Commensuration as a Social Process.¶
Espeland, W. N., & Stevens, M. L. (1998). Commensuration as a Social Process. Annual Review of Sociology, 313-343.
Cited by¶
4 citations across 4 artifacts.
Each citation links to the sentence it supports in the citing article.
Primes¶
- Commensurability
- Commensurability is the structural property that enables diverse quantities or values to be expressed in a common unit or metric, allowing them to be compared, ranked, and traded off, a process Espeland and Stevens (1998) characterize as a fundamental social mode of valuation.
This sourceFoundational sociological treatment defining commensuration as the transformation of qualities into quantities sharing a common metric, and analyzing how this translation reorganizes attention, distorts meaning, and concentrates power over what counts.
Supported in partVerified against the publisher's abstract
The source's abstract defines commensuration as comparison of entities by a common metric, backing the common-unit/comparability core, but states neither ranking or trade-offs nor a 'fundamental social mode of valuation'.
“Although it is evident in routine decision-making and a crucial vehicle of rationalization, commensuration as a general social process has been given little consideration by sociologists. This article defines commensuration as the comparison of different entities according to a common metric, notes commensuration's long history as an instrument of social thought, analyzes commensuration as a mode of power”
- Commensurability is the structural property that enables diverse quantities or values to be expressed in a common unit or metric, allowing them to be compared, ranked, and traded off, a process Espeland and Stevens (1998) characterize as a fundamental social mode of valuation.
- Value Commensuration
- When different stakeholders, domains, or ethical frameworks value outcomes incommensurably, commensuration bridges that incommensurability through a constructed metric, an act that Espeland and Stevens (1998) characterize as a fundamentally social process in which translation always entails loss, distortion, or contestation of meaning.
This sourceFoundational sociological treatment defining commensuration as the transformation of qualities into quantities sharing a common metric, and analyzing how this translation reorganizes attention, distorts meaning, and concentrates power over what counts.
Supported in partVerified against the publisher's abstract
The abstract defines commensuration as comparison under a common metric and a social process, but is silent on the claim's 'always entails loss, distortion or contestation' clause.
“This article defines commensuration as the comparison of different entities according to a common metric, notes commensuration's long history as an instrument of social thought, analyzes commensuration as a mode of power, and discusses the cognitive and political stakes inherent in calling something incommensurable.”
- When different stakeholders, domains, or ethical frameworks value outcomes incommensurably, commensuration bridges that incommensurability through a constructed metric, an act that Espeland and Stevens (1998) characterize as a fundamentally social process in which translation always entails loss, distortion, or contestation of meaning.
Mechanisms¶
- Contrast Table
- Selective columns turn a reference into rhetoric; forced commensurability puts a value in a cell for a dimension the item doesn't really have, manufacturing a comparison that misleads
This sourceExplains how commensuration can manufacture a misleading comparison.
- Selective columns turn a reference into rhetoric; forced commensurability puts a value in a cell for a dimension the item doesn't really have, manufacturing a comparison that misleads
- Loss and Damage Register
- Its failure mode is commensuration pressure — the quiet gravity that pulls every entry toward a comparable number, so that what cannot be priced is dropped or shadow-priced into distortion.
This sourceDefines commensuration as translating heterogeneous qualities into a common metric and shows that it can exclude hard-to-price values or obscure context through forced quantification.
- Its failure mode is commensuration pressure — the quiet gravity that pulls every entry toward a comparable number, so that what cannot be priced is dropped or shadow-priced into distortion.
Verification¶
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