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To identify the main drivers of transformation, it is helpful to identify the transformation perspectives of three specific schools of thought: idealist, institutional, and technological innovation. By differentiating among these schools of thought, a more informed transformation debate becomes possible, thereby increasing transformative literacy in academia and society.
"Transformative science" is a concept that delineates the new role of science for knowledge societies in the age of reflexive modernity. The paper develops the program of a transformative science, which goes beyond observing and analyzing societal transformations, but rather takes an active role in initiating and catalyzing change processes. The aim of transformative science is to achieve a deeper understanding of ongoing transformations and increased societal capacity for reflexivity with regard to these fundamental change processes. The concept of transformative science is grounded in an experimental paradigm, which has implications for (1) research, (2) education and learning, and (3) institutional structures and change in the science system. The article develops the theoretical foundations of the concept of transformative science and spells out the concrete implications in these three dimensions.
Enabling the great transformation : transdisciplinarity as individual and institutional challenge
(2014)
Realizing a sustainable future in the Anthropocene requires a "great transformation." The massive technological, economic, social, and cultural change this implies is based on new forms of literacy and knowledge integration. It depends on a highly transdisciplinary "transformative science," i.e., scientific knowledge production that not only focuses on "system knowledge" but also on "target" and on "transformation" knowledge, and thus integrates different disciplines and practical expertise. The existing science system is actually not fulfilling this new social contract between science and society. Frontrunner institutions like the IASS and "transdisciplinary personalities" like Klaus Töpfer are important change agents to bring forward the transformative mission of a future Earth science.