In this research seminar, organized via videoconference by the médialab of the Paris Institute of Political Studies (Sciences Po), CNRS Director of Research Emmanuel Didier will talk about the sociology of quantification, and launch discussion about his article, “La marbrure numérique” (“Digital Marbling”).
In this talk, Didier will try to show that the sociology of quantification is not a simple sub-domain of the sociology of science, but that it offers tools to study most social situations in an interesting and rich way. He will first propose a new definition of quantification. Then, he will show that numbers trace a kind of “marbling” in society that can provide sociologists with particularly interesting heuristic footholds.
Didier will then propose a typology of marblings; namely, those that are the product of states, those that are produced by activists against the power of the state, and finally, those that escape states because they are part of globalized networks. He will conclude by showing that social processes aimed at purifying certain social aggregates from numbers also deserve our interest.
Pre-registration is required: please register here.
