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Chapter 2 Transformation: For Whom, By Whom, Where, Why and When?

  • Gibson Burrell
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The Handbook of Organizing Economic, Ecological and Societal Transformation
This chapter is in the book The Handbook of Organizing Economic, Ecological and Societal Transformation

Abstract

This chapter has as its objective the ‘clearing of ground’ that is necessary before the cultivation of detailed and productive uses and evaluations of the concept of ‘transformation’. The conundrums raised by this task are not easy issues, having exercised the minds of humans for at least 10,000 years. Paradoxically, (and this is an inherent problem in this area of scholarship), the chapter uses a fixed structure of three Parts, each with internal sections and paragraphs, in order to address ongoing processes in time and space. Writing about transformative change in a structured way and experiencing radical change as an ongoing process are not the same thing at all perhaps. If they were similar, what would transformative writing offering real change- rather than sectional writing on transformation- look like? We might guess such a welcome facility to act as the solver of enduring paradoxes would rely upon a transformative skill available to very few authors indeed. In their absence, the musings in this chapter have focussed upon the impedance to transformation offered by habits, the hearth and the human, in an attempt to show transformation is a political, sociological and philosophical problem of enormous complexity.

Abstract

This chapter has as its objective the ‘clearing of ground’ that is necessary before the cultivation of detailed and productive uses and evaluations of the concept of ‘transformation’. The conundrums raised by this task are not easy issues, having exercised the minds of humans for at least 10,000 years. Paradoxically, (and this is an inherent problem in this area of scholarship), the chapter uses a fixed structure of three Parts, each with internal sections and paragraphs, in order to address ongoing processes in time and space. Writing about transformative change in a structured way and experiencing radical change as an ongoing process are not the same thing at all perhaps. If they were similar, what would transformative writing offering real change- rather than sectional writing on transformation- look like? We might guess such a welcome facility to act as the solver of enduring paradoxes would rely upon a transformative skill available to very few authors indeed. In their absence, the musings in this chapter have focussed upon the impedance to transformation offered by habits, the hearth and the human, in an attempt to show transformation is a political, sociological and philosophical problem of enormous complexity.

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Contents V
  3. List of Contributors IX
  4. Part One: By Way of Introduction
  5. Chapter 1 Organizing Economic, Environmental and Societal Transformation: An Introduction 1
  6. Chapter 2 Transformation: For Whom, By Whom, Where, Why and When? 27
  7. Part Two: Opening Up Futures
  8. Chapter 3 Post-anthropocentric Transformations of Consumption in the Anthropocene: Beyond the Nature-Culture Divide 49
  9. Chapter 4 ‘Organising Social Impact’ Master’s Programme as ‘Critical Praxis’ to Transform the University and Society 69
  10. Chapter 5 Futures: Necessity, Experiment and the School for Organizing 87
  11. Part Three: Techno-economic Transformations at Work
  12. Chapter 6 The Social Construction of Digital Technologies: The Politics behind Technology-centered Transformations 103
  13. Chapter 7 The Transformation of Work in the Digital Age: Coworking Spaces as Community-Based Models of Work Organization 125
  14. Chapter 8 Organizing Around Affect: Control and Potentiality in Contemporary Capitalism 145
  15. Part Four: Sustainable Environmental Transformation
  16. Chapter 9 Systemic Risks and Organizational Challenges in Transformative Processes: ‘Cybersecurity’ in the Food Field 165
  17. Chapter 10 Uniting the Means and Ends of Degrowth Transformation 189
  18. Chapter 11 Economic Organizations and the Transformation Towards Degrowth 209
  19. Part Five: Radical Democratic Futures
  20. Chapter 12 Organizing for Social Transformation from Below: Prefigurative Organizing and Civic Action 235
  21. Chapter 13 From Stakeholders to Communities of Care 257
  22. Chapter 14 The Possibilities of Radical Democratic Management 275
  23. Chapter 15 Searching for Transformative Potential: Comparing Conceptualizations of Open, Inclusive and Alternative Organizations 295
  24. Index 315
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110986945-002

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Contents V
  3. List of Contributors IX
  4. Part One: By Way of Introduction
  5. Chapter 1 Organizing Economic, Environmental and Societal Transformation: An Introduction 1
  6. Chapter 2 Transformation: For Whom, By Whom, Where, Why and When? 27
  7. Part Two: Opening Up Futures
  8. Chapter 3 Post-anthropocentric Transformations of Consumption in the Anthropocene: Beyond the Nature-Culture Divide 49
  9. Chapter 4 ‘Organising Social Impact’ Master’s Programme as ‘Critical Praxis’ to Transform the University and Society 69
  10. Chapter 5 Futures: Necessity, Experiment and the School for Organizing 87
  11. Part Three: Techno-economic Transformations at Work
  12. Chapter 6 The Social Construction of Digital Technologies: The Politics behind Technology-centered Transformations 103
  13. Chapter 7 The Transformation of Work in the Digital Age: Coworking Spaces as Community-Based Models of Work Organization 125
  14. Chapter 8 Organizing Around Affect: Control and Potentiality in Contemporary Capitalism 145
  15. Part Four: Sustainable Environmental Transformation
  16. Chapter 9 Systemic Risks and Organizational Challenges in Transformative Processes: ‘Cybersecurity’ in the Food Field 165
  17. Chapter 10 Uniting the Means and Ends of Degrowth Transformation 189
  18. Chapter 11 Economic Organizations and the Transformation Towards Degrowth 209
  19. Part Five: Radical Democratic Futures
  20. Chapter 12 Organizing for Social Transformation from Below: Prefigurative Organizing and Civic Action 235
  21. Chapter 13 From Stakeholders to Communities of Care 257
  22. Chapter 14 The Possibilities of Radical Democratic Management 275
  23. Chapter 15 Searching for Transformative Potential: Comparing Conceptualizations of Open, Inclusive and Alternative Organizations 295
  24. Index 315
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