bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Good Fences Make Good Neighbours
Authors: Geva-May Iris , Pal Leslie A.
Published: July 2003

Trying to build political dimensions into evaluation has blurred the distinction between policy analysis and policy evaluation. We do not dispute the importance of political context and values for evaluation or policy analysis, but we argue that evaluation and policy analysis are indeed different by definition, function and methodology. These differences are widely known but increasingly disregarded, especially at the stage of the presentation of findings. Evaluation tends to adopt the stance of the analyst in that it is being urged to make recommendations on policy choices within the narrow scope of answers based on evaluation questions, without the benefit of additional contextual information. The article compares policy evaluation and policy analysis in terms of conceptualization, research methods, problem definition and data presentation and argumentation. In presenting the differences between evaluation and analysis, we point to the dangers inherent in a lack of awareness of where the boundaries lie and what purpose they serve.
Patronage and Evaluation in the Indian Council of Agricultural Research
Authors: Raina Rajeswari S.
Published: July 2003

This article examines the crucial role of scientific expertise and authority, in evaluation as well as in research decision-making. The case of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) is used to demonstrate how the bureaucratic imperatives in a public research system can thwart the cause of scientific authority and accountability. Research decision-making is a function delegated to different points, or ‘nodes’, vested with scientific expertise and the power to make decisions. Scientific expertise is the basic asset used by the nodes, which may be individual scientists and/or groups, boards or organizations. Patronage or decision-making in the ICAR is, for the most part, vested in bureaucratic nodes, marking the dichotomy in the organization between scientific and administrative or financial decision-making. The concluding section of this article highlights the social reproduction of bureaucratic nodes, which perpetuates the marginalization of evaluation. The nodes in the ICAR rely on bureaucratic decision-making not validated by evaluations or assessments using scientific expertise. It is argued that stringent evaluation can replace bureaucratic authority with scientific expertise and authority, thereby bringing more accountability to the system of patronage of science.
The Construction and Standardization of Evaluation
Authors: Hansen Hanne Foss , Borum Finn
Published: July 2003

Evaluation as an organizational element has spread across countries and organizational fields. Yet little attention has been paid to the comparative analysis of adoption, construction and implementation processes of evaluation within different organizational fields. The article is based on an empirical study of research evaluation and evaluation of education within the Danish university sector. It conceptualizes and explains similarities and differences in adoption processes and constructed evaluation standards within the two subfields. Three models are used for explaining differences and similarities: a stakeholder model, an institutional field model and an institutional heritage model. The article shows how evaluation as an organizational element is used simultaneously for processes of change and processes of reproduction of norms and values.
Evaluating and Managing the Performance of University–Industry Partnerships
Authors: HellstrÖm Tomas , Jacob Merle
Published: July 2003

The central concern of this article is with the question of how to evaluate and manage the performance of emerging university–industry research networks. It is argued that university–industry (UI) partnerships have, after more than a decade of promotion by the state, reached a point where both partners are actively seeking each other out. Despite the recognition of the potential benefits of co-operation by both sides, there are still several unanswered questions about how to assess and manage such co-operation. The article describes the national science system as one where a ‘central rule’ environment has been gradually replaced by forms of intervening R&D networks. It is further argued that such networks require new approaches to evaluate performance. The article concludes by proposing an aggregate of a number of indicators that may be used for dynamic network management.
Evaluation Activities in Europe: A Quick Scan of the Market in 1998
Authors: Leeuw Frans L. , Toulemonde Jacques , Brouwers André
Published: July 2003

The Debates, Notes and Queries section provides an opportunity for evaluation-related issues to be debated as well as for more genera! interchange. Debates can take the form of sustained arguments by the advocates of different approaches or of briefer thoughts or notes. Contributors may also wish to comment and raise questions about material that has previously appeared in the journal or simply use the section to draw readers' attention to relevant issues, ongoing research, evaluation activities and other events.
The Auditor as an Evaluator
Authors: Gunvaldsen Jens A. , Karlsen Rita
Published: July 2003

Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) have become important producers of evaluations. Auditors have become evaluators and evaluators have become auditors. In this article, we discuss some of the main characteristics of the Office of the Auditor General of Norway and society's expectations of this institution. We investigate some of the driving forces behind the developments in evaluation activities in the Office of the Auditor General, focusing in particular on the dilemmas and challenges these new 'products' create for this kind of institution. In connection with this, we also list a number of issues that will require particular attention in order for the Office of the Auditor General to maintain its legitimacy in the future.
Evaluation and the Social Construction of Impacts
Authors: van der Meer Frans-Bauke
Published: July 2003

