Constraints in Creativity

Constraints in Creativity
Author:
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 260
Release: 2024-08-15
Genre: Education
ISBN: 9004707239

All creative work operates under constraints. Yet, despite an overall increase in attention over the past decade, the matter of constraints has received much less attention than has creativity, in general. This book represents an effort by the editors to integrate diverse perspectives on constraints in creativity from 22 researchers, who aim to define constraints, uncover their structure, delineate the conditions under which they facilitate or inhibit creativity, and outline how an understanding of the role of constraints in creative thinking can inform our understanding of the nature of creativity itself. Constraints in Creativity provides educators, managers, creativity researchers, and anyone looking to improve their own creative skills with theoretical and practical insights into the role of constraints in the creative process. Contributors are: Don Ambrose, John Baer, Paul Joseph Barnett, Michael Mose Biskjaer, Nathalie Bonnardel, Anthony Chemero, Peter Dalsgaard, Vlad Glăveanu, Armand Hatchuel, James C. Kaufman, Agnès Lellouche-Gounon, Pascal Le Masson, Kelsey E. Medeiros, Roni Reiter-Palmon, Eric Rietzschel, Wendy Ross, Diana Rus, Dean Keith Simonton, Robert J. Sternberg, Patricia D. Stokes, Catrinel Tromp and Benoit Weil.

Contemporary Capitalism

Contemporary Capitalism
Author: J. Rogers Hollingsworth
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 516
Release: 1997
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9780521658065

This book argues that there is no single best institutional arrangement for organizing modern societies. Therefore, the market should not be considered the ideal and universal arrangement for coordinating economic activity. Instead, the editors argue, the economic institutions of capitalism exhibit a large variety of objectives and tools that complement each other and can not work in isolation. The various chapters of the book ask what logics and functions institutions follow and why they emerge, mature and persist in the forms they do.

Understanding Class

Understanding Class
Author: Erik Olin Wright
Publisher: Verso Books
Total Pages: 273
Release: 2015-09-29
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1781689210

Leading sociologist examines how different readings of class enrich our understanding of capitalism Few ideas are more contested today than “class.” Some have declared its death, while others insist on its centrality to contemporary capitalism. It is said its relevance is limited to explaining individuals’ economic conditions and opportunities, while at the same time argued that it is a structural feature of macro-power relations. In Understanding Class, leading left sociologist Erik Olin Wright interrogates the divergent meanings of this fundamental concept in order to develop a more integrated framework of class analysis. Beginning with the treatment of class in Marx and Weber, proceeding through the writings of Charles Tilly, Thomas Piketty, Guy Standing, and others, and finally examining how class struggle and class compromise play out in contemporary society, Understanding Class provides a compelling view of how to think about the complexity of class in the world today.

The Creative Programmer

The Creative Programmer
Author: Wouter Groeneveld
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 387
Release: 2023-07-11
Genre: Computers
ISBN: 1638351953

Programming is a creative act. These techniques will help you maximize the power of creativity to improve your software and your satisfaction in creating it. In The Creative Programmer you’ll discover: The seven dimensions of creativity in software engineering The scientific understanding of creativity and how it translates to programming Actionable advice and thinking exercises that will make you a better programmer Innovative communication skills for working more efficiently on a team Creative problem-solving techniques for tackling complex challenges In The Creative Programmer you’ll learn the processes and habits of highly creative individuals and discover how you can build creativity into your programming practice. This fascinating new book introduces the seven domains of creative problem solving and teaches practical techniques that apply those principles to software development. Hand-drawn illustrations, reflective thought experiments, and brain-tickling example problems help you get your creative juices flowing—you’ll even be able to track your progress against a scientifically validated Creative Programming Problem Solving Test. Before you know it, you’ll be thinking up new and novel ways to tackle the big challenges of your projects. Foreword by Dr. Felienne Hermans. About the Technology Like composing music, starting a business, or designing a marketing campaign, programming is a creative activity. And just like technical skills, creativity can be learned and improved with practice! This thought-provoking book details practical methods to turn creativity into more effective problem solving, higher productivity, and better software. About the Book The Creative Programmer explores seven dimensions of creativity in software engineering—technical knowledge, collaboration, constraints, critical thinking, curiosity, a creative state of mind, and creative techniques. As you read, you’ll apply insights about creativity from other disciplines to the challenges of software development. Numerous relevant examples and exercises drive each lesson home. You’ll especially enjoy the unique Creative Programming Problem Solving Test that helps you assess how creative you’ve been with a programming task. What’s Inside The scientific understanding of creativity and how it translates to programming Advice and exercises that will help you become a creative programmer Innovative communication skills for working more efficiently on a team Creative problem-solving techniques for tackling complex challenges About the Reader For programmers of all skill levels. About the Author Wouter Groeneveld is a software engineer and computer science education researcher at KU Leuven, where he researches the importance of creativity in software engineering. Table of Contents: 1 The creative road ahead 2 Technical knowledge 3 Communication 4 Constraints 5 Critical thinking 6 Curiosity 7 Creative state of mind 8 Creative techniques 9 Final thoughts on creativity

Theoretical Sociology

Theoretical Sociology
Author: Jonathan H. Turner
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Total Pages: 289
Release: 2013-07-11
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1483310825

What can sociological theory tell us about the basic forces that shape our world? With clarity and authority, Theoretical Sociology: A Concise Introduction to Twelve Sociological Theories, by leading theorist Jonathan H. Turner, seeks to answer this question through a brief, yet in-depth examination of twelve major sociological theories. Readers are given an opportunity to explore the foundational premise of each theory and key elements that make it distinctive. The book draws on biographical background, analysis of important works, historical influences, and other critical insights to help readers make the important connections between these monumental sociological theories and the social world in which we live. This concise resource is a perfect complement to any course that seeks to examine both classic and contemporary sociological theory.

