Abstract
Designers lead practices to focus on complex social-technical systems, however, most of the time they forget that they should also be embedded in the social structure they intend to change. Recently, researchers have been giving increased attention to “reflexivity” in design, but there has been limited exploration of designers’ long-term engagement within the design object, particularly in community-based social innovation. We utilized the constructivist grounded theory to analyze the reflexive discourse of three practitioners, exploring their understanding of the social structure, their own identities, and the impact of reflexivity on their subsequent design actions. This study represents a preliminary inquiry into how practitioners continue to engage in reflexive thinking throughout the process of “embedded practice” in various communities, as they reflect on their identities and achievements, and take action in subsequent stages of the design process. The study revealed that reflexivity can emerge from conflictual interactions, and lead to a reconfiguration of understandings and practices, enabling practitioners to critically engage with their social realities and transform them. Through dialogue with others, practitioners gain a deeper understanding of collaborators around them and their “position” in the system, leading to a more authentic sense of empathy. Furthermore, reflexivity enables practitioners to redefine their “relational position”, attaining higher levels of permission and agency. However, reflexivity can also inhibit agency by creating a sense of contingent action within one’s habitus or frustration with one’s inability to effect change.
Keywords
reflexivity; social innovation; active design; community-based
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/iasdr.2023.352
Citation
Ji, D.,and Li, Z.(2023) Embedded actors in design objects: reflexivity in design for social innovation, in De Sainz Molestina, D., Galluzzo, L., Rizzo, F., Spallazzo, D. (eds.), IASDR 2023: Life-Changing Design, 9-13 October, Milan, Italy. https://doi.org/10.21606/iasdr.2023.352
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
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Included in
Embedded actors in design objects: reflexivity in design for social innovation
Designers lead practices to focus on complex social-technical systems, however, most of the time they forget that they should also be embedded in the social structure they intend to change. Recently, researchers have been giving increased attention to “reflexivity” in design, but there has been limited exploration of designers’ long-term engagement within the design object, particularly in community-based social innovation. We utilized the constructivist grounded theory to analyze the reflexive discourse of three practitioners, exploring their understanding of the social structure, their own identities, and the impact of reflexivity on their subsequent design actions. This study represents a preliminary inquiry into how practitioners continue to engage in reflexive thinking throughout the process of “embedded practice” in various communities, as they reflect on their identities and achievements, and take action in subsequent stages of the design process. The study revealed that reflexivity can emerge from conflictual interactions, and lead to a reconfiguration of understandings and practices, enabling practitioners to critically engage with their social realities and transform them. Through dialogue with others, practitioners gain a deeper understanding of collaborators around them and their “position” in the system, leading to a more authentic sense of empathy. Furthermore, reflexivity enables practitioners to redefine their “relational position”, attaining higher levels of permission and agency. However, reflexivity can also inhibit agency by creating a sense of contingent action within one’s habitus or frustration with one’s inability to effect change.