What is standardization? Three relatively recent books by social scientists all use the same tact... more What is standardization? Three relatively recent books by social scientists all use the same tactic to introduce the topic. First, these books open with an example. It can even be the standardization of the paper of the book in your hands. Then, having thrust an example of standardization into the foreground, they alert us to the invisibility of standardization, its ordinary operation in the background, and at the same time contrast that with the ubiquity of standardized objects and processes, their presence all around, which their example also demonstrates. Largely unnoticed but everywhere thus becomes a theoretical frame—proceed to a number of further disparate examples. The examples are captivating. They are shown to evidence, as one might expect, how standardization empowers or disempowers people as they go about their lives, how it comes in categorizable forms, and how it intersects with the many social dimensions of humans and things. But there is a problem with the way these authors have framed the subject. The difficulty is not merely that even if successful standardization may involve some participants remaining unconscious of its presence, the supposed social in-visibility of standardization seems dubious given the countless stories of standardization, from railway gauge to MP3, all highly visible to extended I thank for their insights and unflagging encouragement the University of California, Los Angeles graduate students in our seminar on standardization—Devin Beecher,
... proper etiquette. Moreover, although her father's fastidi-ous concerns about etiquette a... more ... proper etiquette. Moreover, although her father's fastidi-ous concerns about etiquette and the body seem peripheral to the novel's main action, Mr. Woodhouse strangely presides over how Emma chooses her husband. Still more ...
... JONATHAN H. GROSSMAN ... is indeed concerned primarily with "effect" its pro-ductio... more ... JONATHAN H. GROSSMAN ... is indeed concerned primarily with "effect" its pro-duction is his "profession." In Phiz's illustration of this moment, Sergeant Snubbin is pausing from his work at his writing table; only a forensic wig distinguishes this particular writer as a bar-rister. ...
What is standardization? Three relatively recent books by social scientists all use the same tact... more What is standardization? Three relatively recent books by social scientists all use the same tactic to introduce the topic. First, these books open with an example. It can even be the standardization of the paper of the book in your hands. Then, having thrust an example of standardization into the foreground, they alert us to the invisibility of standardization, its ordinary operation in the background, and at the same time contrast that with the ubiquity of standardized objects and processes, their presence all around, which their example also demonstrates. Largely unnoticed but everywhere thus becomes a theoretical frame—proceed to a number of further disparate examples. The examples are captivating. They are shown to evidence, as one might expect, how standardization empowers or disempowers people as they go about their lives, how it comes in categorizable forms, and how it intersects with the many social dimensions of humans and things. But there is a problem with the way these authors have framed the subject. The difficulty is not merely that even if successful standardization may involve some participants remaining unconscious of its presence, the supposed social in-visibility of standardization seems dubious given the countless stories of standardization, from railway gauge to MP3, all highly visible to extended I thank for their insights and unflagging encouragement the University of California, Los Angeles graduate students in our seminar on standardization—Devin Beecher,
... proper etiquette. Moreover, although her father's fastidi-ous concerns about etiquette a... more ... proper etiquette. Moreover, although her father's fastidi-ous concerns about etiquette and the body seem peripheral to the novel's main action, Mr. Woodhouse strangely presides over how Emma chooses her husband. Still more ...
... JONATHAN H. GROSSMAN ... is indeed concerned primarily with "effect" its pro-ductio... more ... JONATHAN H. GROSSMAN ... is indeed concerned primarily with "effect" its pro-duction is his "profession." In Phiz's illustration of this moment, Sergeant Snubbin is pausing from his work at his writing table; only a forensic wig distinguishes this particular writer as a bar-rister. ...
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