The central questions of this article are when, how and what do governmental agencies learn from evaluations. A structural constructivist theoretical framework is developed and applied to two case studies, both of which take a report by the Dutch Court of Audit (CoA) as a starting point. A reconstruction is made of the intra- and interorganizational processes through which the impacts of these evaluations were socially constructed. It appears that an evaluation has hardly any direct effect that can be unequivocally ascribed to it. Rather, evaluations seem to support or counteract debates, tendencies and options already present (or 'under construction') in the interaction among the actors involved. Using a structural constructivist theoretical framework we identify mechanisms and conditions that enhance forms of learning processes.This article concludes with some hypotheses about the genesis of evaluation impact.
Square Pegs and Round Holes
Authors: Forss Kim , Samset Knut
Published: July 2003

This article explores the relationship between the social construction of risk, uncertainty and evaluation in the field of development cooperation. It explores the assumption that risk and uncertainty are unusually high in development cooperation. Perceptions of risk and uncertainty are cultural constructs. Several authors have identified perceptions of uncertainty as one of the most important dimensions in organizational cultures. An analysis of evaluation reports shows that risk and uncertainty often emerge as a consequence of operational factors. Evaluations indicate that uncertainty is higher in technological and environmental areas. Furthermore, there are a number of management techniques of handling risk and uncertainty that could be used on development projects. Why have evaluations not influenced the conception of risk and uncertainty more than they have? Three characteristics of the evaluation system are described and discussed. First, the evaluation system is found to send mixed signals in respect of risk and uncertainty. Second, the messages are weak. Evaluation reports are not sufficiently anchored in theory and practice to command respect and belief among a widespread constituency. Third, the signals from the evaluation system have become routine. The messages no longer alarm management and decision-makers. The article concludes by assessing the future of risk and uncertainty management, in particular how evaluation systems may become more relevant in this field.
Inter-governmental Evaluation: Balancing Stakeholders' Expectations with Enlightenment Objectives?
Authors: Barbier Jean-Claude
Published: July 2003

This article discusses, from an evaluator's point of view, the uses and utility of evaluation in inter-governmental contexts. Empirical data are drawn from the current evaluation of the European Social Fund's (ESF) Objective 3 programme in France.1

It cannot be expected that the evaluator alone is in a position to assess whether the various stakeholders' expectations have been met in a satisfactory manner. However, the evaluator's mission undoubtedly includes accountability and consideration of the ways in which research is used, contributing to evaluation design and to the process and the scope of findings.2 The expectations of the partners involved in the French ESF evaluation will first be analysed in order to highlight the evaluator's contribution. It is argued that, potentially, the benefits of evaluation extend beyond strictly satisfying the expressed needs of direct partners. An inter-governmental context tends to be favourable for such an extension.
Evaluating Urban Regeneration Programmes in Britain
Authors: Ho Suet Ying
Published: July 2003

Since the mid-1980s, the British government has put more emphasis on monitoring and evaluation of existing and new policy initiatives. There is, however, little evidence to show that new regeneration initiatives have been formulated based on lessons learned from previous evaluation studies. The government's approach to evaluation of regeneration initiatives focuses on value for money and thus limits the scope and relevance of evaluation. I argue that there is a need to revisit the limitations of the current approach and to explore other approaches. This article aims to explore the potential of the realist approach in its application to the evaluation of regeneration programmes in Britain. A framework is proposed for constructing the Context-Mechanism-Outcome configuration put forward by Pawson and Tilley (1997). Several issues are raised for further debate. The purpose of the debate is to explore further refinements of the realist approach and to consider some of the possible problems in the research design.
Evaluation Utilization as Argumentation
Authors: Valovirta Ville
Published: July 2003

Evaluation utilization is discussed in this article from an argumentative perspective. Rather than regarding evaluative information as indisputable knowledge, it is viewed as a collection of arguments, which can be debated, accepted and disputed. Approaching from this perspective, evaluations consist of different kinds of statements, which become matters of individual interpretation, collective argumentation and decision making in interactional contexts. Subsequently, a general framework for studying argumentation in evaluation will be proposed. The argumentative nature of evaluation utilization is then illustrated with empirical material from evaluations of government agencies in Finland. The article concludes by discussing the implications of the evaluation context for argumentation: two dimensions, the degree of pressure for change and the relation between conflict and consensus, seem to profoundly affect the role evaluations play within the management environment of the agencies.
Citizens' Control of Evaluations
Authors: Murray Richard
Published: July 2003

