Edited by Ash Amin, Durham University and Joanne Roberts, Newcastle University
Oxford University Press, 2008
emerging out of RAL1.2

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It has long been an interest of researchers in economics, sociology, organization studies, and economic geography to understand how firms innovate. Most recently, this interest has begun to examine the micro-processes of work and organization that sustain social creativity, emphasising the learning and knowing through action when social actors and technologies come together in 'communi ties of practice'; everyday interactions of common purpose and mutual obligation. These communities are said to spark both incremental and radical innovation.

In the book, leading international scholars critically examine the concept of communities of practice and its applications in different spatial, organizational, and creative settings. Chapters examine the iterations of the concept, the link between situated practice and different types of creative outcome, the interface between spatial and relational proximity, and the organizational demands of learn ing and knowing through communities of practice. More widely, the chapters examine the compatibility between markets, knowl edge capitalism, and community; seemingly in conflict with each other, but discursively not. Exploring the frontiers of current understanding of situated knowing and learning, this book is for all those interested in the economic sociology of organizational cre ativity and knowledge capitalism in general.

Key features:

• At the frontier of thinking on community, situated practice, and organisational creativity
• Explores the interface between community and contemporary capitalism
• Contributions from leading international scholars from a range of disciplines
• Reflections from pioneers of thinking on ‘communities of practice’, Jean Lave and Paul Duguid.