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Valuation Studies and the Spectacle of Valuation
... Ce livre a pour autre particularité d'aborder l'évaluation dans son rapport avec la communication, l'information et les médias, resté en marge des recherches sur la formation des valeurs (Muniesa et Helgesson, 2013). Ce rapport tient néanmoins en réalité une place cruciale dans l'évaluation. ...
... Or en recourant naïvement aux index de la liberté d'information qui influencent fortement les politiques publiques, « celui qui plaide pour une critique du modèle néolibéral de l'information risque au bout du compte d'endosser ses schémas interprétatifs et ses principales valeurs en s'appuyant sur ses instruments de mesure ». Au sein même des programmes et contenus de l'espace médiatique, l'évaluation est construite en spectacle, en nouvelle, en événement selon différentes modalités (Muniesa & Helgesson, 2013 La formation de la valeur d'un candidat et la formation de la valeur des émissions relèvent de processus imbriqués: l'appréciation des candidats pré-sélectionnés par des jurys d'experts met en tension à la fois les qualités musicales et les qualités télévisuelles; le travail de réalisation de l'émission éduque le téléspectateur à l'évaluation; le montage des émissions suscite l'envie des téléspectateurs à participer à l'évaluation en votant. L'évaluation opère ici selon la modalité particulière d'une « évaluation ambiguë », ressource dramaturgique des émissions de talents shows. ...
... The practice of assessment is socially pervasive and constitutive (Bowker & Star, 2000): The fundamental importance of valuation and evaluation for sociality in general is an essential component of the constitution of social order (Krueger & Reinhart, 2017;Cefaï et al., 2015;Muniesa & Helgesson, 2013). The practice of evaluation in epistemic cultures (Knorr-Cetina, 2002) is closely linked to typologisations and categorisations (Lamont, 2012), in which technological artefacts, intended or unintended, also function as differentiating entities: 'In modern society, technology is a powerful code that shapes, celebrates and legitimises the patterns of interpretation and evaluation of modern man' (Hoerning, 1989: 100;own translation). ...
The chapter features the research project ‘Artificial Intelligence for Assessment’ (AI FORA). AI FORA’s results will be presented in two volumes where this is the first one on the project’s empirical research. After a general introduction to the project, its topic, and its approach, two material sections follow, because their topics are central for AI FORA’s work. Section “The Pervasive Practice of Assessment and AI” will discuss the pervasive practice of social assessment in our societies which is more and more delegated to AI. Section “The Role of Culture and Context” will present existing cultural comparison approaches and evaluate their capacity to address the role of culture and context for AI-based social assessment in social service provision. Finally, the chapter will introduce the contributions of this book: Each chapter describes a unique cultural representation of context-specific social assessment practices to use AI for public social service provision in different national welfare systems.
... Is the toolbox of valuation studies in need of renewal from that angle? The pages of the journal Valuation Studies have always remained open to this conversation, as made explicit in a number of past editorial notes (e.g., Muniesa and Helgesson 2013). Today, however, the impression is that the bulk of the discussion has been lacking work in this particular direction. ...
... Die genannte Preise haben gemein, dass die nominierten Romane zunächst zu einer Long-und später dann zu seiner Shortlist reduziert werden, bevor schließlich der "beste" Roman des jeweiligen Jahrgangs prämiert wird. In Anlehnung an Muniesa und Helgesson lässt sich dieses Format der literarischen Bewertung mit einigem Recht als "Bewertungsspektakel" (Muniesa und Helgesson 2013) charakterisieren, denn die stufenweise Auswahl des besten Romans wird von Buchkritiker*innen, Journalist*innen und Leser*innen aufmerksam beobachtet und kommentiert. Anschließend an eine kurze Beschreibung des Deutschen Buchpreises werde ich ausgewählte Befunde und Konzepte aus zwei soziologischen Forschungsperspektiven miteinander ins Gespräch bringen, von denen ich mir erhoffe, dass ihre Kombination die Analyse von Literaturpreisen voranbringen kann: Dies ist zum einen, eine a) kultursoziologische Perspektive, die Preise unter dem Gesichtspunkt der Konsekration diskutiert und zum anderen eine b) bewertungssoziologische Perspektive, die Preise mit anderen Bewertungsformaten (bspw. ...
