The cultural swirl

Anthropological Perspectives on Innovation

Datos Bibliográficos

ID4263232
AutoresGisela Welz (Goethe University Frankfurt, autor de correspondencia)
Año2003
Volumen3
Número3
Páginas255-270
Fecha de publicación2003-07-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaGlobal Networks (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1470-2266 • E-ISSN: 1471-0374
EditorialWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/1471-0374.00061
OpenAlexW2087615258
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas18
Referencias citadas22

As the emergence of a globalized economy transforms the conditions under which economic performance and productivity growth occur, the ability to innovate has come to the fore as the key factor determining the competitive advantage of national economies, entire industries and individual firms alike. Linking the economic concern with the new products and services to more general questions of the social organization of culture, this essay sets out to explore the contribution of anthropology to an understanding of how innovation occurs. Against the backdrop of theories of cultural change and the identification of parameters that define innovative environments, anthropology enquires into how historical contingency and social agency make innovation possible. In-depth ethnographic studies emphasize that innovation is much less dependent on the creative individual than on the interaction within social milieux that create what anthropologist Ulf Hannerz calls a 'cultural swirl'. Such milieux appear to function best when they incorporate heterogeneous actors and are not closed systems but exposed to serendipitous encounters and exchanges with others actors and milieux

Contingency · Economic and Technological Innovation · Innovation and Knowledge Management · Innovation and Socioeconomic Development