Academic literature on the topic 'Collective action framework'

This book arises from a three-year comparative research program concerning co-operative enterprises in Australia and Italy. The book explores the historical development, legal framework and the peak organisations of co-operatives in the two countries. Specific comparative chapters focus on consumer, credit, and worker-producer co-operatives. The book deepens the analysis of co-operatives by containing chapters that examine specific theoretical and empirical issues such as the theory of co-operative firms as collective entrepreneurial action. Monographic chapters include more in depth analysis of specific typologies of co-operatives, such as social and community oriented co-operatives, some of which were created to contrast organized crime in Southern Italy. The book concludes with an assessment of the implications of the project for public policy.

Recently, public policies of urban regeneration have intensified and multiplied. They are being promoted with the aim to start social and economic dynamics within the local context which is subject to intervention. From the empirical analysis, we realise that such activities are mainly implemented by three subjects or by mixed coalitions (public institutions, actors of the third sector and companies). Within them, each player is moved by a multiplicity of interests and goals that go beyond their own nature – public interest, market and mutualism – and tend to redefine themselves, thus becoming hybrid forms of production of value (social, economic, cultural). By studying a number Italian and Catalan cases, this essay deals with the theory that, under specific conditions and configurations, a collaborative direction – of organization, production and design – would give life to successful procedures, even without the identification of a one-best-way. The collaboration is not simply a choice of operation, but a real production method which mobilises social resources to create hybrid solutions – between state, market and society – to complex issues that could not be faced solely with the use of the rationale of action of one among the three actors. In this framework, the systems of relations and interactions between players and shared capital become an essential condition for the success of every initiative of urban redevelopment, or failure thereof. Such initiatives are brought to life by the strategic role of individuals who foster connections as well as the dissemination of non-redundant information between social networks, and collective and individual actors which would otherwise be separated and barely able to communicate and collaborate with each other. In addition to the functions carried out by knowledge brokers, that have been extensively described in organisational studies and economic sociology, the aforementioned figures act as real social enzymes, that is to say, they handle the available information and function as catalysts of social processes of production of knowledge. Moreover, they increase the reaction speed, working on mechanisms which control the spontaneity.

<p>Recent earthquakes have demonstrated that despite the continuous developments of novel materials and new strengthening techniques, the majority of the existing structures are still unprotected and at high seismic risk. The repair and strengthening framework is a complex process and there are often barriers in the preventative upgrade of the existing structures related to the cost of the applications and the limited expertise of the engineers. The engineers need to consider various options thoroughly and the selection of the appropriate strategy is a crucial parameter for the success of these applications.</p><p>The main aim of this collection is to present a number of different approaches applied to a wide range of structures with different characteristics and demands acting as a practical guide for the main repair and strengthening approaches used worldwide. This document contains a collection of nine case studies from six different countries with different seismicity (i.e. Austria, Greece, Italy, Mexico, Nepal and New Zealand). Various types of structures have been selected with different structural peculiarities such as buildings used for different purposes (i.e. school buildings, town hall, 30 storey office tower), a bridge, and a wharf. Most of the examined structures are Reinforced Concrete structures while there is also an application on a Masonry building. For each of the examined studies, the local conditions are described followed by the main deficiencies which are addressed. The methods used for the assessment of the in-situ conditions also presented and alternative strategies for the repair and strengthening are considered.</p>

This chapter completes the theoretical framework of the book by juxtaposing institutional economics with the literature on the collective action problem, social norms, culture, and ideas. It discusses the foundations of the collective action problem and the role of institutions—formal (laws) and informal (social norms)—in overcoming it. It links these studies with those on social capital, civicness, and the origins of generalized inter-personal trust. It criticizes the view—frequent in analyses of Italy—that a society’s culture is an independent obstacle to its development, and argues conversely that institutions, civicness, trust, and culture are part of the extant social order, and co-evolve. It ends with a discussion of the role of ideas, which are freer from the grip of the extant equilibrium and can lead elites, distributional coalitions, and ordinary citizens and firms to revise their assessment of their own interests and support efficiency-enhancing reforms.