Anlässlich der Verleihung des Deutschen Buchpreises 2020 an Anne Weber sprach Andreas Platthaus in der FAZ (12.10.2020) unterschiedliche Dinge an: Zunächst Corona, wie kann es anders sein, aber auch Ort und Ritual der Verleihung, die vergebenen Preisgelder, die verkaufssteigernde Wirkung für den prämierten Titel, die hohe Qualität der Titel auf der Shortlist und schließlich auch die Dankesrede von Anne Weber, die für „Annette, ein Heldinnenepos“ (2020) ausgezeichnet wurde. Die genannten Aspekte machen Literaturpreise im Allgemeinen und den Deutschen Buchpreis im Besonderen aus journalistischer Perspektive berichtenswert und finden sich regelmäßig in der Berichterstattung wieder. In manchen Jahren fällt der Nachrichtenwert noch höher aus, wenn beispielsweise die Dankesrede zur öffentlichen Kritik genutzt wird, wie dies ein Jahr zuvor geschah.
... In contrast, various formats of "valutainment" (Muniesa and Helgesson 2013) 13 derive their allure precisely from breaching common rules of tactfulness. ...
The focus on situated practices in current valuation studies becomes an obstacle when situations are too narrowly defined, when moments of valuation are treated as isolated events and especially when the interconnectedness of moments across situations and social fields is neglected. In order to overcome these limitations, we propose the concept of valuation constellations (Meier et al. 2016). Based on the literature on valuation the concept distinguishes positions and their relations, rules, and infrastructures. We present these three components of constellations and demonstrate the potential of the concept regarding three analytical puzzles of valuation analysis: historical change of valuation processes, the definition and solution of valuation problems, and the legitimacy of valuations. Each of the puzzles is illustrated with an empirical case, i.e. dating platforms and apps, higher education, and amateur reviewing. Going beyond situationalism, the valuation constellations perspective is key to understanding interconnected valuation processes.
... It is also delimited temporally: by duration of the test, or experiment, for example (Hutter and Stark 2015: 4). Muniesa and Helgesson (2013) argue that valuation sometimes involves "public witnessing" in which valuation is performed, watched, or put on display, thus drawing attention to the role that audiences may play. Authors' translation. ...
In this article, we study do-it-yourself (DIY) biology, by looking in particular at the different forms of valuation within the DIY biology movement. Building upon recent work in economic sociology and the study of valuation, we take as case studies different projects developed by DIY biologists. Our approach is attentive to the moments when these projects are valued, i.e. during competitions, investment pitches, and crowdfunding campaigns. The projects analyzed involve both market valuations (with investments, products and potential markets) and non-market valuations (be they social, ethical or cultural). Our key argument is that value is produced through distributed and heterogeneous processes: products, practices, principles and places are valued at the same time. We show that there is not only a valuation of technical and production aspects (well highlighted in the key literature on valuation), but also a valuation of social links and of specific forms of organization. Both are inseparable - it is neither the object nor the context in themselves that are valued, but the “good-within-the-context-of-its-making”: the production of vegan cheese or biological ink and the places and communities of DIY biology or future markets are valued. The valuation practices we examine aim at producing an interest in a threefold sense: a general interest (a public good), an interest for the public (its curiosity), and a monetary interest (by making people financially participate).
... The New Faces series of the JFL Festival utilizes a cultural form that is well-established in the cultural industries and performing arts: that of a public casting or audition where candidates perform short samples of their craft in front of judges and a live audience (cf. Muniesa and Helgesson 2013). By mobilizing this widely familiar cultural script, the annual selection process of the JFL Festival takes on a highly ritualized form: it is not only scripted (and thus predictable), but also takes place in front of an audience which according to sociological theories of ritual is crucial for the legitimacy of the outcome of a ritual (Collins 2004). ...
Preprints here: https://osf.io/preprints/socarxiv/9pu8d This paper presents a comparative analysis of career gatekeeping processes in two cultural fields. Drawing on data on appointment procedures in German academia and booking processes in North American stand-up comedy, we compare how gatekeepers in two widely different contexts evaluate and select candidates for established positions in their respective field and validate their decisions. Focusing on three types of gatekeeping practices that have been documented in prior research—typecasting, comparison, and legitimization—our analysis reveals major differences in how gatekeepers perform these practices across our two cases: (1) typecasting based on ascriptive categories versus professional criteria, (2) comparisons that are ad-hoc and holistic versus systematic and guided by performance criteria, and (3) legitimation by means of ritualization versus transparency. We argue that these differences are related to the social and organizational context in which gatekeepers make selection decisions, including differences in the structure of academic and creative careers and the organization of the respective labor markets in which these careers unfold. These findings contribute to scholarship on gatekeeping in cultural fields by providing comparative insights into the work of career gatekeepers and the social organization of career gatekeeping processes.
