6533b822fe1ef96bd127cad8
RESEARCH PRODUCT
Un/doing calculation: on knowledge practices of risk management
Herbert Kalthoffsubject
Knowledge managementActuarial scienceSociology and Political ScienceEmbeddednessSocial phenomenonbusiness.industryProcess (engineering)Financial marketUndoingSituatedEconomicsOmnipresencebusinessSocial Sciences (miscellaneous)Risk managementdescription
From small enterprises all the way up to financial markets, economic calculation is an activity routinely conducted in economic life-worlds. This paper argues that calculation is situated in the practice of participants involved in these life-worlds as well as in the technological tools they use. It champions a sociological analysis of the world-constituting character of calculation. As empirical examples the paper discusses risk management strategies, the embeddedness of calculation practices in banking infrastructure, and the process of internal rating procedures. Contesting the idea of the omnipresence of calculation, the paper analyzes the social phenomenon of the neutralization of calculation. The notion of undoing calculation is introduced and outlined both theoretically and empirically.
| year | journal | country | edition | language |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011-03-25 | Distinktion: Journal of Social Theory |