One major theme I pulled out of Capra's book Hidden Connections, is the idea that all forms of life (at all levels from cells to communities) are comprised of networks and are defined by interactions.
Patricia Shields, a professor at Southwest Texas State University, in A Pragmatic Teaching Philosophy explains five different micro-conceptual frameworks for research which are focused around the type of research question (what, where, when, who, how, why). Looking at her pragmatic teaching philosophy from a network/interaction view point, the frameworks can be seen as different ways of dissecting networks/interactions to figure out the what, where, when, who, how, and why. For example, the formal hypotheses framework is focused around the question 'why.' The research method used in this framework is experimental or quasi-experimental; the researcher will observe the interactions within a specific community to find a correlation or cause-effect relationship.
Popular economist Steve Levitt uncovered some interesting correlations using the formal hypotheses framework. In the reaction, A->B->C, he knows C and sets out to find what factors (A and B) cause C. In his book Freakonomics, he attributed lower crime rates (C) in the early 90s to the legalization of abortion in the early 70s by arguing that unwanted children are more prone to crime and drug use (A) and after the legalization of abortion, a whole generation of unwanted births were averted (B) which lead to a drop in crime around twenty years later (C). I'm not agreeing with Levitt's theory (it has been largely contested), but it does break down an issue into smaller components (or reactions) to try to explain a phenomena.
Levitt's work is more celebrity scholarship than useful science. However, it allows me to point you toward 'community ecology' as useful application of what we are calling a social-ecological approaches to community and sustainability. Young's work can also be used to illustrative Capra's argument that sustainability is a community-level characteristic, not a cause-effect between two discrete variables.
ReplyDeleteYou'll note on the syllabus the article by Frank M. Young (and Keiko Minai), Community Ecology: A New Theory and an Illustrative Test. It's useful science!
Young's book, The Structural Ecology of Health and Community, develops the idea that community is a problem solving organization focused on the well-being of residents/citizens. Young is also co-author with Ken Robinson of an article, "An ecological regional analysis of South Carolina." More importantly, Ken Robinson is an LBJ School grad. He sat in your seat in one of my classes a couple of decades ago. Robinson is from S. Carolina, so that work is especially important to and for him.
Young, Frank, and Kenneth Robinson. 2011. “An Ecological Regional Analysis of South Carolina.” Social Indicators Research 103 (1): 109–117. doi:10.1007/s11205-010-9699-z.
Young, Frank W. 2009. The Structural Ecology of Heath and Community. Ithaca, NY: The Internet-First Press, Cornell University. http://ecommons.cornell.edu/bitstream/1813/11809/1/Young%20Structural%20Ecology%20Health%20and%20Community.pdf.
Young, Frank W., and Keiko Minai. 2002. “Community Ecology: a New Theory and an Illustrative Test.” Research in Human Ecology 9 (2): 31–40.