On Qualculation, Agency, and Otherness

Abstract

In this paper we explore the boundary between calculative and noncalculative action by arguing that these are separate but mutually constitutive. By using the notion of qualculation, a neologism coined by Cochoy, we redefine the notion of calculation to include judgment. We then argue that making qualculability is not trivial: that it takes effort to create calculation and judgment. But it also takes effort to consider nonqualculability. Two strategies for achieving nonqualculability are identified, those of rarefaction and proliferation. Rarefaction, illustrated by the cases of Quaker worship and selfless love or agapè, works by withdrawing all qualculative resources. Conversely, proliferation, illustrated by the attribution of cause and responsibility after railway accidents, and by a major television fund-raiser, the ‘Téléthon’, works to impede calculation by an overload of qualculative resources.

Reassembling Traditionality and Creativity: A Study of Place as Assemblage in Pasar Cihapit Bandung

“…Basis of this idea is a process of calculation, which is explained in Callon's earlier works. Calculation, or Qualculation in Callon's words, is an act of decision making, that is split into three distinct steps (Callon: 2003). First is framing, it is a way to account who is involved and who is not relevant to the issue being addressed.…”

Toda Joia, Toda Beleza! Finding What is Left in the Margins or Regime Collisions: A Pluralist Take on Managerialism

“…However, its function to act as a bridge between different communicative worlds, positing itself as a lingua franca to enable the reciprocal acknowledgment of different rationalities, is underpinned by an underlying idea of all-comparability of the social. "Quality" and the discourse centred around its appraisal (what Callon and Law (2003) call "qualculation") 6 seem, in other words, to answer to a peculiar imperative revolving around the mobilisation of all of life towards performance (Doria, 2011) by making it available through language. (Doria, 2009, 166-67) Which leads to the question from which the following debate sets off.…”

Like Cream: Valuing the Invaluable

“…In relation to our conversation this means for example that qualitative judgments are built into the calculations by which indicators are derived. Making Cochoy's awkward neologism more awkward still, Callon and Law invite us to think about the relationship between qualculation and non-qualculation (Callon and Law 2005). Reflecting on the ways in which Quaker worship defies qualculation, Callon and Law argue that making things countable (qualculation) and keeping things out of accountability regimes (non-qualculation) are both practical achievements.…”