... the Academy award ceremony in 2017 drew our attention to these questions. It has previously been noted how valuations sometimes are devoured as a public spectacle such as in televised shows like the Antiques Roadshow, American Idol and Dragons' Den (Muniesa and Helgesson 2013). More broadly, prizes and awards are regularly presented at ceremonies, prestigious appointments are made public through press releases and so on. ...
This research note proposes that it is instructive to ask what happens when evaluative practices go wrong. It shows how a close study of mistakes and mishaps in evaluation - both in the process of their disclosure and subsequent management - provides important insights into ways in which evaluation practices contribute to performing and sustaining the relations of accountability involved. The note examines two cases: 1) the mistaken award of the 2017 Oscar for Best Picture and 2) the incident in November 2016 when Thomson Reuters notified a large number of scholars that they had been awarded the distinction of being a 'Highly Cited Researcher' in their field, only a few hours later to retract these awards. Studying such instances provides insights into what is at stake for participants, the choreography of performing and revealing evaluations, the ways in which different evaluation practices fold together, and the accountability structures which support valuation practices.
... Helgesson 2013). Like the audience of The Price is Right watching contestants guess the price of refrigerators, I like watching editors scrutinize the texts they encounter. ...
This research note uses interviews and observations of anthology editors to explore how valuation practices shift depending on the stage of anthology construction. In the textual environment described here, editors tended to value texts related to their own lives during the early stages of construction. Later on in the process, editors sought texts related to the texts they had already gathered. In this later stage, editors performed “constant comparison,” scanning texts for concepts related to concepts identified in previously acquired texts. The research note also describes the complex relationship between editors’ valuation and writers’ production. Valuation trends became known to writers, who then shifted their production practices, which became known to editors, who then shifted their editorial practices, which became known to writers, and so on. The note concludes with speculative commentary on implications for other fields such as art collecting.
... There has in recent years been a surge of workshops, conference sessions and tracks, special issues, books and calls for papers in which the study of valuation as a social practice operates as duct-tape, leitmotiv, or key driver (for examples of this surge, see Jürgenmeyer and Krenn 2016;Otto and Dalsgaard 2016). This is not the moment and place to submit this intriguing academic reality to anthropological or sociological scrutiny (see Muniesa and Helgesson 2013;Doganova et al. 2014;Boltanski and Esquerre 2015). Yet, the sessions in Copenhagen produced interesting ideas on how an attempt at specifying an angle on valuation in the terms of 'the politics of' valuation also would attend to the reflexive sides of such a process of examination. ...
... A number of studies have analyzed the effect that awards have on the success of products in markets, especially in the film market (Nelson, Donihue, Waldman, & Wheaton, 2001;Ponzo & Scoppa, 2015;Zhuang, Babin, Xiao, & Paun, 2013). And there is a gradual development of the role of awards in a broader economics of attention (Dekker & Popik, 2014;English, 2005;Frey & Gallus, 2015;Ginsburgh & Weyers, 2014;Muniesa & Helgesson, 2013). What unites these studies is the emphasis on interrelations between commercial success, cultural or expert validation, valorization, and ultimately consecration. ...
... )。その一方で、近年ヨーロッパを中心に、市場におけるモノ やサービスの価値評価を、計量的な手法に加え、実践的な経験に基づく知識により、多面 的に捉えようとする試み (pragmatic valuation) が大きく発展しつつある (Beckert & Aspers, 2011;Kornberger, Justesen, Madsen, & Mouritsen, 2015)。その根底にはプラグマティズム哲学 (Dewey, 1939) があり、市場と価値の研究 (markets and valuation studies) として発展を続け ている (Callon, 1998;Muniesa, 2011;Muniesa & Helgesson, 2011)。 また、この「プラグマティックな価値評価」には、様々な「評価の装置」 (valuation devices) (Callon, Mllo, & Muniesa, 2007) が実証研究から提案されており、売手や買手などの行為者 2016, Vol. 5, No. 2, pp. 41-48. ...
