Commensuration and styles of reasoning: Venice, cost–benefit, and the defence of place

Abstract

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Performance measurement, modes of evaluation and the development of compromising accounts

“…Here we see the importance of the accommodation of different perspectives and recognition by actors that the proposed solution (in our case the QF), although not perfect, provides a fitting answer to a problem of common interest (c.f. Huault & Rainelli-Weiss, 2011;Samiolo, 2012).…”

The Political Role of Corporate Citizens

“…Within standardization decisions are linked to professional and replicable methodologies of verification, which are seen to transcend individual subjectivity, and deemed universally applicable (Porter, 1992). In this sense, the calculative infrastructure of corporate citizenship can support the aspiration to 'escape from perspective' and obtain a 'view from nowhere' of what corporate accountability is about (Daston, 1992;Jasanoff, 2005;Samiolo, 2012). The notion of commensuration can be aptly mobilized here to indicate the process whereby different qualities are measured with a single standard or unit, to derive a common metric through a series of aggregations (Espeland and Stevens, 1998;Espeland, 2000).…”

“…The notion of commensuration can be aptly mobilized here to indicate the process whereby different qualities are measured with a single standard or unit, to derive a common metric through a series of aggregations (Espeland and Stevens, 1998;Espeland, 2000). In this way new links are forged between things previously separated, but at the same time distance is created by the mediation and abstraction imposed by numbers (Espeland, 1998;Samiolo, 2012). A fundamental exercise of commensurability is what allows the making of corporate responsibility manageable: the vast array of qualities that make up the idea of corporate citizenship becomes expressed according to a common metric.…”

Michel Foucault and the Administering of Lives

“…To understand such assemblages means analysing the local and the non-local, the macro and the micro, and how they come to be connected (see e.g. Kurunmäki & Miller, 2011;Mennicken, 2008;Samiolo, 2012). It means paying attention to the emergence and stabilization of novel assemblages, such as the recent and still ongoing attempts to economize the entire social sphere (see also Çalışkan & Callon, 2009Çalışkan & Callon, , 2010.…”

“…the quality of health care or the decency of imprisonment) into quantities, through devices such as patient satisfaction questionnaires, rankings (of schools, universities, care homes, prisons, and so on), balanced scorecards, and much else besides. These, in turn, can then be subjected to a variety of further calculations and comparisons through audits and other forms of more or less public assessment (Espeland & Sauder, 2007;Kurunmäki & Miller, 2006;Mennicken, 2010Mennicken, , 2013Power, 1997;Samiolo, 2012).…”