This book renews the tradition of inquiry into collective, social problem-solving. The book follows grassroots activists, nonprofit organization staff, and community service volunteers in three coalitions and twelve organizations in Los Angeles as they campaign for affordable housing, develop new housing, or address homelessness. The book shows that to understand how social advocates build their campaigns, craft claims, and choose goals, we need to move beyond well-established thinking about what is strategic. The book presents a pragmatist-inspired sociological framework that illuminates core tasks of social problem-solving by grassroots and professional advocates alike. It reveals that advocates' distinct styles of collective action produce different understandings of what is strategic, and generate different dilemmas for advocates because each style accommodates varying social and institutional pressures. We see, too, how patterns of interaction create a cultural filter that welcomes some claims about housing problems while subordinating or delegitimating others. These cultural patterns help solve conceptual and practical puzzles, such as why coalitions fragment when members agree on many things, and what makes advocacy campaigns separate housing from homelessness or affordability from environmental sustainability. The book concludes by turning this action-centered framework toward improving dialogue between social advocates and researchers.

Informed by practices of women’s activism in India, this book proposes a feminist social justice framework to address the wide range of issues women face globally, including economic exploitation; sexist oppression; racial, ethnic, and caste oppression; and cultural imperialism. The feminist social justice framework provides an alternative to mainstream philosophical frameworks that analyze and promote gender justice globally: universal human rights, economic projects such as microfinance, and cosmopolitanism. These frameworks share a commitment to individualism and abstract universalism that underlie certain liberal and neoliberal approaches to justice. Arguing that these frameworks emphasize individualism over interdependence, similarity over diversity, and individual success over collective capacity, McLaren draws on the work of Rabindranath Tagore to develop the concept of relational cosmopolitanism. Relational cosmopolitanism prioritizes our connections, while acknowledging power differences. Extending Iris Young’s theory of political responsibility, McLaren shows how Fair Trade connects to the economic solidarity movement. The Self-Employed Women’s Association and MarketPlace India empower women through access to livelihoods as well as fostering leadership capabilities that allow them to challenge structural injustice through political and social activism. Their struggles to resist economic exploitation and gender oppression through collective action show the importance of challenging individualist approaches to achieving gender justice. The book concludes with a call for a shift in our thinking and practice toward reimagining the possibilities for justice from a relational framework, from independence to interdependence, from identity to intersectionality, and from interest to sociopolitical imagination.

This chapter examines what it means to take a human rights approach to women’s poverty and economic status. Special attention is given to structural sources of women’s poverty, the challenges a right-based framework presents to neoliberal priorities and values, and low-income women’s resistance to these forces. Synergies among economic and political conditions; ideology (e.g., individualism, meritocracy); classist, racist, and sexist stereotypes about poverty and low-income women; and welfare policies that subordinate and regulate low-income women are discussed. Emphasis is placed on understanding welfare rights activism and other anti-poverty/inequality collectives, with the goal of illuminating the social psychological factors that contribute to collective action, economic justice, and the promotion of a rights-based approach to women’s poverty.

This publication reviews the work of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) with the countries of the Caribbean subregion and assesses the lessons learned to extend successful strategies and avoid obstacles. It also illustrates the shared achievements of the Caribbean subregion in advancing information systems for health (IS4H) and lights the way ahead on this shared journey. To identify key lessons for the future, this after-action review discusses four questions about the collective work done: What was expected to happen? What really happened? What went well and why? What can be improved and how? In the past four years, PAHO has provided support for IS4H strengthening through actions and strategies in collaboration with countries under the IS4H strategic framework. The IS4H initiative was created with the vision of implementing universal access to health and universal health coverage in the Region through the strengthening of interconnected and interoperable information systems that assure effective and efficient access to quality data, strategic information, and ICT tools for decision-making and well-being. The vision and leadership of the Member States in the Caribbean have contributed to the strengthening of IS4H for the entire Region of the Americas. PAHO remains keenly aware of the importance of strong national and regional information systems for health in reaching the targets of the Sustainable Health Agenda for the Americas 2018–2030.