What is “good” sound to listen to music? How does the market work? This paper investigates market mechanisms of Japan’s high-end audio industry as linked to the global markets, from the point of view of pragmatic valuation as tasting of hardware products. It aims to test its validity and potential with relevance to the network analysis. The industry is a “creative industry” where art, technology and culture intersect to produce “good” quality sound for serious audiophiles who buy luxurious high-end equipments to enjoy listening to the aesthetic music. The serial work by Hennion on taste discusses attachments as a moment of sensations as to become music lovers or alcoholics. By contrast, applying network analysis of relevant social networks and fieldwork interviews of audiophiles in Denmark, France, Germany, Japan, Sweden, UK, and US markets, this research study focused on the hardware, which mediates the art of music and human minds as agents, the point largely ignored by the existing literature. As a result, the study found that the concept of “high fidelity” is the foundational notion of “good” sound as a shared benchmark among the stakeholders. However the complexity of valuation of sound as combination of art, culture and technology generates ambiguity or ambivalence regarding the definition. The fact requires a multi-dimensional approach to the tasting or evaluation with a rich and sophisticated repertoire of pragmatic knowledge from seasoned experience, highly subjective judgements as well as objective metric tests from engineering and technology. This ambivalence of high-fidelity is the engines that drives the market by creating the dynamic market valorization mechanisms where intermediaries coordinate stakeholders to stabilize value of the products through collaboration, confirmation, information sharing, legitimation, and updating or upscaling as agencement. This approach thus can elaborate on the coordination processes as well as the competitive dynamics of social networks in the marketplace beyond the relational structure.
... A number of studies have analyzed the effect that awards have on the success of products in markets, especially in the film market (Nelson, Donihue, Waldman, & Wheaton, 2001;Ponzo & Scoppa, 2015;Zhuang, Babin, Xiao, & Paun, 2013). And there is a gradual development of the role of awards in a broader economics of attention (Dekker & Popik, 2014;English, 2005;Frey & Gallus, 2015;Ginsburgh & Weyers, 2014;Muniesa & Helgesson, 2013). What unites these studies is the emphasis on interrelations between commercial success, cultural or expert validation, valorization, and ultimately consecration. ...
This article analyzes the role of awards as quality signals in the book industry. Drawing on a novel dataset of book awards, it examines the level of consensus between expert juries (as measured by awards and nominations), active consumption (as measured by consumer ratings), passive consumption (as measured by sales), and long-term consecration (as measured by inclusion in anthologies or prestigious lists) in the book industry of the United States, France, and the Netherlands or Flanders. It finds that there is virtually no overlap in the books that receive recognition by different expert juries, in stark contrast to similar research in the movie industry. Only in the United States we find some evidence of a consensus between expert book juries, active and passive consumption, and long-term consecration. From this comparison, we draw theoretical implications, drawing on the theory of economic coordination regimes by Karpik, about the different meaning of awards as signals of quality. In particular, we argue that when authenticity is important, we should not expect quality signals to converge, but when authenticity is less important, quality signals should be expected to converge more.
... There might be specific strategies for cooling out aspirants so that they maintain their identity and for destroying aspirants and their claimed identity after an assessment (Ball 1976: 727). In contrast to the aspiring writers' rejections, which are concealed, the program has created entertainment value from public evaluations and valuations (see also Muniesa and Helgesson 2013). Audiences are entertained by both failure and success, and the participants themselves might be mortified or in a state of celebration. ...
Included in the definition of being an aspiring person is the risk of failure. Aspiring fiction writers are no exception. This article shows that the role of aspiring fiction writer involves managing three issues: the hope of being published, rejection by a publisher, and the perception of the rejection as a failure. Drawing on 47 interviews with fiction writers who have attempted to become first-time writers, the analysis shows that aspiring writers’ responses to rejection are related to accepting and dismissing responsibility for having failed and admitting or dismissing the rejection as a perceived failure. Based on these findings, the article presents procedures associated with four main approaches to dealing with failure: conceding, excusing, justifying, and refusing. This conceptual framework for understanding failure contributes to a theoretical understanding of evaluation and valuation processes and their consequences and to empirical studies of rejection as career failure; it also systematizes and extends Goffmans work on cooling out strategies.
... It seems as though looking at the construction of facts and artefacts does not satisfy the thirst to understand the politics of techno-science. 16 We want to thank Jonas Bååth for bringing to our attention how widespread the performance of valuation has become in popular culture, as seen in shows such as Hell's Kitchen or American Idol; (on valuation as a voyeuristic spectacle, see Muniesa and Helgesson 2013). 17 This uneasiness with Marxist social analysis corresponds to uneasiness with approaches attempting to grapple with biocapital in the contemporary life sciences (Helmreich 2008). ...
Many profound concerns in the life sciences are linked with the enactment, ordering, and displacement of a broad range of values. This chapter proposes a number of analytical and methodological means to deal with these concerns. The chapter proposes the word valuography to indicate a programme of empirically oriented research into the enacting, ordering, and displacing of values. The valuographic research programme embraces the idea that values do not exist as transcendental entities, impinging themselves upon our actions. Drawing on the chapters of this volume, this chapter outlines a number of approaches for examining values as precarious outcomes of practices. It also grapples with three main areas of concern: these relate to how stakes are made; the intertwining of values and the epistemic; and the relationships between economic and other values. The chapter states these are providing direction to the development of a critique of values, given the weakness that comes from a purely pragmatic stance.
