Gert Verschraegen - Böcker

Imagining, forecasting and predicting the future is an inextricable and increasingly important part of the present. States, organizations and individuals almost continuously have to make decisions about future actions, financial investments or technological innovation, without much knowledge of what will exactly happen in the future. Science and technology play a crucial role in this collective attempt to make sense of the future. Technological developments such as nanotechnology, robotics or solar energy largely shape how we dream and think about the future, while economic forecasts, gene tests or climate change projections help us to make images of what may possibly occur in the future.This book provides one of the first interdisciplinary assessments of how scientific and technological imaginations matter in the formation of human, ecological and societal futures. Rooted in different disciplines such as sociology, philosophy, and science and technology studies, it explores how various actors such as scientists, companies or states imagine the future to be and act upon that imagination. Bringing together case studies from different regions around the globe, including the electrification of German car infrastructure, or genetically modified crops in India, Imagined Futures in Science, Technology and Society shows how science and technology create novel forms of imagination, thereby opening horizons toward alternative futures. By developing central aspects of the current debate on how scientific imagination and future-making interact, this timely volume provides a fresh look at the complex interrelationships between science, technology and society.This book will be of interest to postgraduate students interested in Science and Technology Studies, History and Philosophy of Science, Sociology, Cultural Studies, Anthropology, Political Sciences, Future Studies and Literary Sciences.

Our Elgar Concise Introductions are inspiring and considered. They explain the key principles and are expertly written by some of the world’s leading scholars. The aims of the series are two-fold: to pinpoint essential concepts and to offer insights that stimulate critical thinking.In this Concise Introduction, Kristof Van Assche, Gert Verschraegen and Monica Gruezmacher provide an accessible explanation of the complex genealogy of systems thinking. Covering both social and natural sciences, the authors present the key implications of this perspective for the understanding and transformation of systems and their context.Key Features: Unravels the complex lineage of systems thinkingPresents key concepts and authors in systems thinkingSheds a new light on both interdisciplinarity and transdisciplinarityAnalyses the ambitions of systems thinking to transcend disciplinary boundaries and address Grand ChallengesTraces the evolution of general systems theory and cybernetics from the mid- 20th century to todayThe Concise Introduction to Systems Thinking is an essential read for scholars and students of policy and administration, management, environmental science, innovation and sociology, particularly those interested in understanding the complex interactions between social and ecological systems.

Our Elgar Concise Introductions are inspiring and considered. They explain the key principles and are expertly written by some of the world’s leading scholars. The aims of the series are two-fold: to pinpoint essential concepts and to offer insights that stimulate critical thinking.In this Concise Introduction, Kristof Van Assche, Gert Verschraegen and Monica Gruezmacher provide an accessible explanation of the complex genealogy of systems thinking. Covering both social and natural sciences, the authors present the key implications of this perspective for the understanding and transformation of systems and their context.Key Features: Unravels the complex lineage of systems thinkingPresents key concepts and authors in systems thinkingSheds a new light on both interdisciplinarity and transdisciplinarityAnalyses the ambitions of systems thinking to transcend disciplinary boundaries and address Grand ChallengesTraces the evolution of general systems theory and cybernetics from the mid- 20th century to todayThe Concise Introduction to Systems Thinking is an essential read for scholars and students of policy and administration, management, environmental science, innovation and sociology, particularly those interested in understanding the complex interactions between social and ecological systems.

