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Standards and Standardization as a Social Scientific Problem
Citation
Higgins, V and Larner, W, Standards and Standardization as a Social Scientific Problem, Calculating the Social: Standards and the Reconfiguration of Governing, Palgrave Macmillan, V Higgins and W Larner (ed), London, UK, pp. 1-17. ISBN 978-1-349-36794-8 (2010) [Research Book Chapter]
Copyright Statement
Copyright 2010 Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited
DOI: doi:10.1057/9780230289673_1
Abstract
In recent years there has been an increased interest among social scientists in issues of standards and attempts at standardization in all aspects of economic, political and social life. Once regarded as technical issues of concern primarily to specialists (see Barry 2001, p. 63), standardization is now viewed as a legitimate site of social scientific study Such an interest has been provoked largely by questions concerning how successful co-ordination among a variety of different actors, organizations and levels of governing is achieved in a globalizing world where the state is no longer the main form of regulation, and particularly how public and private entities might most effectively shape conduct ‘at a distance’ within this environment. In particular, the globalization of scientized knowledge systems as social and cultural institutions is argued to accelerate a rationalization of the social world (see Weber, 1968) in which professional and organizational knowledge-practices are reinvented in increasingly formalized, universalized and standardized ways (Drori et al., 2006, pp. 13–14). This gives rise to a wide range of standards, protocols, certification and auditing systems which form a pervasive and powerful mechanism for governing conduct within contemporary economies and societies (e.g., Brunsson and Jacobsson, 2000; Power, 1997; Strathern, 2000; Tamm Hallström, 2004).
Item Details
| Item Type: | Research Book Chapter |
|---|---|
| Keywords: | standards, governing, sociology, corporate social responsibility, orphan drug, environmental management system, Actor Network Theory, social scientific study |
| Research Division: | Human Society |
| Research Group: | Sociology |
| Research Field: | Sociology and social studies of science and technology |
| Objective Division: | Expanding Knowledge |
| Objective Group: | Expanding knowledge |
| Objective Field: | Expanding knowledge in human society |
| UTAS Author: | Higgins, V (Associate Professor Vaughan Higgins) |
| ID Code: | 138148 |
| Year Published: | 2010 |
| Deposited By: | Office of the School of Social Sciences |
| Deposited On: | 2020-03-26 |
| Last Modified: | 2020-04-06 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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