Zoekresultaten

Bridging the gap between technology and progressive politics in Europe

Identity conflict

Organisations of land managers in landscape management face the challenge of combining the need to foster bonding social capital within their member groups with the need to develop bridging social capital with other stakeholders and linking social capital with public authorities. This paper compares the concepts of self-governing groups, boundary organisations and quangos, to analyse how agri-environmental collectives in the Netherlands navigate their identity in interactions with public authorities and manage potential trade-offs between different forms of social capital. It shows the paradoxical situation that these self-governing collectives have to adopt characteristics of public agencies, in order to meet the demands of the Dutch government and EU legislation, required to gain the trust of the authorities for more room for self-governance. The resulting ‘professionalization’ and enlargement of agri-environmental collectives is likely to reduce bonding social capital, which in turn is an important asset for effective landscape management. In order to prevent this counterproductive incentive of expecting self-governing groups to behave like public agencies, we recommend to nourish and protect the in-between identity of agri-environmental collectives, to acknowledge their variety, and to allow them to be self-governing groups as well as boundary organisations.

The Gray Zones Of Creativity & Capital

About this publication: What is the correlation among the creative industries, creative industry policies, new media paradigms and capitalism as colonial relations of dominance? What is the role of these industries in the prioritization of the interests of capital at the expense of those of society and how can these paradigms be criticized in the context of the actual, neoliberal, flexible regime of reproduction of capital? To what measure is this regime ‘flexible’ and to what measure it is just an extension of rigid, feudal and racial logics that underline (post)modern representational discourses? To what measure do the concepts of creativity, transparency, openness and flexibility conceal the hegemonic nature of modern hierarchies of exploitation?This publication brings together six essays that offer a critique of the relationship between the creative industries and capital. It treats ‘the networked world’ — its democracies, cognitivities, its attention and its paradigmatic cultural discourses — as one of the domains wherein and by which capitalism and its colonial relations of dominance are being reproduced, reorganized, perpetuated and ‘modernized’.The Gray Zones of Creativity and Capital (eds. Gordana Nikolić and Šefik Tatlić) consists of works from a diverse range of authors from around the globe: Jonathan Beller, Josephine Berry Slater, Marc James Léger, Ana Vilenica, Sandi Abram & Irmgard Emmelheinz. The book first appeared in Serbian in 2015.

Bridging social capital through sports: an explorative study on (improving) inter-ethnic contact at two soccer clubs in the Netherlands

Overbruggend sociaal kapitaal door middel van sport: Een exploratief onderzoek naar (het verbeteren van) inter-etnische contacten bij twee voetbalverenigingen in Nederland In Nederland staat de sociale integratie van minderheden de laatste jaren ter discussie. Gebeurtenissen uit het verleden, zoals de moord op politicus Pim Fortuyn en publicist Theo van Gogh, en meer recent de opmars van internationale organisaties als Islamitische Staat (IS), hebben grote impact op het maatschappelijke debat in Nederland. Desalniettemin is het geloof in de sociaal integratieve functie van sport in Nederland niet afgenomen. Van sport, en dan vooral van sportdeelname binnen verenigingsverband, wordt verwacht dat het een positieve bijdrage levert aan de sociale cohesie en sociale integratie van minderheden. Uit onderzoek weten we al langer dat beleidsmakers de sociaal integratieve functie van sport overschatten. Sport is geen wondermiddel. Sport brengt mensen samen, maar kan mensen ook uitsluiten door het samenbrengen van gelijkgestemden. In dit artikel verkennen we of (en hoe) sport, en dan met name voetbal, kan leiden tot overbruggend sociaal kapitaal (“bridging social capital”), ondanks dat mensen vooral sporten met gelijkgestemden. We baseren onze resultaten op enquêtes en een beperkt aantal aanvullende interviews bij twee voetbalverenigingen in de stad Utrecht. We concluderen dat ondanks dat sport segregatie bevordert, er binnen sportverenigingsverband een ontwikkeling is van sociale inclusie en interetnische contacten. Het onderzoek geeft aan dat extra voorwaarden kunnen worden gecreëerd om begrip en onderling respect te vergroten

Sociale cohesie in gentrificerende arbeiderswijken van Amsterdam-Noord

We analyze how ‘original’ residents in different gentrifying working class areas in Amsterdam North experience and evaluate the changes in their neighborhood in terms of social cohesion – in other words, whether they feel at home in their changing neighborhood and whether they feel connected to other residents. Policy interventions often focus on establishing connections between residents with different socioeconomic or cultural backgrounds, in order to stimulate mutual understanding. An underlying policy aim is to uplift vulnerable original residents through contact with higher income groups. Based on our empirical data, we critically assess the concept of ‘bridging capital’ (Putnam, 2000) that underpins several of the social activities that are organized in areas such as the ones in our study. Subsequently, we discuss the importance of ‘bonding capital’ or the sense of interconnectedness and strong ties amongst original residents. Our empirical data – based on both interviews and participatory observation – suggest that activities within the ‘own’ community contribute importantly to feelings of belonging in the neighborhood. In the final section of the article, we discuss how different types of local meeting places offer opportunities for ‘lighter’ forms of interactions without aiming directly at strong connections between differently positioned neighborhood residents.

Coworking spaces: places that stimulate social capital for entrepreneurs

This study examines how social networking facilitated by coworking spaces help entrepreneurs. Drawing on previous research in the different social science disciplines, a conceptual model is proposed that links coworking space interventions to social capital, and performance benefits. The model distinguishes three coworking interventions, i.e. design of the physical space, facilitative tools, and community management. Furthermore, the model differentiates bridging and bonding social capital. Nineteen interviews were conducted with entrepreneurs who work in three coworking spaces. The findings confirm the relationship between coworking space interventions, bridging and bonding social capital, and performance benefits. Theoretically, this study contributes in developing further knowledge about the increasing social value of coworking spaces. Managerially, this study highlights how the curation of collaborative workspaces can help promoting social capital as well as better conditions for individuals who seek to work in social environments.