Karl Polanyi and the Paradoxes of the Double Movement

Karl Polanyi and the Paradoxes of the Double Movement
Author: John Vail
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 327
Release: 2022-04-19
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1000569853

This book offers a critical reconstruction of the double movement, the central thesis of Karl Polanyi’s The Great Transformation, one of the most influential books of the 20th century. The double movement is the establishment of a free market economy and the subsequent effort by society to ameliorate the destructive effects of the market. In Polanyi’s bold vision, the double movement constituted the hidden gear of social change and historical transformation within capitalism. The book is a forensic examination and critique of Polanyi’s argument. It develops an interpretive framework of the double movement as four interrelated social processes: the establishment of the self-regulating market, the rise of a market society that deepens and extends market imperatives, a social protection phase that constrains the market and safeguards society, and the contradictions and crises that result from this clash of social principles. The book will be an indispensable guide for students and scholars across the social sciences which illuminates the relevance of Polanyi’s insights to a critical understanding of the contemporary era –the scourge of insecurity and inequality, the multiple crises of neoliberalism, the rise of right wing populism- as well as those interested in egalitarian and emancipatory alternatives to capitalism.

Contemporary Employers’ Organizations

Contemporary Employers’ Organizations
Author: Leon Gooberman
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 208
Release: 2022-05-08
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1000579387

This book argues that employers’ organizations are resilient organizations that adapt to changing circumstances by developing new practices. Adaptation has been prompted by changing economic and social contexts, including state interventions and union activities. Contexts vary over time, across countries and world regions. The purpose of the book is to explore these variations and their impacts on employer organization. The book covers the following themes across four book sections: theoretical perspectives on employer collective action; employers’ organizations in different types of capitalism; different types of employers’ organizations; and international and comparative employer interest representation. Theoretical explorations examining employer power, political preferences, meta-organizing, and ideological foundations are complemented by studies of employers’ organization in China, Denmark, Australia, Germany, Turkey, Canada, and the UK. Different types such as regional and international employers’ organizations are also examined. The book is one of the few edited volumes to examine employer collective action within work and employment, and is the first since 1984 to consider western and non-western contexts. The book will be of interest to employment relations and sociology of work researchers, scholars, advanced students, and practitioners as it brings new perspectives to an understudied actor in employment relations: employers’ organizations.

The Assault on International Law

The Assault on International Law
Author: Jens David Ohlin
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Total Pages: 305
Release: 2015
Genre: Law
ISBN: 0199987408

Why comply with international law when there is no world government to enforce it? Jens David Ohlin provides an alternate vision of international law based on a truly innovative theory of human rationality. Rationality requires that agents follow through on their plans even when faced with opportunities for defection.

Practical Aspects of Declarative Languages

Practical Aspects of Declarative Languages
Author: Claudio Russo
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 314
Release: 2012-02-02
Genre: Computers
ISBN: 3642276946

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 14th International Symposium on Practical Aspects of Declarative Languages, PADL 2012, held in Philadelphia, PA, USA, in January 2012, co-located with POPL 2012, the 39th Symposium on Principles of Programming Languages. The 38 revised technical papers presented together with 3 application papers were carefully reviewed and selected from 52 submissions. The volume features original work emphasizing new ideas and approaches pertaining to applications and implementation techniques of declarative languages and addresses topics such as innovative applications of declarative languages, declarative domain-specific languages and applications, practical applications of theoretical results, new language developments and their impact on applications, evaluation of implementation techniques on practical applications, novel implementation techniques relevant to applications, novel uses of declarative languages in the classroom, and practical experiences.

Reskilling America

Reskilling America
Author: Katherine S. Newman
Publisher: Macmillan
Total Pages: 273
Release: 2016-04-19
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1627793283

From Katherine Newman, award-winning author of No Shame in My Game, and sociologist Hella Winston, a sharp and irrefutable call to reenergize this nation's long-neglected system of vocational training After decades of off-shoring and downsizing that have left blue collar workers obsolete and stranded, the United States is now on the verge of an industrial renaissance. But we don't have a skilled enough labor pool to fill the positions that will be created, which are in many cases technically demanding and require specialized skills. A decades-long series of idealistic educational policies with the expressed goal of getting every student to go to college has left a generation of potential workers out of the system. Touted as a progressive, egalitarian institution providing opportunity even to those with the greatest need, the American secondary school system has in fact deepened existing inequalities. We can do better, argue acclaimed sociologists Katherine Newman and Hella Winston. Taking a page from the successful experience of countries like Germany and Austria, where youth unemployment is a mere 7%, they call for a radical reevaluation of the idea of vocational training, long discredited as an instrument of tracking. The United States can prepare a new, high-performance labor force if we revamp our school system to value industry apprenticeship and rigorous technical education. By doing so, we will not only be able to meet the growing demand for skilled employees in dozens of sectors where employers decry the absence of well trained workers -- we will make the American Dream accessible to all.