The twenty-first century has seen a further dramatic increase in the use of quantitative knowledge for governing social life after its explosion in the 1980s. Indicators and rankings play an increasing role in the way governmental and non-governmental organizations distribute attention, make decisions, and allocate scarce resources. Quantitative knowledge promises to be more objective and straightforward as well as more transparent and open for public debate than qualitative knowledge, thus producing more democratic decision-making. However, we know little about the social processes through which this knowledge is constituted nor its effects. Understanding how such numeric knowledge is produced and used is increasingly important as proliferating technologies of quantification alter modes of knowing in subtle and often unrecognized ways. This book explores the implications of the global multiplication of indicators as a specific technology of numeric knowledge production used in governance.
| ISBN: | 9781107450837 |
| Publication date: | 17th September 2015 |
| Author: | Richard Rottenburg, Sally Engle Merry, SungJoon Park, Johanna Mugler |
| Publisher: | Cambridge University Press |
| Format: | Paperback |
| Pagination: | 368 pages |
| Series: | Cambridge Studies in Law and Society |
| Genres: |
Law and society, sociology of law |
The twenty-first century has seen a further dramatic increase in the use of quantitative knowledge for governing social life after its explosion in the 1980s. Indicators and rankings play an increasing role in the way governmental and non-governmental organizations distribute attention, make decisions, and allocate scarce resources. Quantitative knowledge promises to be more objective and straightforward as well as more transparent and open for public debate than qualitative knowledge, thus producing more democratic decision-making. However, we know little about the social processes through which this knowledge is constituted nor its effects. Understanding how such numeric knowledge is produced and used is increasingly important as proliferating technologies of quantification alter modes of knowing in subtle and often unrecognized ways. This book explores the implications of the global multiplication of indicators as a specific technology of numeric knowledge production used in governance.
The World of Indicators features in the following genres: Law and society, sociology of law
The World of Indicators is available in Paperback
The World of Indicators was written by Richard Rottenburg, Sally Engle Merry, SungJoon Park, Johanna Mugler and published by Cambridge University Press
The World of Indicators has 368 pages
Yes it is part of Cambridge Studies in Law and Society series
£34.20