... It seems as though looking at the construction of facts and artefacts does not satisfy the thirst to understand the politics of techno-science. 16 We want to thank Jonas Bååth for bringing to our attention how widespread the performance of valuation has become in popular culture, as seen in shows such as Hell's Kitchen or American Idol; (on valuation as a voyeuristic spectacle, see Muniesa and Helgesson 2013). 17 This uneasiness with Marxist social analysis corresponds to uneasiness with approaches attempting to grapple with biocapital in the contemporary life sciences (Helmreich 2008). ...
... Results have been published in a number of recent volumes (Beckert and Aspers 2011; Beckert and Musselin 2013). As more studies proliferate, a "sociology of valuation and evaluation" has been declared (Lamont 2012) and a journal has been launched (Muniesa and Helgesson 2013;Vatin 2013). ...
This article examines how Danish national test data visualizations enact the ‘good’ pupil performance. Theoretically, the article advances the idea of data visualizations as ‘aesthetic devices of valuation’, foregrounding visualizations as socio-technical and evaluative processes that can shape teachers’ attention and vision. This allows examining how the transformation from numbers into visual shapes renders different aspects of pupil performance visible and valuable through aesthetic tactics of bringing data into relation. Empirically, the paper examines national test visualizations from two different governmental periods, showing how they through different aesthetics mobilize, respectively, national benchmarking and individualized progression, reflecting changing governmental logics. Data visualizations thus entail an infrastructural politics of valuation and are not merely a neutral technical background for political and pedagogical battles over what counts as the ‘good’ performance. This has implications for how teachers can relate to pupils through data in an era where a visual culture of dashboards and data visualizations is becoming pervasive in educational landscapes.
Market studies is a newly emerging field dedicated to understanding the origins, core concepts, theories and methods currently being used and developed to examine markets in the making. Providing a unique overview that introduces, positions and develops this highly fertile area of research, Market Studies is the first book to consolidate its themes, tools and methods in a single, comprehensive volume. Topics covered include: market organization and design; performativity in and around markets; valuation; market places and spaces; methods that may be utilized in studying markets; the field's relation to adjacent disciplines; the future of markets. Deploying a sensitivity for the socio-material constitution of markets, the authors put market practices at the centre of inquiry and offer insights into the future and potential impact of market studies research. The contemporary, practical and interdisciplinary approach is strengthened by multiple examples of original empirical research into markets.
Market studies is a newly emerging field dedicated to understanding the origins, core concepts, theories and methods currently being used and developed to examine markets in the making. Providing a unique overview that introduces, positions and develops this highly fertile area of research, Market Studies is the first book to consolidate its themes, tools and methods in a single, comprehensive volume. Topics covered include: market organization and design; performativity in and around markets; valuation; market places and spaces; methods that may be utilized in studying markets; the field's relation to adjacent disciplines; the future of markets. Deploying a sensitivity for the socio-material constitution of markets, the authors put market practices at the centre of inquiry and offer insights into the future and potential impact of market studies research. The contemporary, practical and interdisciplinary approach is strengthened by multiple examples of original empirical research into markets.
Antiques Roadshow Events are held in historic locations across the United Kingdom. On site, experts evaluate objects brought in by attendees, who are often cast as passive recipients, while edited highlights make up the long‐running BBC TV program. Through Collaborative Event Ethnography at one Roadshow Event we show how object stories are navigated through “value talk” between attendees and experts in front of live audiences. Value is not a measurement but a dimension of the thing and its context. Stories and money are both integral in understanding worth, and final valuations are only partially shaped by given expertise.
About the book. Combining an economic perspective with sociological and historic insights, this book investigates the separation of 'popular' and 'serious' art over a period of almost two centuries. As the boundaries between our perceptions of established art and popular become more porous, Abbing considers questions such as: Who benefitted from the separation? Why is exclusivity in the established arts so important? Did exclusivity lead to high cost, high subsidies and high prices? Were and are underprivileged groups excluded from art consumption and production? How did popular music become so successful in the second half of the twentieth century? Why does the art profession remain extraordinarily attractive for youngsters in spite of low incomes? The book also discusses the evolution of art in the twenty-first century, considering for example how the platform economy affects the arts, whether or not the established arts are joining the entertainment industry, and the current level of diversity in art. Written from the dual perspective of the author as an artist and social scientist, the book will be of interest for cultural economists and academics as well as artists and general readers interested in art.
