Playing with the Rules of the Game: Social Innovation for Urban Transformation

Matthew Thompson (University of Liverpool, UK) published in International Journal of Urban and Regional Research Volume 43 Issue 6 (November 2019)

Abstract

Innovation is perhaps the buzzword in local economic development policy. Associated narrowly with neoliberal ideas, conventional notions of innovation – like its capitalocentric counterparts, enterprise and entrepreneurialism – may promise higher productivity, global competitiveness and technological progress but do not fundamentally change the ‘rules of the game’.

In contrast, an emerging field reimagines social innovation as disruptive change in social relations and institutional configurations. This article explores the conceptual and political differences within this pre‐paradigmatic field, and argues for a more transformative understanding of social innovation.

Building on the work of David Graeber, I mobilize the novel constructs of ‘play’ and ‘games’ to advance our understanding of the contradictory process of institutionalising social innovation for urban transformation. This is illustrated through a case study of Liverpool, where diverse approaches to innovation are employed in attempts to resolve longstanding socio‐economic problems. Dominant market‐ and state‐led economic development policies – likened to a ‘regeneration game’ – are contrasted with more experimental, creative, democratic and potentially more effective forms of social innovation, seeking urban change through playing with the rules of the game.

I conclude by considering how the play–game dialectic illuminates and reframes the way transformative social innovation might be cultivated by urban policy, the contradictions this entails, and possible ways forward.

Full text (25pp)

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Self-perceived job insecurity across Europe over time: Does changing context matter?

an article by Christiane Lübke and Marcel Erlinghagen (University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany) published in Journal of European Social Policy Volume 24 Number 4 (October 2014)

Abstract

Self-perceived job insecurity is characterised by a considerable variation across European countries; this is mostly attributed to different labour market conditions and welfare-state institutions. In addition to the previous, often static examination of these determinants, this study asks how labour market dynamics and changes in welfare-state interventions are linked to individuals’ perceptions of job insecurity.

It is argued that the changing context represents a set of shared experiences that serves as a frame of reference for the perception of job insecurity. Hence, time series of context indicators provided by Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and data from the European Social Survey are used to conduct multilevel analyses.

The results reveal that job insecurity is dynamic, as it increases in countries facing an economic crisis, such as Greece, but decreases in countries with prosperous development like Poland.

Furthermore, the results reveal that the past development of the labour market and changes in welfare-state interventions contribute to the explanation of individuals’ perceptions of job insecurity.

The response to these changes differs, however, depending on the dimension of job insecurity and the socio-economic characteristics of the workers.

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Institutional churn: institutional change in United Kingdom higher education

an article by Malcolm Tight (Lancaster University, UK) published in Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management Volume 35 Issue 1 (February 2013)

Abstract

This article considers how higher education institutions change over time, using the United Kingdom system as an exemplar, and focusing on the 15-year period between 1994/95 and 2009/10.

While there are many aspects of institutional change worthy of study, the focus here is on how institutions appear to others. Thus, the article examines the institutional mergers that took place, institutional name changes, changes in institutional size (as measured by student enrolment) and a range of other forms of institutional change (migration, change of sector, change in funding status, closure, establishment, de-federalisation).

While, alongside widespread change, a degree of continuity, at least in some institutions, also needs to be recognised, the picture presented is one of a continual ‘institutional churn’, through which institutions regularly re-invent themselves in an attempt to better face their changing circumstances.

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Institutional reforms and age-graded labour market inequalities in Europe

an article by Martina Dieckhoff (Social Science Research Center Berlin, Germany) and Nadia Steiber (European University Institute, Italy) published in International Journal of Comparative Sociology Volume 53 Number 2 (April 2012)

Abstract

This article examines how institutional change affects age-based labour market inequalities in Europe. We focus on the impact of labour regulation and of wage-setting institutions on the male population aged 25–54.

Age-graded labour market inequalities within this group of prime-age individuals are hitherto under-researched.

We estimate country panel regressions using data from the European Union Labour Force Survey and time-series data on institutional change for the years 1992–2007. The results present evidence that employment protection and the regulation of temporary work affect age-based inequality dynamics, while union strength has positive employment effects on all age-groups.

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