List of Contributors ixSeries Preface xiiiPreface xiv1 Thinking about Social Theory and Philosophy for Information Systems 1Allen S. Lee2 Fit for Function: Functionalism, Neofunctionalism and Information Systems 27M. Lynne Markus3 Phenomenology, Screens, and the World: A Journey with Husserl and Heidegger into Phenomenology 56Lucas D. Introna and Fernando M. Ilharco4 Hermeneutics in Information Systems Research 103Michael D. Myers5 Adorno: A Critical Theory for IS Research 129Stephen K. Probert6 The Critical Social Theory of Jürgen Habermas and its Implications for IS Research 157Heinz K. Klein and Minh Q. Huynh7 Foucault, Power/Knowledge and Information Systems: Reconstructing the Present 238Leslie P. Willcocks8 Structuration Theory and Information Systems: A Critical Reappraisal 297Matthew Jones, Wanda Orlikowski and Kamal Munir9 What We May Learn from the Social Shaping of Technology Approach 329Debra Howcroft, Nathalie Mitev and Melanie Wilson10 Re-establishing the Real: Critical Realism and Information Systems 372John Mingers11 Complexity and Information Systems 407Yasmin MeraliIndex 447