Imagining, forecasting and predicting the future is an inextricable and increasingly important part of the present. States, organizations and individuals almost continuously have to make decisions about future actions, financial investments or technological innovation, without much knowledge of what will exactly happen in the future. Science and technology play a crucial role in this collective attempt to make sense of the future. Technological developments such as nanotechnology, robotics or solar energy largely shape how we dream and think about the future, while economic forecasts, gene tests or climate change projections help us to make images of what may possibly occur in the future.This book provides one of the first interdisciplinary assessments of how scientific and technological imaginations matter in the formation of human, ecological and societal futures. Rooted in different disciplines such as sociology, philosophy, and science and technology studies, it explores how various actors such as scientists, companies or states imagine the future to be and act upon that imagination. Bringing together case studies from different regions around the globe, including the electrification of German car infrastructure, or genetically modified crops in India, Imagined Futures in Science, Technology and Society shows how science and technology create novel forms of imagination, thereby opening horizons toward alternative futures. By developing central aspects of the current debate on how scientific imagination and future-making interact, this timely volume provides a fresh look at the complex interrelationships between science, technology and society.This book will be of interest to postgraduate students interested in Science and Technology Studies, History and Philosophy of Science, Sociology, Cultural Studies, Anthropology, Political Sciences, Future Studies and Literary Sciences.

How do people deal with diversity in deprived and mixed urban neighbourhoods? This edited collection provides a comparative international perspective on superdiversity in cities, with explicit attention given to social inequality and social exclusion on a neighbourhood level. Although public discourses on urban diversity are often negative, this book focuses on how residents actively and creatively come and live together through micro-level interactions. By deliberately taking an international perspective on the daily lives of residents, the book uncovers the ways in which national and local contexts shape living in diversity.The book will be a valuable resource for researchers and students of poverty, segregation and social mix, conviviality, the effects of international migration, urban and neighbourhood policies and governance, multiculturality, social networks, social cohesion, social mobility, and super-diversity.

How do people deal with diversity in deprived and mixed urban neighbourhoods? This edited collection provides a comparative international perspective on superdiversity in cities, with explicit attention given to social inequality and social exclusion on a neighbourhood level. Although public discourses on urban diversity are often negative, this book focuses on how residents actively and creatively come and live together through micro-level interactions. By deliberately taking an international perspective on the daily lives of residents, the book uncovers the ways in which national and local contexts shape living in diversity.The book will be a valuable resource for researchers and students of poverty, segregation and social mix, conviviality, the effects of international migration, urban and neighbourhood policies and governance, multiculturality, social networks, social cohesion, social mobility, and super-diversity.

This prescient book explores how the process of European integration is becoming increasingly intertwined with digital innovation policies, regulations and infrastructures. It discusses how developments around digital data and technologies such as AI are driven by, and at the same time contribute to shape, distinctively European institutions, identities, practices and values.Leading experts investigate digital innovations, policies and regulations in Europe, also by contrast with parallel developments in other jurisdictions such as the US, to reveal the imaginaries, visions, and expectations underpinning the so-called ‘European way’ to digital innovation. Engaging with ongoing debates about digital regulation, governance, values and ethics, the volume examines how ‘Europe’ is re-imagined and recast, or contested and unmade, alongside the emergence of novel digital worlds, and ultimately investigates the mutual reconfigurations of information and power in modern knowledge-intensive societies.Project Europe is an essential resource for scholars and students of Science & Technology Studies (STS), European politics and policy, and cognate disciplines in the Social Sciences & the Humanities. Presenting both theoretical analyses and empirical case studies, it is also beneficial to policymakers and practitioners in regulation and governance, digital technology law and public policy.

This comprehensive Encyclopedia serves as an authoritative reference on global postwar social theory. It examines how the field has responded to critiques of occidental and colonial bias and provides a state of the art which is both original and global in its approach and coverage. Compiled by expert authors, the Encyclopedia outlines different regional strands of social theory, demonstrating how they conceptualize the international social order and contribute to understanding globalization processes. It identifies key concepts in contemporary social thought, addressing issues such as methodological nationalism, post-colonialism, globalization and world society. Entries emphasize the vital role of social theory in understanding society and set a new standard for reviewing ideas and concepts in the discipline. This Encyclopedia is breaking new ground and helping to define Global Social Theory in the 21st century.Students and scholars of sociology and social theory will greatly benefit from this invaluable Encyclopedia. It is also an essential resource for scholars in interdisciplinary global studies and postcolonial studies.Key Features:Develops analysis and theorization of the modern social worldProvides 65 entries from leading international scholarsPresents state-of-the-art research overviews of the key topics and debates