Democratic and participatory evaluation raises questions of power. Power lies not only in agenda setting and problem definition but also in formulating alternatives. The latter seems to have been forgotten in the literature on democratic evaluation. This may be partly due to the general neglect of assessing alternatives in evaluations, whether ex ante or ex post. The article distinguishes different forms of democracy and specifies a model of evaluation that is intended to fit within representative democracy. The model is exemplified by an evaluation of a large infrastructure programme in Stockholm, in which environmental organizations took part.
How to — and How Not to — Evaluate Innovation
Authors: Perrin Burt
Published: July 2003

Many traditional evaluation methods, including most performance measurement approaches, inhibit rather than support actual innovation. This article discusses the nature of innovation, identifies limitations of traditional evaluation approaches for assessing innovation and proposes an alternative model of evaluation consistent with the nature of innovation.

Most attempts at innovation, by definition, are risky and should `fail' — otherwise they are using safe, rather than unknown or truly innovative approaches. A few key impacts by a minority of projects or participants may be much more meaningful than changes in mean (or average) scores. Yet the most common measure of programme impact is the mean. In contrast, this article suggests that evaluation of innovation should identify the minority of situations where real impact has occurred and the reasons for this. This is in keeping with the approach venture capitalists typically take where they expect most of their investments to `fail', but to be compensated by major gains on just a few.
Process Use of Evaluations
Authors: Forss Kim , Rebien Claus C. , Carlsson Jerker
Published: July 2003

Among practitioners, it is often said that there is much that is useful that takes place during the evaluation process. The literature on the utilization of evaluation, however, mostly refers to lessons learned and recommendations implemented after the evaluation. This article seeks to contribute to the debate by exploring further the process use of evaluations — the evaluation use that takes place before lessons learned are generated and feedback processes are initiated.

Five different types of process use are identified: learning to learn; developing networks; creating shared understanding; strengthening the project; and boosting morale.

Most resources in an evaluation process are spent in preparation and implementation. Very little is spent on feedback. A conventional way of improving evaluation use would be to shift resources from the preparation and implementation stages to the feedback stage. The article argues that in general, shifting resources from preparation and implementation to disseminating results would jeopardize the quality of the entire evaluation because it would ceteris paribus reduce the design, data collection and analytical quality. Instead it is argued that evaluation commissioners and evaluators should work explicitly to increase process use as the most cost-effective way of strengthening the overall utility of an evaluation.
Evaluating Equity in Social Policy
Authors: Österle August
Published: July 2003

This article proposes a framework for the systematic comparative analysis of equity in social policy design. Equity research concentrates on theories of justice, on empirical studies on equity beliefs or on testing specific equity interpretations. Less attention is paid to the range of equity objectives and how equity concerns are translated into social policy practice. This article, therefore, starts from three dimensions that constitute equity. Focusing on these dimensions — resources, recipients and principles — recognizes the complexity of equity and allows an identification and clarification of explicit and implicit equity interpretations. The approach contributes to goal-focused evaluation and helps in various evaluation approaches to investigate the range of equity concerns in social policy design. Long-term care policies are used to illustrate the concept and to discuss the potential of the approach in social policy evaluation.
Evaluating Decentralized Policies
Authors: Bondonio Daniele
Published: July 2003

This article proposes an empirical method to evaluate decentralized economic development programmes with heterogeneous characteristics implemented in different regions or states. The evaluation design developed in the article is a comparative analysis that operationalizes differences in regional policy features and controls for exogenous factors that may affect outcomes independently from the programme intervention. The proposed method is illustrated and tested through the evaluation of the US Enterprise Zone programmes. The results of the analysis show that the proposed evaluation design is an effective tool for turning the heterogeneity of decentralized economic development programmes from a threat to the validity of the analysis into a great opportunity for testing the effectiveness of a variety of region- (or state-)specific policy implementation features.
Evidence-based Policy: In Search of a Method
Authors: Pawson Ray
Published: July 2003