To better understand the arts in this century, I distinguish four art practice spheres. The most interesting one is that of bohemian practices where most artists are self-taught. They are good at combining art and business activities. In the other spheres, there usually is entrepreneurship education. Their goals differ. Digitisation in popular music brought along with it exciting artistic innovations. Some serious arts venues now feature innovations such as digital applications and immersive experiences. This century’s platform economy has already had a major impact on the arts and the distribution of artworks. It allows artists to highlight their work via social media platforms like Instagram. I pay attention here to superstar phenomena and look at the position of the large majority of popular musicians who offer their work in the very long tail of minor sales. The most exciting aspect is the increased blurring of boundaries and hybridisation. The boundary between serious and popular art has become very fuzzy indeed. As has the boundary between art and not art. Is a makeup artist a real artist? Most people no longer care. It is no accident that the term “culture” has increasingly replaced that of “art”.
In current discussions, human germline editing is often called ‘irresponsible’. Looking at the international summits on human gene editing held in 2015 and in 2018 and the announcement by He Jiankui of the birth of two gene-edited babies in November 2018, this article analyses how ‘irresponsible’ research was the result of various (dis)qualifications and demarcations. Against a background of discussions of responsibility, an individual scientist was singled out, his experiments were scrutinized for their soundness, legality and safety and ethical and moral stances were questioned. These are features of a process that I call ‘irresponsibilization’. This irresponsibilization of research is entangled with calls for further action: Irresponsible research like that of He Jiankui should be contained, the veracity of knowledge claims needs to be confirmed, and institutions and decision-makers are called to act. The controversy turned ‘irresponsible’ into an active category, and rendered explicit its political, institutional and practical ramifications.
Dans cette recherche exploratoire, nous analysons comment des ressources négativement perçues et délaissées par le marché peuvent progressivement prendre de la valeur pour les organisations. La cas étudié est celui d’une ressource humaine que la plupart des entreprises jugent négative en termes de performance et peu adaptée au mode du travail : l’autiste Asperger. Nous mobilisons le cadre des « valuation studies » pour comprendre comment, ces dernières années, des acteurs variés ont pu faire évoluer les pratiques d’évaluation des autistes Asperger sur le marché du travail et la perception de leur valeur en tant que ressource humaine.
Art represents one of the world’s most sacred cultural resources, with the total value of artworks currently in circulation worldwide estimated to exceed $1.5 trillion. Despite its undoubted historical and cultural significance, art, like other culture-based assets, has been frequently qualified as ‘difficult to value’. This study aims to understand the ways in which valuation work constructs artworks as being of value. Building upon research into categorisation and valuation work, we present our findings based on 41 interviews with agents specialised in art valuation (art dealers, art auctioneers, and art valuers) in the United States and Australia, combined with one year of participant observation at a major international art institution. We distinguish four categories of artworks according to their degree of cultural recognition: decorative art, emerging art, trending art, and blue-chip art. Depending on how an art production is categorised, we find that actors engage in three different modes of overlapping and mutually constitutive valuation work: interpreting, credentialing, and projecting value. This categorisation of cultural significance makes the valuation of artworks both hierarchical and performative.
Aquest article es proposa reflexionar sobre les dinàmiques contemporànies dels mercats financers a la llum dels conceptes de públic i de multitud, desenvolupats pel sociòleg Gabriel Tarde a finals del segle XIX, per a mostrar dues modalitats diferencials d’estructuració del llaç social entre els individus. Considerem que aquests conceptes ens permeten: a) posar èmfasi en la dimensió comunicacional que els mercats financers adquireixen en l’actualitat en col·locar al centre de l’activitat especulativa la circulació de «corrents d’opinió» per a la producció i l’assignació de valor als fluxos de monedes o altres instruments financers; i al mateix temps b) hipotetitzar que els mercats financers articulen la lògica dels «públics» (una forma de llaç microfísic d’abast global i a distància, teixit entorn de la propagació de corrents d’opinió que vinculen agents experts i ordinaris al voltant de la vida financera) i de les «multituds» (la intensificació vertiginosa, en moments sociotemporalment determinats, de les e-avaluacions per mitjà dels vincles comunitaris existents entre els agents professionals, que poden esdevenir-se en la producció de crisi).
El recorregut del text parteix de la revisió de les teories existents en el camp de la sociologia dels mercats, per a després indagar sobre les aportacions que les nocions de públic i de multitud fan sobre la comprensió específica de les dinàmiques financeres, i per tant de la sociologia de les finances.
