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Measure for Measure: Politics of Quantifying Individuals to Govern Them
Maß für Maß: Die Politik, Individuen zu quantifizieren, um sie zu regieren
[journal article]
Abstract This article compares a variety of modes of quantifying individuals to govern them. The analytical grid issues from a former research program on the Politics of Statistics that focused on one of these modes of governing by numbers, the statistical nation state, which is here included in an array of ... view more
This article compares a variety of modes of quantifying individuals to govern them. The analytical grid issues from a former research program on the Politics of Statistics that focused on one of these modes of governing by numbers, the statistical nation state, which is here included in an array of more recently developed governing numbers based on benchmarking, digital tracking, or self-quantifying. Three main operations differentiate modes of governing by numbers: measuring individuals for quantification, taking political measures accordingly to guide their behaviors, and an intermediate operation that is often less visible although situated between the two previous ones and needed to link them: evaluating the situation through a measured judgment that justifies the monitoring based on numbers. This analysis breaks down data into the sequential steps of the transformations chain of information formats needed to pass from an individual person to a governing figure. The plurality of modes of evaluation, and its reduction by quantification, is given high significance, as well as the way each mode of governing affects individuals, their identity and their possibility to critically reflect and question.... view less
Keywords
convention; quantification; measurement; steering; behavior control; evaluation; identity; individual
Classification
General Sociology, Basic Research, General Concepts and History of Sociology, Sociological Theories
Free Keywords
Convention theory; quantification studies; politics of statistics; pragmatic sociology; governing by numbers; quantified self
Document language
English
Publication Year
2019
Page/Pages
p. 44-76
Journal
Historical Social Research, 44 (2019) 2
ISSN
0172-6404
Status
Published Version; peer reviewed