Metric Society

Steffen Mau is Professor of Macrosociology at the Humboldt University of Berlin.

‘In this brilliant book, Steffen Mau does not simply demonstrate the distortions that occur when excessive reliance is placed on statistical indicators, but shows how the current mania for measurement and quantification eats away at social relationships and even our sense of ourselves.’Colin Crouch, Emeritus Professor at the University of Warwick‘Mau, a leading expert on inequality in Europe, is tackling a question of growing significance: the relationship between quantification, status comparison and social competition. His probing analysis offers a fresh perspective for understanding the brave new world of self-monitoring we live in. It offers convincing explanations for current anxieties of performance that are fed by growing inequality and neoliberalism. Influential in Germany, this excellent book should find a wide readership in the English-reading public.’Michèle Lamont, past President, American Sociological Association"A timely, informative and appropriately pessimistic book."Morning Star‘A wide-ranging tour through rankings and ratings, stars and points, charts and graphs… the metric society may prove a means for faraway data overlords to capture power and entrench inequality in the guise of efficiency. It risks descending into a 21st -century dystopia that is almost as bleak, in its impersonal way, as those imagined in the darkest novels of the 20th.’The Economist"The book is well grounded in a vast and relevant literature and covers an extensive array of topics, from academic rankings to actuarial justice, through to credit scores, travel reviews, professional assessment, and reputation building through social media, among others. In the process, it offers important insights and raises relevant questions, many of which have a clear Foucaultian inspiration."Sociological Research Online

• Introduction 11 The Measurement of Social Value 10What does quantification mean? 12The calculative practices of the market 15The state as data manager 17Engines of quantification: digitalization and economization 212 Status Competition and the Power of Numbers 26Dispositives of comparison 28Commensurability and incommensurability 31New horizons of comparison 33Registers of comparison and investive status work 353 Hierarchization: Rankings and Ratings 40Visibilization and the creation of difference 40On your marks! 43University rankings 47Here today, gone tomorrow: the market power of rating agencies 534 Classification: Scoring and Screening 60Credit scoring 63Quantified health status 67Mobility value 71‘Boost your score’ – academic status markers 74Social worth investigations 785 The Evaluation Cult: Stars and Points 81Satisfaction surveys 82Evaluation portals as selectors 84Peer-to-peer ratings 87Professions in the evaluative spotlight 89Like-based reputations on social media 936 The Quantified Self: Charts and Graphs 99Health, exercise and mood 101The collective body 104Motivation techniques 1067 The Power of Nomination 111The nomination power of the state 112Performance measurement and the framing of competition 115The nomination power of experts 119Algorithmic authority 123Critique of nomination power 1258 Risks and Side-Effects 129Reactive measurements 129Loss of professional control 133Loss of time and energy 135Monoculture versus diversity 1379 Transparency and Discipline 141Normative and political pressure 144The power of feedback 147Technological surveillance in the workplace 149The new tariff systems 151The interdependence of self- and external surveillance 153The regime of averages, benchmarks and body images 15510 The Inequality Regime of Quantification 158Establishment of worth 160Reputation management 162Collectives of non-equals 166From class conflict to individual competition 168Inescapability and status fluidity 170Self-reinforcing effects 174Bibliography 177Index 196