Abstract
Fascination with once thoroughly obscure practices of standardization has grown substantially over the last decade. Shifting dimensions of trade and commerce, innovations in communication technologies, and the political imperatives of audit culture have drawn our attention to the enormous infrastructural investments required to sustain these regimens. A few recent works have appeared tackling the definition of standards in general, complementing numerous case studies exploring the particular dimensions of standardization in various economic sectors, medical settings, or educational institutions.
The fine collection that Vaughn Higgins and Wendy Larner have compiled is a welcome contribution to the field. They advocate a post-realist approach: a theoretically provocative synthesis of Foucauldian studies of governmentality and actor network theory in the social studies of science. Postrealist in this sense entails two complementary features. The first is attention to technologies of governance, in which presumably neutral techniques for governing are understood to be constitutive of the political field. As Higgins and Larner point out, however, this approach often devolves into discussions of programmatic aspirations or ideological debates, neglecting the crucial issue of how in fact the plans and programs are implemented, and with what effect in everyday life. To rectify this problem, they turn to the analytic repertoire of actor network theory—the second feature of their postrealist approach—in which the processes and practices of standardization are foregrounded, and the material constraints and consequences are examined as carefully as the social actions involved. This is an important intervention in the governmentality literature, while also contributing to the recent debate on materialism among feminist science studies scholars. Throughout Calculating the Social, contributors adopt a postrealist perspective, giving the collection a rare coherence. This also makes it easier for those less schooled in the approach to appreciate its analytic strengths and range of application. The editors write both an introductory essay and a conclusion, which allows them to discuss the book’s themes in two different ways very effectively. The combination of general essays and case studies is balanced; studies situated in the global south are well represented. Some chapters carry more theoretical heft than others, as is to be expected. But all are well written and informative.
The specific topics of analysis are familiar: international conventions, calculative practices, information and communication technologies, and professional competencies. The editors identify three main themes in the collection: “the global and local politics of standardizing; technologies of governing and the standardizing of the social; and the contestation and adaptation of standardizing practices” (p. 8). The themes provide a convenient structure for grouping chapters into subsections, but they are not exclusive. As becomes clear in several essays, adopting standardization practices takes place locally, even though many of the accommodations and struggles surrounding the process may occur elsewhere. So too, technologies of governing arise out of long histories of political strife, a complexity masked by formal techniques built into machines which remain largely invisible. Testing protocols designed to evaluate individual performance become a means of creating new social communities. Standard protocols and calculative devices refuse to remain stable, shifting form or roaming into new territory, just as the boundary between public and private affairs (or scientific pursuits and business activities) disappears and then materializes unexpectedly. These insights are well illustrated in the collection. Calculating the Social is a valuable addition to the literature, useful for specialists and accessible for newcomers to the field.