| Description |
1 online resource (xvi, 185 pages) |
|
data file |
| Series |
A BK Currents book |
|
BK currents book.
|
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| Summary |
Current responses to our most pressing societal challenges--from poverty to ethnic conflict to climate change--are not working. These problems are incredibly dynamic and complex, involving an ever-shifting array of factors, actors, and circumstances. They demand a highly fluid and adaptive approach, yet we address them by devising fixed, long-term plans. Social labs, says Zaid Hassan, are a dramatically more effective response. Social labs bring together a diverse a group of stakeholders--not to create yet another five-year plan but to develop a portfolio of prototype solutions, test those solutions in the real world, use the data to further refine them, and test them again. Hassan builds on a decade of experience--as well as drawing from cutting-edge research in complexity science, networking theory, and sociology--to explain the core principles and daily functioning of social labs, using examples of pioneering labs from around the world. He offers a new generation of problem solvers an effective, practical, and exciting new vision and guide. |
| Contents |
Introduction: What Are Social Laboratories?; What Does It Mean to Be Winning?; Playing in the World Cup; The Scale-Free Laboratory; A Cascade of Social Labs -- 1 The Perfect Storm of Complexity; The Perfect Challenge; What Is a Complex Social Challenge?; The Futile Optimism of Optimization; Yemen as a Natural Experiment; Too Big to Fail, Too Big to Jail -- 2 The Strategic Vacuum; Business as Usual; The Expert-Planning Paradigm; Flying Autopilot in the Perfect Storm; A Lack of Genuine Strategic Intent. |
|
3 The Sustainable Food Lab: From Farm to ForkThe Race to the Bottom; The Multiple and Conflicting Logics of Food; What Is Sustainable?; Systemic Spread Betting -- 4 The Bhavishya Lab: The Silent Emergency; The Bhavishya Alliance; The Moon Shot; Movement Requires Friction; Fail Early, Fail Often; Business as Usual and Its Radical Refusals -- 5 The New Ecologies of Capital; The End of the Beginning; Emerging Forms of Capital and Preventing Collapse; The Dumbest Idea in the World; More Rainforests, Fewer Plantations. |
|
6 The Rise of the Agilistas; The Practical Wisdom of Social Labs -- Starting with Current RealitiesEvents Rupture Dispositions; The Right Stuff -- 7 Steps Toward a Theory of Systemic Action; First Requirement: Constitute a Diverse Team; Second Requirement: Design an Iterative Process; Third Requirement: Actively Create Systemic Spaces -- 8 Starting a Social Lab: Seven How-Tos; Strategic versus Tactical Thinking; #1 Clarify Intention; #2 Broadcast an Invitation; #3 Work Your Networks; #4 Recruit Willing People; #5 Set Direction; #6 Design in Stacks; #7 Find Cadence. |
|
Conclusion: Next-Generation Social Labs; Averting the Zombie Apocalypse;State Collapse: A Stabilization StrategyClimate Change: A Mitigation Strategy; Community Resilience: An Adaptation Strategy; The Battle of the Parts versus the Whole. |
| Language |
This edition in English. |
| Subject |
Social problems -- Research -- Methodology.
|
|
Problem solving.
|
|
Problem Solving |
|
Problèmes sociaux -- Recherche -- Méthodologie. |
|
Résolution de problème. |
|
Problem solving |
| Other Form: |
Print version: Hassan, Zaid. Social labs revolution. First edition 9781626560734 (DLC) 2013041859 (OCoLC)844728907 |
| ISBN |
9781626560758 (electronic bk.) |
|
1626560757 (electronic bk.) |
|
More Resources