996009 Quantification, Organizations, and Inequality (BS) (SoSe 2016)

http://clas.uiowa.edu/sociology/people/mike-sauder

Description, Schedule, and Readings

This course explores cultural approaches to organizational research, especially as they pertain to the creation and maintenance of inequality. The course begins by examining recent work on quantification, accountability, and transparency. We will explore the unintended consequences of these measures, the moral dilemmas that these forms of valuation create, and the processes by which these measures genera- te new types of inequality among those they assess. The course then considers other recent approaches at the intersection of culture, inequality, and organizations, em- phasizing the various applications of qualitative methods in this area.

TUESDAY 7 JUNE

Session I: 10:30 – 12:00

Espeland, Wendy and Michael Sauder. 2016. Engines of Anxiety: Academic Ran- kings, Reputation,and Accountability. Russell Sage Foundation: New York. (Chapters 1 and 7)

Espeland, Wendy and Michael Sauder. 2007. “Rankings and Reactivity: How Public Measures Recreate Social Worlds.” American Journal of Sociology 113:1-40.

Session II: 1:30 – 3:00

Hazelkorn, Ellen. 2011. “Globalization and the Reputation Race” in Rankings and the Reshaping of Higher Education: The Battle for World Class Excellence. Palgrave MacMillan.

Lamont, Michèle. 2012. “Toward a Comparative Sociology of Valuation and Evaluati- on.” Annual Review of Sociology 38:201-21.

Session III: 3:30 - 5:00

Hallett, Timothy P. 2010. “The Myth Incarnate: Recoupling Processes, Turmoil, and Inhabited Institutions in an Urban Elementary School. ” American Sociological Re- view 75:52-74.

Turco, Catherine J. 2012. “Difficult Decoupling: Employee Resistance to the Commercialization of Personal Settings.” American Journal of Sociology 118: 380-419

Rivera, Lauren. 2012. “Hiring as Cultural Matching: The Case of Elite Professional Service Firms.” American Sociological Review 77:999-1022.

WEDNESDAY 8 JUNE

Session IV: 10:30 – 12:00

McPherson, Chad and Michael Sauder. 2013. “Logics In Action: Managing Institutio- nal
Complexity in a Drug Court.” Administrative Science Quarterly 58:165-196.

Weber, Klaus, Kathryn L. Heinze and Michaela deSoucey. 2008. “Forage for Thought: Mobilizing Codes in the Movement for Grass-Fed Meat and Dairy Products.” Administ- rative Science Quarterly 53:529-567.

Kellogg, Katherine C. 2009. “Operating Room: Relational Spaces and Microinstitutio- nal
Change in Surgery.” American Journal of Sociology 115:657-711.

Class V: 1:30 – 3:00, June 8

Hacking, Ian. 1990. The Taming of Chance. New York: Cambridge University Press. (Chapter 1).

Robert Frank. 2016. Luck and Success. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press (Chapters 1 and 2)

Class VI: 3:30 – 5:00, June 8

Student Presentations

Bibliography

Forthcoming
Chad McPherson and Michael Sauder, “The Quantification of Qualitative Research” in Innovative Qualitative Research, ed. Kimberly Elsbach and Roderick Kramer. Routledge.

2014
Arik Lifschitz, Michael Sauder, and Mitchell Stevens “Football as a Status System in U.S. Higher Education” Sociology of Education

2014
Gabriel Abend, Caitlin Petre, and Michael Sauder, “Styles ofCausal Thought: An Empirical Investigation.” American Journal of Sociology