Evaluation research is tortured by time constraints. The policy cycle revolves quicker than the research cycle, with the result that `real time' evaluations often have little influence on policy making. As a result, the quest for evidence-based policy has turned increasingly to systematic reviews of the results of previous inquiries in the relevant policy domain. However, this shifting of the temporal frame for evaluation is in itself no guarantee of success. Evidence, whether new or old, never speaks for itself. Accordingly, there is debate about the best strategy of marshalling bygone research results into the policy process. This article joins the imbroglio by examining the logic of the two main strategies of systematic review: `meta-analysis' and `narrative review'. Whilst they are often presented as diametrically opposed perspectives, this article argues that they share common limitations in their understanding of how to provide a template for impending policy decisions. This review provides the background for Part II of the article (to be published in the next issue, Evaluation 8[3]), which considers the merits of a new model for evidence-based policy, namely `realist synthesis'.
Choosing Criteria to Judge Program Success
Authors: Henry Gary T.
Published: July 2003

What we expect from public programs determines how the programs will be judged. This article presents a systematic values inquiry used to examine how much importance citizens and stakeholders attached to specific indicators in determining the success of a public preschool program. Four groups were surveyed: teachers, administrators, parents and the public. All four groups showed significant differences with respect to the importance of 29 possible indicators. The four groups agreed on the importance of high-quality services and about the lack of importance associated with economic benefits for families and certain educational outcomes for the preschoolers. Using confirmatory factor analysis, the opinions of the groups were shown to have similar underlying structures; however, teachers made greater distinctions between the groups of potential outcomes and the public distinguished between outcomes the least. Systematic values inquiry can be an important tool in designing evaluations that will produce information that can influence the judgments of citizens and stakeholders about a program's value.
Building Collaborative Capacity through `Theories of Change'
Authors: Sullivan Helen , Barnes Marian , Matka Elizabeth
Published: July 2003

In the UK a great deal of attention is currently focused on the potential of the `theories of change' approach to evaluating complex public policy interventions. However, there is still relatively little empirical material describing its application. This article discusses the use of `theories of change' in the national evaluation of English Health Action Zones (HAZs). It locates `theories of change' within the wider context of evaluation approaches and assesses its strengths and weaknesses as an evaluation framework.

The article then focuses on a key aspect of complex public policy interventions — cross-sector collaboration. Drawing on data about cross-sector partnerships and community involvement from the English HAZ evaluation, the article explores the contribution of `theories of change' towards examining the building of collaborative capacity in HAZs.

The article also describes the `co-research' approach being employed within the national HAZ evaluation. It discusses how this approach can complement the use of `theories of change', contribute to managing change within organizations and communities and facilitate more effective use of evaluation within a local health context.
Evaluating the Impact of Public Support on Commercial Research and Development Projects
Authors: Rye Mette
Published: July 2003

Additionality is a recurring issue when evaluating the impact of public support for research and development (R&D). To what degree does public support spur additional R&D efforts and output? This article discusses the additionality concept and its measurement. Verbal reports from recipients of public support are a widely used method for measuring the additionality of ongoing R&D programmes. However, it is often argued that these reports cannot be trusted since the recipients might have an incentive to answer strategically to maintain funding. Based on the verbal reports of project additionality in Norwegian evaluations over the last two decades, involving 2624 observations, higher additionality is reported in projects further from the market involving higher risks and uncertainty than in projects closer to market launch. This is in line with a priori expectations. It will be argued that the problem of strategic answering might be over-rated, and that verbal reports can provide important evidence. This is exemplified by results from verbal reports of additionality obtained by interviewing the customers of 21 different Norwegian research institutes.1 They show that public support is more important for the realization of projects within small- and medium-sized enterprises than with larger firms.
Passion and Profit
Authors: Van Der Grijp Paul
Published: July 2003

Within the specific subset of collecting-in-general which is called philately, the twilight zone between exchange for one’s hobby (swapping) and professional trade is occupied by enthusiastic collectors who also act as dealers. This article seeks to describe and understand the informal economy of philatelic amateur trade via an economic anthropological perspective by studying particular cases of adult collectors in the Netherlands. It shows how the market can be critical in economically reproducing an endeavour without diluting its cultural ‘spirit’. A major question is: what distinguishes amateur trade in philately from the trading practices of professionals? The representations and praxis of philatelic amateur dealers gain relevance within the present-day context of many western societies: people now live longer, there are increasing instances of early retirement, and also a high proportion of unemployed people. Within this context - a conjunction between a cultural phenomenon which has long existed and the specific socio-economic conditions of today - amateur dealers create their own jobs and, in so doing, construct their own social identity.
Notes on the Life History of a Pot Sherd
Authors: Holtorf Cornelius
Published: July 2003

This article discusses various life history approaches in archaeology: short life histories study the lives of things in the past (until they end up in the ground), long life histories study these lives going on until the present. Both approaches share the assumption that although people are free to give to a thing any meaning they want, their material essence necessarily remains unchanged. As an alternative, I present an ethnographic approach, studying the ‘life’ of a pot sherd on an excavation project. All the thing’s properties and characteristics, including its material identity and age, are taken to be the outcome of processes taking place in the present. The data presented shows in some detail how ‘momentary, fluid and flexible’ archaeological classifications and interpretations of material culture are. It emerges that the material identities ascribed to things are not their essential properties but the result of specific relationships of people and things: their very materiality is potentially multiple and has a history.
Hegemony and Homogeneity
Authors: Birenbaum-Carmeli Daphna , Carmeli Yoram S. , Madjar Yigal , Weissenberg Ruth
Published: July 2003

This article explores the relevance of hegemony theory to choices of sperm donors made by Jewish Israeli recipients of donor insemination (DI). The context is the objectification of ‘the Natural’ through hegemonic images of mass consumption. The study, which was conducted in a major Israeli hospital, examined physiological features (height, eye colour, skin colour) of the most popular donors. In the highly familistic society of Israel, recipients’ choices conformed to images of their own ‘natural family’. Within the limits of the family’s looks, choices revealed a convergence of specific type of physiognomy - that of the hegemonic Ashkenazi man. While recipients tended to reproduce their own appearance they often ‘compromised’ it towards the kind of looks constructed as desirable in the mass media. The choice of donors by DI recipients presents an extreme case in which people construct their own family by incorporating hegemonic ideals of mass consumption.
Photographs, Skeuomorphs and Marionettes
Authors: Knappett Carl
Published: July 2003

The aim of this article is to investigate the agency of objects, a seemingly paradoxical statement within most recent western thought, in which agents and objects are sharply contrasted. However, in an important attempt to overcome the profound dichotomy between people and things, the observation that ‘objects have social lives’ has become something of a mantra in material culture studies. Yet rather more than a mantra is required if we are to move forward in our understanding of the complex workings of material culture; we need to investigate the potentially diverse processes whereby ‘inanimate’ objects come to be socially alive. To this end, an interdisciplinary approach is adopted that draws upon current research in archaeology, anthropology, aesthetics, sociology, and cognitive psychology.
Textual Strategies, Plastic Tactics
Authors: Phillips Kendall R.
Published: July 2003

The material manifestation of the popular culture icons Batman and Barbie are examined in terms of the subjectivity suggested by each. This article argues that the essential manifestation of Batman is as a textual object while the essential manifestation of Barbie is as a plastic object. These two modes of manifestation, in turn, are examined in terms of the cultural positions of domination and resistance they reflect.
Race Sells
Authors: Kim Elizabeth
Published: July 2003

This article examines the uses of racialized images of Africans, American Indians, and Chinese in tradesmen’s cards (image-driven business cards) in Britain in the 18th century, a period of remarkable variety and variability in its notions about human difference. Due to this fluidity, multiple and even contradictory race representations made their way onto trade cards. For example, in some tobacco tradesmen’s cards, Africans were depicted as whimsical, carefree cherubs; in others they were ennobled as savage princes. While these conflicting depictions speak of the multiplicity of race views operating in the culture, they also demonstrate the uniform appropriation of the racial image in the service of commercial-colonial interests. Depending on the specific commercial advantage to be gained, a racialized trade image was constructed to affirm certain cultural values, such as participation in the colonial enterprise or adoption of western modes of civility. Collectively and from a cultural studies vantage point, these images embody the complexity of competing and colliding cultural discourses, from race and aesthetic theories to the colonialist agenda.
Syncretic Objects
Authors: Tan Chang-Kwo
Published: July 2003

This article is concerned with the material support and expression of religious syncretism. A wooden carving, ‘The Paiwan Cross’, in an aboriginal Catholic Church of Taiwan, is the focus of my analysis. This carving, characteristic of the mixture of traditional imagery and Christian imagery, is a historical product of local Catholics’ path towards syncretism. I thus consider it as a ‘syncretic object’. By examining the historical and social process of the production of this cross and other syncretic objects, I investigate their significance in the emergence and reproduction of local Catholics’ identity. The social agency of syncretic objects in mediating and reconciling traditional religion and Catholicism will be discussed. I argue that their agency should be understood in terms of ‘participation’ rather than Gell’s concept of ‘captivation’ as can be seen in his Art and Agency (1998).
After-Lives of the Mongolian Yurt
Authors: Evans Christopher , Humphrey Caroline
Published: July 2003

The Mongolian yurt, now abandoned as a dwelling in much of Inner Mongolia (China), has an after-life in architecture, especially in public buildings in cities. We discuss the case of a failed tourist camp, constructed of brick ‘yurts’, which was built to exploit the exoticism of the Mongolian culture for the Han Chinese. This is an example of skeuopmorphic architecture, with deliberate slippage between the original and the copy, and we describe how this situation gives rise to various symbolic interpretations of the ‘yurts’. It is argued that, despite certain similarities with post-modern vernaculars (e.g. Las Vegas), the political and ethnically confrontational situation in China means that the imitation ‘yurts’ do not in fact constitute a vernacular.
The Ethos of Thrift
Authors: Lehtonen Turo-Kimmo , Pantzar Mika
Published: July 2003

This article examines the promotion and legitimization of bank saving in Finnish magazines during the 1950s. While trying to educate Finnish citizens to save, articles and advertisements ended up outlining a general model for the good life, structured by the ethos of thrift. At the household level, thrift meant a plurality of activities, not only passivity or restraint. The bank-saving discourse introduced new techniques of governing oneself and created possibilities for anticipatory pleasure: it oriented people towards commodities and simultaneously tried to tame consumer impulses. As an ascetic practice, bank saving was portrayed as not denying the material world; rather, its effect was to intensify the relation to the goods. Studying these texts and advertisements gives an enriched perception of economic actors who, with multiple techniques and skills, actively looked after their own welfare, as well as that of their families, local communities, and ultimately, of the nation.
Three Pillars of Welfare State Theory
Authors: Holmwood John
Published: July 2003

Current social and political theory is sceptical of the future of welfare states in the face of global markets. Their moral claims, too, have been challenged by the neo-liberal association of market capitalism and individual freedom and by an implicit acceptance of that critique - of the welfare state as bureaucratic - by left-wing commentators. This article offers a defence of the national welfare state as the guarantor of `complex freedom'. This defence is derived from the theoretical contributions of Marshall, Polanyi and Myrdal and offers a reconsideration of the debate immediately after the second world war over the welfare state and its relevance today. Marshall's concept of social rights has become a familiar part of our own debate, but it is argued that Polanyi provides the rigorous critique of market relationships which is missing, and Myrdal locates gender issues as central to the understanding of welfare state development and women's rights as integral to social rights.
A Political Economy of New Times?
Authors: Smart Barry
Published: July 2003

Situating Manuel Castells's three-volume work, The Information Age, within a broad tradition of classical social theory that has sought to come to terms with the emergence of new forms of social, economic and cultural life, critical consideration is given to a series of concerns, including questions of analytic perspective and in particular the relevance of the work of Marx; the concept of the network society; the movement from production to consumption as the primary medium through which individuals are engaged within contemporary society; and issues of identity and community. In contrast to Castells's identification of an ethical foundation or spirit of informationalism, it is argued that an aesthetics of consumption is central to modern society in its informational capitalist phase and that as society has become more exposed to the consequences of informationalism and the associated globalization of capital, the prospect of living in an ethically responsible manner has diminished significantly.
Inequality and Mobilization in The Information Age
Authors: Halcli Abigail , Webster Frank
Published: July 2003

This article focuses on Manuel Castells's claim that the information age announces major changes in stratification and, accordingly, in social and political mobilization. His assertion that informational labour displaces generic labour in informational capitalism is examined in terms of its conceptual and historical accuracy, and questions are raised about the notion of meritocracy embedded in his depiction of informational labour. The idea that the network society is characterized by `a faceless collective capitalist' is also called into question by evidence of the persistence of a propertied class. Finally, Castells's analysis of the emergence and significance of identitybased mobilizations is examined.
Deciphering Information Technologies
Authors: Stehr Nico
Published: July 2003

This essay advances two sets of critical observations about Manuel Castells's suggestion and detailed elaboration of the idea that modern society from the 1980s onwards constitutes a network society and that the unity in the diversity of global restructuring has to be seen in the massive deployment of information and communication technologies in all spheres of modern social life. The criticism attends to the possibility that the emphasis on the social role of information technologies in advanced society amounts to a modern version of `technological determinism'. A discussion of the so-called productivity paradox shows that cultural and social processes rather than technological regimes continue to be more important for the evolution of society.
Globalization and the Need for Universal Ethics
Authors: Apel Karl-Otto
Published: July 2003

