The history of technology, Anthony F. C. Wallace contends, must be imagined and investigated within a broader history of society. In these insightful essays, Wallace offers a multigenerational examination of the underlying social forces and everyday settings impelling and enabling early industrial innovation.øøø The gradual development of the steam engine is illuminated through an examination of the far-reaching but unintentional role played by the British royal ordnance and naval establishments. Wallace shows how the efforts of three generations of the Darby family improved iron production. Finally, the sources of failure in industrial innovation are illustrated through the example of deep-shaft coal mining in nineteenth-century Pennsylvania, which went bankrupt because of inadequately financed operators who ignored standard safety procedures.

This book is a logical progression from The Sociology of Adult and Continuing Education. The author takes a completely new approach to the subject and puts forward a model of adult learning which is analysed in depth. This model arises from the results of a research project in which adults analysed their own learning experiences.

This book demonstrates how technology and society shape one another and that there are intrinsic connections between technological experiences and social relationships. It employs an array of theoretical concepts and methodological tools to examine the technology–society nexus among three urban groups in India (traditional caste-based handloom weavers, subaltern Dalit communities, and informal female labour). It provides evidence of how innovations such as industrial technologies, communication technologies, and workplace technologies are not only about strides in science and engineering but also about politics and sociology on the ground. The book contributes to the growing research in innovation studies and technology policy that establishes how technological processes and outcomes are contingent on complex sociological variables and contexts. The author offers an inclusive, holistic, and interdisciplinary approach to understanding the field of innovation and technological change and development by involving various methodologies (network analysis, archival work, oral histories, focus group discussions, interviews). The book will serve as reference for researchers and scholars in social sciences, especially those interested in development studies, science and technology policy and innovation studies, information and communication technology (ICT) policy, public policy, management, social work and research methods, economics, sociology, social exclusion and subaltern studies, women’s studies, and South Asian studies. It will also be useful to nongovernmental organisations, activists, and policymakers.

Innovation - the process of obtaining, understanding, applying, transforming, managing and transferring knowledge - is a result of human collaboration, but it has become an increasingly complex process, with a growing number of interacting parties involved. Lack of innovation is not necessarily caused by lack of technology or lack of will to innovate, but often by social and cultural forces that jeopardize the cognitive processes and prevent potential innovation. This book focuses on the rule of social capital in the process of innovation: the social networks and the norms; values and attitudes (such as trust) of the actors; social capital as both bonding and bridging links between actors; and social capital as a feature at all spatial levels, from the single inventor to the transnational corporation. Contributors from a wide variety of countries and disciplines explore the cultural framework of innovation through empirics, case studies and examination of conceptual and methodological dilemmas.

Karolin Marx examines the significance of the social context for strategy-making. She shows that social relationships within organizations are not only positive, but can also impede the successful development of strategic initiatives.

Social research is a bourgeoning field. Of course it has many traditions and approaches, but there is a high premium upon thinking differently and thinking anew because social life is never static or wholly predictable. The Handbook, edited by internationally recognized scholars, provides a comprehensive, pitch-perfect critical assessment of the field. The main features of the Handbook are: Clear organization into 4 parts dealing with The Social Context of Research; Design and Data Collection; Integrating The Analysis of New Data Types; Sampling, Inference and Measurement Clear, cutting edge chapters on Objectivity; Causation; Organizing Social Research; Correspondence Analysis; Grounded Theory; Conversational Surveys; Mixed Methods; Meta-Analysis; Optimal Matching Analysis; GIS Analysis; Quantitative Narrative Analysis; Longitudinal Studies; SEM; MLM; Qualitative Comparative Analysis; Respondent Driven Sampling Brings together a glittering assembly of the key figures working in the field of research methods Demonstrates the continuities and productive tensions between classical traditions and real world research. The result is a superbly organized text which will be required reading for anyone interested in the routes and future of social research. It is an unparalleled teaching resource and a ′must have′ for serious social researchers.

Societies need to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases by 80 per cent in order to counter the risks of climate change. This study envisions a climate neutral society - one where the output of polluting gases is minimised by social innovations set up in households, by local authorities, through developments in information and communications technologies and dematerialization, and through the shift towards product service systems and emissions trading. The work discusses the possibilities for steering and orchestrating this long-term transition towards a climate-friendly society, mapping paths through current dilemmas in climate policy and exploring the legal issues of making this transition.

Across Europe, there is an intense search for new and sustainable approaches to providing welfare. Demographic change, new social risks and other factors call for new ideas to maintain and enhance the performance and quality of social services and to enable the participation of all citizens in an inclusive society. Against this background, and based on the findings of the EU research platform INNOSERV and empirically obtained research results from text and video material, this book provides insights into current approaches and practices to improve and transform social services.

This book evaluates the evolution of social innovation in post-Soviet Central Asia, Eastern Europe and Caucasus. Following the dissolution of the USSR, organisations such as the UNDP have encouraged local communities and governments to innovate in order to find solutions to existing social problems. This book demonstrates that progress with social innovations has varied, with countries with low government support such as Uzbekistan struggling, whereas countries with better government support and a more active civil society, such as Armenia and Ukraine, have seen more positive results. Covering the period 2012-2020 and a broad range of countries, including Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, Moldova, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Georgia, this book provides an impressively broad-ranging critical analysis of post-Soviet social innovation. Including social innovations emerging as a result of the Covid-19 outbreak, this will be an important comparative study for researchers and practitioners working on social innovation, and to those with an interest in post-Soviet development.

This book contains the collection of papers presented at the conference of the International Federation for Information Processing Working Group 8.2 "Information and Organizations." The conference took place during June 21–24, 2009 at the Universidade do Minho in Guimarães, Portugal. The conference entitled "CreativeSME - The Role of IS in Leveraging the Intelligence and Creativity of SME’s" attracted high-quality submissions from across the world. Each paper was reviewed by at least two reviewers in a double-blind review process. In addition to the 19 papers presented at the conference, there were five panels and four workshops, which covered a range of issues relevant to SMEs, creativity and information systems. We would like to show our appreciation of the efforts of our two invited keynote speakers, Michael Dowling of the University of Regensburg, Germany and Carlos Zorrinho, Portuguese coordinator of the Lisbon Strategy and the Technological Plan. The following organizations supported the conference through financial or other contributions and we would like to thank them for their engagement: