SOC 4560

Last Updated

  • Schedule of Classes - June 2, 2019 7:14PM EDT
  • Course Catalog - June 2, 2019 7:15PM EDT

SOC 4560
Stars, Scores, and Rankings: Evaluation and Society

Course information provided by the Courses of Study 2018-2019.

Evaluation is a pervasive feature of contemporary life. Professors, doctors, countries, hotels, pollution, books, intelligence: there is hardly anything that is not subject to some form of review, rating, or ranking these days. This senior seminar examines the practices, cultures, and technologies of evaluation and asks how value is established, maintained, compared, subverted, resisted, and institutionalized in a range of different settings. Topics include user reviews, institutional audit, ranking and commensuration, algorithmic evaluation, tasting, gossip, and awards. Drawing on case studies from science, technology, culture, accounting, art, environment, and everyday life, we shall explore how evaluation comes to order our lives – and why it is so difficult to resist.

When Offered Spring.

Distribution Category (SBA-AS)

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Syllabi: none

  •   Regular Academic Session.  Combined with: INFO 4561, STS 4561

  • 4 Credits Stdnt Opt

  •  8325 SOC 4560   SEM 101

  • Department Consent Required (Add)