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MA/PhD Theses Abstracts of Current Students & Alumni |
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Michaels, William McCorrack, April 1990 - INNOVATION THEORY AND SOCIAL PLANNING: An Examination of U. G. Barnett's Theory of Innovation As Applied to the I-COPE Social Planning Project
Abstract: H.G. Barnett's theory of innovation is also a theory of cultural change. Originally published in 1953 under the title Innovation: The Basis of Cultural Change, Barnett's work was hailed at the time by Reed of Yale as "a book which must rank at once as both the most comprehensive study of a specific cultural process yet available, and the most important cultural work on cultural change in this generation "However with the exception of A F C Wallace's work on Culture and Personality (1961), Barnett's contribution to the study of innovation and culture change his been generally neglected. Barnett maintained that the reorganization or restructuring of configurations so as to effect a new, cohesive whole is basic to the process of innovation. He also elaborated on the sources of innovation, supra-cultural determinants of innovation, incentives to innovation, typical advocates of innovation, types of persons most (and least) likely to accept innovation, and special factors involved in acceptance of innovation. This dissertation is a reexamination of Barnett's theory in light of subsequent contributions to the study of the process of innovation including the psychological, anthropological, management, and public administration literature. As a result of this reexamination extensive support is found for Barnett's work The dissertation also interprets a case of social planning as a social innovation in light of Barnett's theory. Overall the theory is found to be a satisfactory tool for interpreting the development and implementation of this case. However, two major areas of difference are identified. Barnett's thesis that persons of prestige are usually opposed to innovation, rather than advocates of innovation, is not found to apply in this case. Whether persons with prestige will support or oppose innovation appears to depend on the stability of the culture under focus. In highly unstable cultures Barnett's position may hold true. But this was not found to be the case in the relatively stable complex culture examined. Also, Burnett's typology of persons most receptive to innovation did not apply, and a new type of "rational acceptor" is postulated. Types of persons most likely to accept innovation also may vary with the relative stability of the culture under examination.
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