Community, Economic Creativity, and Organization
Ash Amin and Joanne Roberts
Abstract
It has long been an interest of researchers in economics, sociology, organization studies, and economic geography to understand how firms innovate. Most recently, this interest has begun to examine the micro-processes of work and organization that sustain social creativity, emphasizing the learning and knowing through action when social actors and technologies come together in ‘communities of practice’; everyday interactions of common purpose and mutual obligation. These communities are said to spark both incremental and radical innovation. This book examines the concept of communities of prac ... More
It has long been an interest of researchers in economics, sociology, organization studies, and economic geography to understand how firms innovate. Most recently, this interest has begun to examine the micro-processes of work and organization that sustain social creativity, emphasizing the learning and knowing through action when social actors and technologies come together in ‘communities of practice’; everyday interactions of common purpose and mutual obligation. These communities are said to spark both incremental and radical innovation. This book examines the concept of communities of practice and its applications in different spatial, organizational, and creative settings. Chapters examine the development of the concept, the link between situated practice and different types of creative outcome, the interface between spatial and relational proximity, and the organizational demands of learning and knowing through communities of practice. More widely, the chapters examine the compatibility between markets, knowledge capitalism, and community; seemingly in conflict with each other, but discursively not.
Keywords:
innovation,
micro-processes,
social creativity,
learning and knowing,
social actors,
common purpose,
mutual obligation,
situated practice,
relational proximity,
knowledge capitalism
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2008 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780199545490 |
| Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: January 2009 |
DOI:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199545490.001.0001 |
Authors
Affiliations are at time of print publication.
Ash Amin, editor
Professor of Geography and Executive Director of the Institute of Advanced Study, Durham University
Author Webpage
Joanne Roberts, editor
Senior Lecturer in Management, Newcastle University
Author Webpage
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