Transformative Social Innovations and Multi-Level Sustainability Transitions. Making frames converge…
(2019) 7th EMES Conference — Location: Sheffield (26.June.2019)
Files
No attached file found for this publication.
Details
- Authors
- Abstract
- Our aim in this article is to bring transformative social innovation (TSI) as developed by the Centre de Recherche sur l’Innovation Sociale (CRISES) from Québec (1-2) into dialogue with Multi-Level Perspective (MLP) which is one of the main approaches within the field of transition studies (TS) (3-4-5-6). Both TSI and MLP focus on the dynamics of innovation in relation with broader societal change and sustainable development, but differ regarding their object, analytical and normative framework. The MLP's pioneering work focused on radical environmental innovation rather than on the dominant socio-technical paradigm (7-8-9). Socio-technical transitions are deep transformations that affect systems (i.e. the agri-food system) at different levels (niches, regimes and landscapes). These changes concern certainly technology but also science, markets, policy, culture, etc. (8). Notably, this approach has zoomed in on diverse actors (3-5-6), but the innovating potential of the third-sector remains understudied (3-4). For the early TSI literature, innovation mainly questions the societal paradigm. Research focused on grassroots social initiatives, reconfiguration of welfare states and new services organized within the third-sector on a territorial basis (10, 11) (i.e. care related services). Despite of these fundamental differences, both approaches share some theoretical affinities (such as the influence of evolutionary economics). Most importantly, we suggest that they are currently experiencing some sort of convergence. On one hand, recent developments within the CRISES framework tend to adopt generational lenses and point the emergence of a new generation of TSI articulated to the ecological crises and the transition movement. This new generation seems to affect the previous ones in an unprecedented way. On the other hand, recent developments in ST/MLP studies, are considering TSI as a key concept in order to understand sustainable transitions (idea of “transition through social innovation”). The article is essentially theoretical in nature. It is based on literature review, including pioneering and most recent work from both approaches. Main references (1) Lévesque, B., Fontan, J-M. et Klein, J-L. (2014). L’innovation sociale. Les marches d’une construction théorique et pratique, Québec, Presses de l’Université du Québec (Coll. Innovations sociales), 474 p. (2) Callorda Fossati, E., Degavre, F. et Lévesque B. (2018). « L’innovation sociale : retour sur les marches d’une construction théorique et pratique. Entretien avec Benoît Lévesque », Revue de la Régulation, No 23. (3) Köhler Jr, Geels F., Kern F., Onsongo E., Wieczorek A. (2019). Agenda for Sustainability Transitions Research, State of the art and future directions, STRN. (4) Smith, Adrian & Voß, Jan-Peter & Grin, John, 2010. "Innovation studies and sustainability transitions: The allure of the multi-level perspective and its challenges," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(4), pages 435-448, May. (5) Derk Loorbach, Niki Frantzeskaki, and Flor Avelino (2017), Sustainability Transitions Research: Transforming Science and Practice for Societal Change, Annual Review of Environment and Resources 2017 42:1, 599-626 (6) Avelino, F. et M. Wittmeyer, J. (2016). « Shiffing Power Relations in Sustainability Transitions: A Multi-actor Perspective », Journal of Environmental Policy and Planning, Vol 18 no 5, pp. 628-649. (7) Markard, J., Raven, R. and Truffer, B. (2012). « Sustainability Transitions: An Emerging Field of Research and Its Prospects.” Research Policy 41: 955–67. (8) Geels, F. W. (2011). « The multi-level perspective on sustainability transitions: Responses to seven criticisms », Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions, vol 1, n°1, pp. 24-40. (9) Audet, R. (2015). Le champ des sustainability transitions : origines, analyses et pratiques de recherche. Cahiers de recherche sociologique, (58), 73–93. https://doi.org/10.7202/1036207ar (10) De Schutter, O. et al (2016). « Construire la transition par l'innovation locale : le cas de la Vallée de la Drôme », LPTransition Working Paper 2016-1. (11) Lévesque B. & Petitclerc M. (2014) [2010], « L’économie sociale au Québec à travers les crises structurelles et les grandes transformations, 1850-2008 », in L’innovation sociale. Les marches d’une construction théorique et pratique, Lévesque, B., Fontan, J.-M. & Klein J.-L, Québec, Presses de l’Université du Québec, p. 191-214.
- Affiliations
Citations
Callorda Fossati, E., Degavre, F., & Lévesque Benoît. (2019). Transformative Social Innovations and Multi-Level Sustainability Transitions. Making frames converge…. 7th EMES Conference, Sheffield. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/270027