Dans une société où l’économie des services est en croissance, le design de services innovants revêt une importance cruciale. Mais comment la valeur de ces services est-elle conçue ?
La thèse interroge la manière dont s’élabore la valeur immatérielle et expérientielle des services innovants et plus particulièrement le rôle des représentations visuelles pour rendre présent un service qui n’existe pas encore. Elle vise pour cela à répondre à deux questions de recherche : Quelles sont les différentes épreuves de valuation qui structurent le processus de conception de services ?
Quels sont les rôles des représentations, en tant que valuation devices, dans ces épreuves ? Le travail repose sur l’étude de deux cas complémentaires de design de service : un terrain pédagogique et un terrain industriel. Adoptant une approche en termes de valuation, nous considérons le processus de conception de services comme un processus collectif où se jouent des conflits, des dynamiques d’intéressement et des compromis sur la valeur du service futur, que nous proposons de modéliser. Notre modèle montre que la valeur des services s’élabore au cours d’un processus de valuation collective qui s’explicite et se résout dans des épreuves de valuation caractérisées par quatre éléments : les objets et les registres des valuations, les acteurs en interaction et les opérations de valuation effectuées. Nous montrons comment, dans ces épreuves, les représentations viennent supporter, stimuler et, parfois, entraver le travail collectif sur la valeur effectué par les acteurs. Nous soulignons à quel point leurs caractéristiques matérielles ont des effets sur les épreuves de valuation (notamment en termes de types, de finition, de vraisemblance et d’équipement). Ces différentes observations nous conduisent à proposer deux régimes de travail collectif sur la valeur : un régime de convergence caractérisé par l’alignement des valuations des acteurs où les représentations constituent des catalyseurs de valeur ; un régime de démonstration, marqué par l’enrôlement de nouveaux acteurs où les représentations constituent des démonstrateurs de valeur. Nos résultats permettent de modéliser le travail sur la valeur en montrant que c’est par et dans ces épreuves, autour et dans les représentations visuelles que s’élaborent et s’éprouvent à la vois la valeur multiple, immatérielle et expérientielle du service futur et le réseau d’acteurs qui le portent. Ce modèle vient enrichir le champ du design de services et du rôle des représentations dans la conception. Il souligne en outre le rôle critique et stratégique des représentations dans la création de valeur des services et fournit des clés de compréhension et de pratiques aux designers et managers de l’innovation de services.
Cet article étudie le rôle de l'espace dans la performativité des marchés. Fondé sur une analyse qualitative d'observations, d'entretiens, d'objets et d'articles de presse, il décrit le rôle d'un salon, l'Ethical Fashion Show, dans la transformation du marché de la mode éthique. Le salon se révèle être un espace fractionné qui organise trois types d'activité. Valoriser : il est une hétérotopie marchande où se calcule la valeur des biens à échanger. Catégoriser : il est un miroir où les participants se mirent dans le reflet du marché. Mettre en scène : il est un théâtre où se joue la représentation idéalisée de la mode éthique. L'article vise deux contributions. Il formalise la notion de performativité spatiale et en décompose le processus : i) des entités sont déplacées dans un espace de calcul, ii) où elles sont combinées et iii) fixées dans un agencement. Il analyse la performativité spatiale des activités de valorisation, de catégorisation et de mise en scène du marché. Mots clefs Performativité, espace, dispositif de marché, mode éthique, salon.
This article investigates the role of viewers' personality traits, sensation-seeking, and voyeurism in relation to reported consumption of voyeuristic program content in various television genres. A uses and gratifications approach was employed to identify factors predicting appeal of particular TV programs. The study combines two types of media research: survey and content analysis. Results were combined to create the Voyeurism Television Consumption Index (VTCI) for each genre of TV programming. Both sensation-seeking and voyeurism predict media selection, with voyeuristic personality a better predictor of VTCI across genres. Implications of the findings are discussed.
Rural American estate auctions represent a compelling interplay of market capitalism and local ceremonies of entrepreneurship. Auctions operate to move used goods, converting them into commodities. Yet they also “move” people, emotionally and dramaturgically, via socially constructed ceremonies in which knowledgeable specialists transform commodities into valuables and, in turn, invest the circulation of these valuables with profound personal, historical, and geographical meanings. The public, collective witnessing of this circulation lies at the heart of auction ethos, exemplifying the creative and symbolically charged nature of a ubiquitous facet of American consumer culture. These issues are addressed with case materials from recent active participation ethnographic research on the auction and antiques trade in upstate New York.
