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The earliest critical context of the pandemic, preceding the first real epidemiological wave of contagion in Bulgaria, was examined using a socio-affective perspective. A retrospective and agnostic analytical approach was adopted. Our goal was to identify traits and trends that explain public health support (PHS) of Bulgarians during the first two months of the declared state of emergency. We investigated a set of variables with a unified method within an international scientific network named the International Collaboration on Social & Moral Psychology of COVID-19 (ICSMP) in April and May 2020. A total of 733 Bulgarians participated in the study (67.3% females), with an average age of 31.8 years (SD = 11.66). Conspiracy Theories Beliefs were a significant predictor of lower PHS. Psychological Well-Being was significantly associated with Physical Contact and Anti-Corona Policy Support. Physical Contact was significantly predicted by fewer Conspiracy Theories Beliefs, higher Collective Narcissism, Open-mindedness, higher Trait Self-Control, Moral Identity, Risk Perception and Psychological Well-Being. Physical Hygiene compliance was predicted by fewer Conspiracy Theories Beliefs, Collective Narcissism, Morality-as-Cooperation, Moral Identity and Psychological Well-Being. The results revealed two polar trends of support and non-support of public health policies. The contribution of this study is in providing evidence for the affective polarization and phenomenology of (non)precarity during the outbreak of the pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We develop the ontology of “process complexity” and describe how the dynamics of “becoming” can be framed as the emerging, stabilising, and ultimate dissolving of “patterns of relationships.” By extending traditional complexity thinking through introducing a “field theory” view, we develop a more nuanced and inclusive perspective of the processual complex world. We show how this leads to the idea of ontological uncertainty. We demonstrate how process complexity resonates with the ontologies of many different schools of thought including quantum gravity, the process philosophers of the Axial Age, and the early modern process philosophers impacted by Darwin’s theory of evolution, such as Bergson, Whitehead, and James. The remarkable alignment of these diverse perspectives from science and philosophy adds conviction and depth to the development of process complexity. We conclude by indicating how process complexity influences our approach to policy and management practice.

The earliest critical context of the pandemic, preceding the first real epidemiological wave of contagion in Bulgaria, was examined using a socio-affective perspective. A retrospective and agnostic analytical approach was adopted. Our goal was to identify traits and trends that explain public health support (PHS) of Bulgarians during the first two months of the declared state of emergency. We investigated a set of variables with a unified method within an international scientific network named the International Collaboration on Social & Moral Psychology of COVID-19 (ICSMP) in April and May 2020. A total of 733 Bulgarians participated in the study (67.3% females), with an average age of 31.8 years (SD = 11.66). Conspiracy Theories Beliefs were a significant predictor of lower PHS. Psychological Well-Being was significantly associated with Physical Contact and Anti-Corona Policy Support. Physical Contact was significantly predicted by fewer Conspiracy Theories Beliefs, higher Collective Narcissism, Open-mindedness, higher Trait Self-Control, Moral Identity, Risk Perception and Psychological Well-Being. Physical Hygiene compliance was predicted by fewer Conspiracy Theories Beliefs, Collective Narcissism, Morality-as-Cooperation, Moral Identity and Psychological Well-Being. The results revealed two polar trends of support and non-support of public health policies. The contribution of this study is in providing evidence for the affective polarization and phenomenology of (non)precarity during the outbreak of the pandemic.

In many domains, including geography, there can be the implicit assumption that improved data analysis and statistical modelling must lead to improved policymaking, and its perceived failure to do so can be disconcerting. Yet, this assumption overlooks the fundamental distinction between epistemological and ontological uncertainty, as discussed herein. Epistemological uncertainty describes the known and bounded inaccuracy of our knowledge about the world as now. Whereas ontological uncertainty describes the rendering completely obsolete of this present knowledge by surprises in the form of currently unknown future events, and by cascading changes to beliefs, attitudes and behaviours made by diverse actors in response to – and in anticipation of others' responses to – new developments. This paper does the following: (a) shows that because of ontological uncertainty, improved data analysis and statistical modelling can never lead straightforwardly to improved policymaking, no matter how well implemented; (b) outlines how probability-based tools offer little assistance with ontological uncertainty because they are based on present perceptions of future possibilities; (c) urges geographers to reconcile with ontological uncertainty as a source of potentially transformational change, rather than viewing it as a problem to be overcome or something to be defended against; and (d) reviews a range of new, non-probabilistic scenario tools that, when used in combination, can assist in harnessing ontological uncertainty for transformational purposes by surfacing what is to be gained and by whom from enabling, blocking or altering intended policy outcomes, and by searching for future possibilities unconstrained by the present. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine the prevalent issue of political, economic, social and cultural conditions of Indigenous groups in Western states as spatial constraints when they choose to stay put in their birthplace, even under conditions of environmental hazard. These constraints are imposed upon them by the government, the enveloping dominant culture and their own internal cultural codes and social structure. These issues are examined among two unrecognized Bedouin villages in Israel susceptible to industrial environmental hazards. The various spatial constraints are interpreted as spatial bars that become thicker under the environmental hazard. In conceptualizing this unique situation, we propose the concept of confining space that dwells within the wider conceptualizations of production of space and time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the operations meant to act on situations of ontological uncertainties for chemicals. Using examples related to substances developed as part of nanotechnology programs, it analyses technical and social instruments meant to