In this article the author tries to give an answer - from the point of view of the transcendental pragmatic foundation of discourse ethics - to the title question, which was raised by the Unesco conferences entitled `Universal Ethics' in Paris (27 March 1997) and Naples (December 1997). The article should be understood as a supplement to the empiristic-comparative responses of S. Bok and H. Küng, and especially to the communitarian approach of M. Walzer, proposed at the first conference. Unlike traditional rationalism, this approach does not try to deduce concrete moral norms from axiomatic first principles; it begins with transcendental reflection on the undeniable moral presuppositions of argumentative discourse (which is not circumventable in philosophy). The approach first deduces from these presuppositions only the ideal procedures for the moral discourses through which all concrete moral problems ought to be solved, if possible. The second step provides a strategic-counter-strategic supplementation principle for those cases where undistorted moral discourses are not possible.
A Future for Critique?
Authors: May Tim
Published: July 2003

The principal aim of this article is to examine the relations between positioning and belonging in terms of the potential for critique of existing social conditions. The underlying purpose is to inform social scientific engagement with social life in order to illuminate the potential for social transformation via reflexivity. These discussions will be informed by the division of reflexivity into two dimensions: endogenous and referential. It is argued that this enables the social scientist to highlight the pre-reflexive world and render it problematic and demonstrates how the objectivity of the social world is both a presupposition and ongoing achievement of everyday interactions. To that extent, the possibility for social conditions to be otherwise is then open to scrutiny.
Derrida, Deconstruction and Social Theory
Authors: Leledakis Kanakis
Published: July 2003

This article focuses on an analysis and evaluation of the importance Derrida's work may have for a theory of the social. It is argued that both his earlier and his later works are important in this respect, albeit at a high level of abstraction. In his early work the social is seen as an open `field of meaning' while in later work differentations within this field, such as the level of the `phantasmatic', are introduced. This is a direction of theorization that has to be developed, although the way the `openness' of this field is to be conceived needs to be re-elaborated. However, Derrida's account in recent work of the structure of ethical/political action, based on `emancipatory promises', is not satisfactory and runs the danger of regressing to subjectivism. Instead, the existence of structural determinations - of a `history' - within the subject has to be theorized without reducing the subject to a form of self-presence. This history, alongside the contextuality of the moment of action, delineates the framework for ethical/political action.
Modernity and Veiled Women
Authors: Kaya Ibrahim
Published: July 2003

This article aims to explore the relationship between veiled, Islamist, women and modernity in Turkey where the woman question is indeed exemplary of the tension-ridden relations between modernity and Islam. By examining the veiled women's rejection of modernity I argue that it is wrong to read Islamism as an actual questioning of modernity. Traditional Islam is not the key element in understanding the veiled women's identity; rather, at the core of the issue is the reproduction of identity under conditions of modernity. First, I look at the Islamic understanding of women; second, I consider the relation of Kemalism to women, so as to understand oppositions between modernity and Islam on the woman question. Finally, the veiled women's rejection of modernity is analysed by means of taking its self-contradictions into the centre of the argument.
Communicative Action in History
Authors: Stryker Sean D.
Published: July 2003

Critics of Jürgen Habermas's theory of communicative action argue that he has failed to recognize the extent to which moral argumentation is grounded in particular historical contexts, cultural traditions, collective identities, or social lifeworlds. Although he has engaged in a series of strategies aimed at acknowledging the role of particularistic considerations without abandoning his primary commitment to ethical universalism, Habermas has not succeeded in meeting all of the objections of his critics. This paper treats the contradiction between formal and substantive rationality, which lies at the heart of the debate, as an empirical phenomenon within the social world. It argues that the antinomy of formal and substantive rationality plays a central role in historical processes of social change. Through critical argumentation, social actors deliberate on contradictions among strategic, moral, and ethical standards of validity, and they struggle to resolve these contradictions through collective action and the reform of laws, policies, and institutions. Examples are drawn from US political history to substantiate the argument, and some questions are raised for further research.
Proximal Paradox
Authors: i Giner Josepa Cucó
Published: July 2003

In today's societies relationships between near relatives and friends appear to be somewhat paradoxical. Some accounts present them as the social ideal, exalting the solidarity and altruism represented by proximal relationships. By contrast, others point to the social dangers in such relationships when they are conducted in the public sphere. In order to grasp the coexistence of these opposite views, this article attempts to place proximal relationships in the explanatory context of a gift economy, a concept with a long history in anthropology and which has lately been the focus of interest of a significant group of social thinkers.
Biographical Constructions of a Working Woman
Authors: Lyon E. Stina
Published: July 2003