This article traces the history of the term "voyeurism" from its psychoanalytic origins in the 1950s to contemporary uses in popular culture and post-Freudian, biological psychiatry. It begins with an overview of the psychoanalytic foundations of the term, paying particular attention to the ways Freudian theory helped shape clinical definitions of voyeurism in American psychiatry in the mid-twentieth century. Subsequently, it follows popular and psychiatric concepts of voyeurism through the 1970s and 1980s, leading to current TV programmes and internet sites, and definitions of voyeurism in present-day academic psychiatry. Reading against the assumption, common in social science literature, that there are distinct forms of 'pathological' and 'normal' voyeurism, I argue that medical and popular notions of voyeurism developed in relation to one another in ways that help explain their configuration in the present day. Such overlap is evident in many contemporary uses of 'voyeurism' in popular culture, as well as in the (relatively few) psychiatric research articles still concerned with 'voyeurism' as a mental illness. I conclude by arguing for a rethinking of the boundaries of voyeurism, and a rethinking of voyeurism itself, based on consideration of the ways voyeurism is a relational concept forged between medical and popular sensibilities.
Eighteenth-Century Studies 31.1 (1997) 1-25
An art dealer in New York once asked me, "Why do you suppose two of the oldest and canniest auction houses sprang up in England in the eighteenth century?" This essay is the first part towards a study of the rhetorical strategies and cultural implications of the English auction, which became enormously popular in the eighteenth century, drawing men and women from a wide social spectrum into the participatory spectacle of competitive bidding for various kinds of property. By 1784, when the most renowned auctioneer James Christie (gentleman) sold the library of the most renowned literary figure Samuel Johnson (deceased), Christie had professionalized oral and textual strategies that on the one hand would suggest the power of the auctioneer to dismantle a particular emblem of a social order (a collection, a house, a trade, an estate) and that at the same time would invite the viewer, the bidder, the buyer -- who may or may not be in the same social class as the previous owner -- to reconstruct its possibilities. This essay will focus on three aspects of the auction: on Christie as an emblem of self-made gentility; on the narrative trajectories of his delivery and catalogs as invitations to imagining social change; and, more speculatively, on the role of the witnessing/participating audience in enabling such change.
The image that the term auction now conjures for most English-speaking readers presumably is the ascending-bid, going-going-gone method that is actually called the "English style auction." But this method is neither the only nor the most efficient form of auction. The economic historian Ralph Cassady gives a summary of Dutch descending-bid and Japanese simultaneous-bid schemes, suggesting historical, environmental, and implicitly cultural reasons for various auctioneering practices. Earlier auction methods in England included silent paper-bids, the candle method, and other more individually centered patterns (including a descending-price method called "mineing" that closed when a bidder shouted "Mine!"). Many options existed; yet the version that quickly and firmly dominated the English auction scene is one shaped by public, overtly competitive, escalating, visible, and visibly manipulated tactics:
James Christie, known to his contemporaries as "The Specious Orator," polished precisely such a combination of personality, voice, and imperturbability while playing upon competing cultural energies, recognizing and capitalizing on potentially porous social and commercial boundaries, finding and defining cultural interests, and discovering ways to repackage and resell those interests. By 1772, as the itinerary for the socialite in Charles Jenner's Town Eclogues suggests, auctions, with Christie at their metonymic center, were tremendously popular, almost de rigueur for fashionable town life:
Auctions had become fixtures among other social spectacles, participatory or otherwise; and Christie, like the famous professional hostess Theresa Cornelys, figured at the center of genteel -- but public -- spectacle management. Yet for all its popularity, the auction could be a profoundly ambivalent experience for those most committed to its pleasures -- the fashionable world -- precisely because it wasn't just the fashionable world to whom auctions appealed. In 1751 Horace Walpole worried that "Gidion the Jew and Blakiston the independent Grocer have been the chief purchasers of [his father's] pictures sold already [at Houghton]." The public nature of the auction, as well as its formal structure of competitive bidding, created a spectacle of commercial and social dynamic that by definition meant a significant (or at least symbolic or potential) redistribution of property...
In a growing number of countries, governments and public agencies seek to systematically assess the scientific outputs of
their universities and research institutions. Bibliometrics indicators and peer review are regularly used for this purpose,
and their advantages and biases are discussed in a wide range of literature. This article examines how three different national
organisations produce journal ratings as an alternative assessment tool, which is particularly targeted for social sciences
and humanities. After setting out the organisational context in which these journal ratings emerged, the analysis highlights
the main steps of their production, the criticism they received after publication, especially from journals, and the changes
made during the ensuing revision process. The particular tensions of a tool designed as both a political instrument and a
scientific apparatus are also discussed.