False numbers as formalizing practices
Author:
- 13 April 2010
- journal article
- research article
- Published by SAGE Publications in Social Studies of Science
- Vol. 40 (3) , 377-404
Abstract
It will be argued that false numbers in working documents, formulae, and business plans are used as temporary or conditional devices to enable rationalization. The social processes of creating formalized practices depend upon activities that are themselves conditional and ephemeral. That is, rather than subvert the ostensible purpose of fixed representation, false numbers make stability and fixity in representation possible. Examples used include business forecasting, property tax assessments, and the introduction of accounting into cooperative agriculture in Stalinist Hungary.Keywords
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