As social scientist, welfare state reformer and diplomat, Alva Myrdal made an important contribution to changing conceptions of modern womanhood. With her husband Gunnar, she drew up blueprints for a woman-friendly welfare state that continue to be of relevance to contemporary debates about women's dual roles in the public and private spheres. She was herself a working wife and mother of three children with a home publicly hailed for its efficient modernity. In retrospect, her domestic performance as wife and mother, as well as her public writings on women and family welfare policy, have been subject to critical re-evaluation, a debate to which biographical material presented by each of her three children contributed. This article reflects on the situated nature of biographical writings about women and discusses the different constructions' of Alva Myrdal presented in these family narratives. From within Alva Myrdal's own feminist perspective, the author attempts to show the extent to which judgements about the contribution of women continue to be framed by conceptions of the duality of their place in the public and private domains.
Negotiating the `Double Bind'
Authors: Grumley John
Published: July 2003

Agnes Heller was one of the first critical theorists to turn her attention to a contemporary theory of modernity. Yet her many writings on this topic remained fragments until the publication of her A Theory of Modernity (1999). This article focuses on the structural elements of this account. It traces the evolution of Heller's ideas in regard to logics, dynamic and social arrangement of modernity. It explains how these fit into her own development towards the standpoint she describes as postmodern resignation and her notions of the `double bind' and `pendulum of modernity'. It argues that while Heller has modified her conception of the multiple logics of modernity to keep faith with a critical brief and an open-ended vision, some theoretical tensions remain. In particular, it explores the idea of modernity as a `steamroller' in conjunction with the question of its survival. It also questions whether Heller's emphatic normative vision of cultural modernity can easily be reconciled with the empirical trends of globalization that promise an increasing diversity of modernities.
On the Relationship between Ethics, International Law and Politico-Military Strategy in Our Time
Authors: Apel Karl-Otto
Published: July 2003

In reconstructing and commenting upon the Kosovo conflict, the cognitive interest of practical philosophy does not evade a political judgment but is primarily led by the interest in answering the question of what normative yardsticks are available (to politicians and to the public) for coping with a situation where the international order of law fails to provide a legal solution to the problem of preserving peace and, at the same time, protecting human rights that are severely violated by a sovereign state. The paper proposes an answer from the point of view of an ethics of history-related responsibility, which takes into account three normative levels based on ethical, legal and political considerations. In this light the action of NATO must be judged.
History, War and the Transcendence of Modernity
Authors: Wittrock Björn
Published: July 2003

How can the relative inability of social theory to shed light on the horrors of the late twentieth century be reconciled with the fact that both history and social science earlier devoted themselves to arriving at an understanding of war and violence in the modern world? An answer is provided in five steps. First, the disciplinary evolution of the social science disciplines tends to make them oblivious of important parts of their own heritage and opens up a chasm between the social and the historical sciences. Second, the contribution of military experiences to the formation of the policy orientation of modern social sciences renders them less rather than more capable of reflecting upon war as a societal and historical phenomenon. Third, rational choice theory and historical sociology are relatively unable to arrive at an understanding of the cultural constitution of modernity and share a naturalistic conception of war and violence. Fourth, at least five features of war in the late twentieth century transcend the experiences of modernity. Fifth, in order to grasp these features conceptually, social theory has to acknowledge different varieties of modernity seriously, to elaborate a historical phenomenology of the experiences of war and violence, and to arrive at an actionbased explanation of wars in their societal and historical context.
Perpetual Police?
Authors: Caygill Howard
Published: July 2003

The author reflects on the implications of the Kosovo conflict for under-standing the post-Cold War changes in NATO's strategic concept. He develops a theoretical account of the move from war to police violence and the differences between the two concepts of violence.
The Arts of War and the War of Arts
Authors: Salecl Renata
Published: July 2003

Today's society is often referred to as the era of anxiety, since people increasingly experience uncertainties in their everyday lives. This article explores first the differences between fear and anxiety. Second, with the help of Lacanian psychoanalytic definition of anxiety, some examples of psychological breakdowns in wars are analyzed. And third, the attempts of contemporary military to create anxiety-free wars are confronted with similar trends in contemporary arts which try to decrease the viewer's sensitiveness to anxiety with regard to his/her perceptions of the body and of death.