Social studies of quantification and its implications in sociology

Abstract

This article has a dual purpose: on the one hand, it seeks to present the relevance, scope, and depth of historical and sociological approaches on quantification; on the other, it seeks to reconstruct the origins of this field and its changes over the past few years. Thus, we emphasize the links between the works that analyzed the processes of reasoning, valuing, measuring, and comparing through numbers and sociology’s main classical and contemporary concerns. As such, this article offers a broad review of the literature in the field, seeking to arouse the interest of the community of social scientists for its heuristic potential. At the same time, it seeks to compile the contributions of the social studies of quantification to sociology as a whole. The first section presents a historical account of the formation of this analytical perspective, its main references and most significant contributions. The second section discusses the reasons why we believe sociology should extend its attention to the regimes of quantification in contemporary societies. In addition, it addresses the contributions of the field for the advancement of nodal issues, such as the problem of the foundations of social order and political authority, the processes of social differentiation, and the making of subjects, social engagement, criticism, and social change. ⋄♦