The International Handbook. On Social Innovation Collective Action, Social Learning and Transdisciplinary Research

This enriching Handbook covers many aspects of the scientific and socio-political debates on social innovation today.

The contributors provide an overview of theoretical perspectives, methodologies and instructive experiences from all continents, as well as implications for collective action and policy. They argue strongly for social innovation as a key to human development. The Handbook defines social innovation as innovation in social relations within both micro and macro spheres, with the purpose of satisfying unmet or new human needs across different layers of society. It connects social innovation to empowerment dynamics, thus giving a political character to social movements and bottom-up governance initiatives. Together these should lay the foundations for a fairer, more democratic society for all.

This interdisciplinary work, written by scholars collaborating to develop a joint methodological perspective toward social innovation agency and processes, will be invaluable for students and researchers in social science and humanities. It will also appeal to policy makers, policy analysts, lobbyists and activists seeking to give inspiration and leadership from a social innovation perspective.

Full table of contents

Contents:

General Introduction: The Return of Social Innovation as a Scientific Concept and a Social Practice

Frank Moulaert, Diana MacCallum, Abid Mehmood and Abdelillah Hamdouch

PART I: SOCIAL INNOVATION: FROM CONCEPT TO THEORY AND PRACTICE

Introduction: Social Innovation at the Crossroads between Science, Economy and Society

Juan-Luis Klein

1. Social Innovation: Intuition, Precept, Concept, Theory and Practice

Frank Moulaert, Diana MacCallum and Jean Hillier

2. Social Innovation in Governance and Public Management Systems: Toward a New Paradigm?

Benoît Lévesque

3. Social Innovation, Social Economy and Social Enterprise: What Can the European Debate Tell Us?

Jacques Defourny and Marthe Nyssens

4. Social Innovation in an Unsustainable World

Abid Mehmood and Constanza Parra

5. Social Innovation through Arts and Creativity

Diane-Gabrielle Tremblay and Thomas Pilati

6. Microcredit as a Social Innovation

Arvind Ashta, Karl Dayson, Rajat Gera, Samanthala Hettihewa, N.V. Krishna and Christopher Wright

7. Social Innovation for People-Centred Development

Lars Hulgård and P.K. Shajahan

PART II: SOCIAL INNOVATION THEORY: ITS ROLE IN KNOWLEDGE BUILDING

Introduction: Social Innovation – An Idea Longing for Theory

Stijn Oosterlynck

8. Social Innovation Research: A New Stage in Innovation Analysis?

Bob Jessop, Frank Moulaert, Lars Hulgård and Abdelillah Hamdouch

9. Social Innovation: A Territorial Process

Barbara Van Dyck and Pieter Van den Broeck

10. Social Sustainability: A Competing Concept to Social Innovation?

Constanza Parra

11. Theorizing Multi-level Governance in Social Innovation Dynamics

Marc Pradel Miquel, Marisol García Cabeza and Santiago Eizaguirre Anglada

12. Towards a Deleuzean-inspired Methodology for Social Innovation Research and Practice

Jean Hillier

PART III: INSTRUCTIVE CASE STUDIES IN SOCIAL INNOVATION ANALYSIS

Introduction: Social Innovation Experience and Action as a Lead for Research

Stuart Cameron

13. Just Another Roll of the Dice: A Socially Creative Initiative to Assure Roma Housing in North Western Italy

Tommaso Vitale and Andrea Membretti

14. From ‘Book Container’ to Community Centre

John Andersen, Kristian Delica and Martin Severin Frandsen

15. Venturing Off the Beaten Path: Social Innovation and Settlement Upgrading in Voi, Kenya

Emmanuel Midheme

16. Knowledge Building and Organizational Behavior: The Mondragón Case from a Social Innovation Perspective

Igor Calzada

17. Going Beyond Physical Urban Planning Interventions: Fostering Social Innovation through Urban Renewal in Brugse Poort, Ghent

Stijn Oosterlynck and Pascal Debruyne

18. Social Innovation through the Arts in Rural Areas: The Case of Montemor-o-Novo

Isabel André, Alexandre Abreu and André Carmo

PART IV: SOCIAL INNOVATION ANALYSIS: METHODOLOGIES

Introduction: ‘Reality’ as a Guide for SI Research Methods?

Abdelillah Hamdouch

19. A Transversal Reading of Social Innovation in European Cities

Serena Vicari Haddock and Chiara Tornaghi

20. Qualitative Approaches for the Study of Socially Innovation Initiatives

Haris Konstantatos, Dimitra Siatitsa, Dina Vaiou

21. Research Strategies for Assets and Strengths Based Community Development

Nola Kunnen, Diana MacCallum and Susan Young

22. Technological Incubators of Solidarity Economy Initiatives: A Methodology for Promoting Social Innovation in Brazil

Ana Dubeux

23. Partnership-based Research: Coproduction of Knowledge and Contribution to Social Innovation

Jean-Marc Fontan, Denis Harrisson and Juan-Luis Klein

24. Social Innovation in Public Elder Care: The Role of Action Research

John Andersen and Annette Bilfeldt

25. Reflections on the Form and Content of Participatory Action Research and Implications for Social Innovation Research

Len Arthur

PART V: COLLECTIVE ACTION, INSTITUTIONAL LEVERAGE AND PUBLIC POLICY

Introduction: The Institutional Space for Social Innovation

Diana MacCallum

26. Learning from Case Studies of Social Innovation in the Field of Social Services: Creatively Balancing Top-down Universalism with Bottom-up Democracy

Flavia Martinelli

27. The Social and Solidarity-based Economy as a New Field of Public Action: A Policy and Method for Promoting Social Innovation

Laurent Fraisse

28. The Québec Model: A Social Innovation System Founded on Cooperation and Consensus Building

Juan-Luis Klein, Jean-Marc Fontan, Denis Harrisson and Benoît Lévesque

29. The Linkages between Popular Education and Solidarity Economy in Brazil: An Historical Perspective

Ana Cristina Fernandes, Andreas Novy and Paul Singer

30. Local Associations in Chile: Social Innovation in a Mature Neoliberal Society

Vicente Espinoza

31. Gender and Social Innovation: The Role of EU Policies

Isabel André

PART VI: FRONTIERS IN SOCIAL INNOVATION RESEARCH

Introduction: The Pillars of Social Innovation Research and Practice

Serena Vicari Haddock

32. Innovative Forms of Knowledge Production: Transdisciplinarity and Knowledge Alliances

Andreas Novy, Sarah Habersack and Barbara Schaller

33. Holistic Research Methodology and Pragmatic Collective Action

Frank Moulaert and Abid Mehmood

34. Social Innovation for Community Economies: How Action Research Creates ‘Other Worlds’

J.K. Gibson-Graham and Gerda Roelvink

35. Framing Social Innovation Research: A Sociology of Knowledge Perspective

Frank Moulaert and Barbara Van Dyck

Index