3: Social innovations for a better world? A critical look at their ambivalences and side effects (Rick Hölsgens, Flor Avelino, Jakob Edler, Jürgen Howaldt, Karina Maldonado-Mariscal, Bonno Pel, Doris Schartinger, Klaus Schuch, Julia Wittmayer)
Social innovations are oftentimes directly linked with high expectations to contribute to a better world. “Social innovation relates to new responses to pressing social demands by means which affect the process of social interactions. It is aimed at improving well being” (BEPA, 2011, p. 7). The sub-title of the first Atlas of social innovation stresses the positive expectations of social innovation as new practices for a better future (Howaldt et al., 2018). Examples of inclusive, just and/or sustainable socially innovative initiatives also abound and political expectations for social innovations to help alleviate pressing challenges are high. At the same time, it is increasingly recognized that social innovation is not a panacea and “whether specific social innovations are considered positive or negative is (…) a matter of valuation” and perspective (Schubert, 2019, p. 44). In the growing academic debate, a social-theoretically based understanding of social innovations is increasingly gaining ground, which takes the ambivalences and critical consequences into account (Howaldt & Kaletka, 2023). Within this track, we call for paper presentations (full papers, early-stage research papers or speedtalks) to open a constructive dialogue on the normativity and directionality of social innovation, with a critical perspective that is also open to exploring the dark sides of social innovation (policy) (Pel et al., 2023; Segnestam Larsson & Brandsen, 2016). We call for contributions addressing questions on the ambivalence and unintended consequences of social innovation. By critically engaging with the concept of social innovation, its potentials, and limitations, we aim to open the debate on social innovation’s potential for a better world. We welcome empirical and theoretical contributions on the following topics:
- empirical contributions critically studying the potentials and limitation of social innovation (policy)
- studies on the measurement of impacts of social innovations and social innovation policies
- reflections on diffusion dynamics of social innovations and the effect of social innovation policies
- reflections on the normativity of social innovation (policy)
- studies on the dark sides, or potential undesired or unexpected impacts of social innovation policy
- contributions on the future directions of social innovation (policy)
Keywords: social innovation, ambivalence, directionality, dark sides, diffusion