define the existence of these substances, as « new » or « existing » chemicals. Carbon nanotubes developed by a French company offer an illustration of containment, while the legal disputes about nano silver in the U.S. display oppositions about whether or not these compounds are equivalent to colloïdal silver. The operations meant to deal with the ontological uncertainty of these substances define categories and craft political organizations. As such, they suggest developing an analytical approach able to jointly examine the ontologies of material objects and the forms of political ordering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Copyright of Ethos (00912131) is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of how descriptions of innovations can be formulated in order to reduce the potential for ontological uncertainty. Ontological uncertainty exists when individuals have perceptions about the future consequences of an innovation, which are based more on their diverse world views than on the innovation itself. Design/methodology/approach – The research comprised unstructured interviews and review of the literature relating to innovation hype, innovation reliability, innovation negative unintended consequences, and critical realism. Findings – Critical realist diagrams provide the basis for descriptions that can encompass an innovation's purpose; the functions and conditions which are necessary for its reliable operation; and also potential negative unintended consequences that might arise from the innovation. Practical implications – There can be much hype and little clarity surrounding an innovation. This can make it easier for different stakeholders to have different perceptions of the same innovation. By increasing the clarity of descriptions, there can be less uncertainty about the purpose, reliability, and consequences of an innovation. Originality/value – The originality of the paper is that provides example innovation descriptions which illustrate how hype can be decreased and clarity can be increased. The value of this paper is that supports reduction of ontological uncertainty in practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasingly, economists concur that innovation processes are far from equilibrium phenomena. Indeed, these processes are characterized by complex qualitative changes in the relations between producers, sellers and users, from which new products and new markets emerge. In order to understand such processes, many economists have begun to draw on ideas and methods from 'the sciences of complex systems' literature. In this paper, I examine in detail three concepts from this literature, and I show how, taken together, these concepts provide a foundation for a complexity theory of innovation. I briefly characterize these concepts as follows: (1) The 'more is different' principle. The need to reach new potential consumers in the face of increased production capacity induces qualitative changes in artifact functionality, agent interaction patterns, and the relations between production and consumption. (2) Exaptation. New patterns of interaction among agents around the use of new kinds of artifacts lead to the emergence of new functionality, which in turn induces new kinds of relationships among production, technology, and consumption. (3) Ontological uncertainty. New artifacts, new patterns of interaction around their production and use, and new attributions of functionality generate perpetual novelty in innovation contexts, which makes prediction impossible: not only because agents are unable to decide which among some set of well-defined consequences will happen as a result of actions they contemplate taking, but also because some of the very subjects, objects, and criteria of value with which these consequences of their possible actions would have to be expressed simply do not exist at the historical moment in which agents must act. The paper argues that a theory of innovation capable of providing deep insight into the way in which innovation processes unfold in historical time must begin by embedding these three concepts in its foundation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Security concerns are creeping into new aspects of everyday life in Indonesia, resulting in new organizational forms and ways of perceiving self and society. Stressing the cultural shaping of all security discourses, this article examines how members of the Balinese minority on the island Lombok have formed a Hindu-inspired civilian security force known as Dharma Wisesa. I argue that the appeal of this movement is located in its attempts to fuse domains of power that the modern state has prised apart. Having appropriated the magic of the state, the Dharma Wisesa movement also maintains relations with a 'spirit army' that provides supernatural support. Such practices draw into question the notion of secular modernity and suggest that authority is constituted by allying oneself with different forms of power, both visible and invisible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tracing the political history of the concept of 'security' through a variety of global, national and regional inflections, this article argues for the analytical usefulness of the concept of 'vernacular security'. Entailed by this concept is a proposal to treat 'security' as a socially situated and discursively defined practice open to comparison and politically contextualized explication, rather than merely an analytical category that needs refined definition and consistent use. While the ideas and politics of security associated with the rise of global governance are built on late-modern ideas about what it means to be safe, global governance is not seamless in its extension. The apparent universalism of the ontology and politics of global security therefore breaks down into a more complex pattern upon closer inspection. Based on material from Indonesia, the article suggests that the 'onto-politics' of security have global, national and local inflections, the interplay of which requires re-examination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the relationship between uncertainty and innovation. It distinguishes three kinds of uncertainty: truth uncertainty, semantic uncertainty, and ontological uncertainty, the latter of which is particularly important for innovation processes. The paper then develops some implications of ontological uncertainty for innovation processes at three levels of organization, by means of three theories: a narrative theory of action at the level of individual economic actors; the theory of generative relationships at the meso-level of agent interaction; and the theory of scaffolding structures at the macro-level of market systems. These theories are illustrated by means of examples drawn from a prospective study on the emergence of a new market system around a technology for distributed control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]