HSR 44 (2019) 2 - Special Issues Governing by Numbers - Key Indicators and the Politics of Expectations (ed. Walter Bartl, Christian Papilloud & Audrey Terracher-Lipinski)
In this special issue of Historical Social Research, indicators are considered epistemic devices that render the world governable by quantification. While endowed with an aura of objectivity, indicators are not neutral devices. Instead, they transform the world they claim to describe. Against the backdrop of a global proliferation of indicators, we argue in favour of a research agenda focused on the processes that lead to the institutionalisation and systematic use of key indicators in societal fields. Furthermore, we propose a heuristic for analysing how indicators are involved in shaping imaginations of the future following three distinct dimensions of meaning (factual, social, temporal). The articles in this special issue range from theoretical and conceptual contributions to empirical studies on the genesis and use of key indicators in different policy fields, some of which also consider alternatives to key economic indicators. They will be of particular interest to scholars who strive towards a more systematic understanding of the relationship between the construction of quantitative knowledge and power in society.
Abstracts of all contributions are available at <http://www.gesis.org/hsr/>. For orders, please contact hsr-order@gesis.org.
CONTENTS
Walter Bartl, Christian Papilloud & Audrey Terracher-Lipinski Governing by Numbers - Key Indicators and the Politics of Expectations. An Introduction. doi: 10.12759/hsr.44.2019.2.7-43
Laurent Thévenot Measure for Measure: Politics of Quantifying Individuals to Govern Them. doi: 10.12759/hsr.44.2019.2.44-76
Rainer Diaz-Bone Statistical Panopticism and its Critique. doi: 10.12759/hsr.44.2019.2.77-102
Timo Walter Formalizing the Future: How Central Banks Set Out to Govern Expectations but Ended Up (En-)Trapped in Indicators. doi: 10.12759/hsr.44.2019.2.103-130
Ingo Bode Let’s Count and Manage – and Forget the Rest. Understanding Numeric Rationalization in Human Service Provision. doi: 10.12759/hsr.44.2019.2.131-154
Lisa Knoll & Konstanze Senge Public Debt Management between Discipline and Creativity. Accounting for Energy Performance Contracts in Germany. doi: 10.12759/hsr.44.2019.2.155-174
John Berten Failed Indicatorisation: Defining, Comparing and Quantifying Social Policy in the ILO’s International Survey of Social Services of the Interwar Period. doi: 10.12759/hsr.44.2019.2.175-201
Oscar Javier Maldonado & Tiago Moreira Metrics in Global Health: Situated Differences in the Valuation of Human Life. doi: 10.12759/hsr.44.2019.2.202-224
Carlotta Mozzana A Matter of Definitions: The Profiling of People in Italian Active Labour Market Policies. doi: 10.12759/hsr.44.2019.2.225-246
Michael Huber & Maarten Hillebrandt “Pay for Promise” in Higher Education: The Influence of NPM on Resource Allocation in German Universities. doi: 10.12759/hsr.44.2019.2.247-269
Anne Piezunka Struggle for Acceptance – Maintaining External School Evaluation as an Institution in Germany. doi: 10.12759/hsr.44.2019.2.270-287
Philipp Lepenies Transforming by Metrics that Matter – Progress, Participation and the National Initiatives of Fixing Well-Being Indicators. doi: 10.12759/hsr.44.2019.2.288-312
Oliver Holtemöller & Christoph Schult Expectation Formation, Financial Frictions, and Forecasting Performance of Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium Models. doi: 10.12759/hsr.44.2019.2.313-339