Fourth 2015-2016 meeting of CBS-Private Public Platform’s Markets and Valuation Cluster

 This will be the fourth 2015-2016 meeting of CBS-Private Public Platform’s Markets and Valuation Cluster. This time, Ian Hunter (Emeritus Professor Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities, University of Queensland), will discuss the papers "The History of Theory" (published in Critical Inquiry 2006) and "Spirituality and Philosophy in Post-Structuralist Theory" (published in History of European Ideas 2009).

Ian Hunter’s work entered the discussion on social studies of markets through an intervention by Paul du Gay in the Journal of Cultural Economy. There du Gay mobilized an argument Hunter has developed in a series of papers on Post-Structuralism’s method of inquiry to qualify different aspects of Callon’s economic sociology. In du Gay’s words:

“In contrast to Judith Butler's predominantly theoreticist approach to performativity and politics, Michel Callon's ‘performation programme’ is more empirically oriented, exhibiting a much greater concern with detailed description. However, it is my contention that Callon's relationship to ‘the moment of theory’ is more ambivalent than such a clearcut distinction might suggest, and his approach to performativity and politics is also prone to a certain degree of political romanticism as a result. Indeed, in much the same way as his collaborator Bruno Latour (2004), Callon's work is sometimes marked by a tension between detailed description on the one hand and philosophical reconstruction (and metaphysical speculation) on the other”.

In the context of his visit to IOA, Ian Hunter has kindly accepted our very short notice invitation to take this recent discussion as an excuse to develop a conversation more broadly on Actor-Network Theory and its methods. The format of the session will be an open conversation informed by the circulated paper which will start from the question: is the work of Callon and Latour governed by an empirical method or by an exercise of ‘openness to Being’?

Papers:
Download Ian Hunters two papers below:
The History of Theory

Spirituality and philosophy in post structuralist theory
 

Participation: 
The seminar is free and open for participation, but it is expected that participants have read the circulated material. To attend, please write to seminar.ioa@cbs.dk.


Previous meetings

2015-2016

Reading group: pragmatism and empiricism as stances and methods to study markets. Charles Peirce: "What pragmatism is" and Bas Van Fraassen “Lecture 2: What is empiricism and what could it be?”.
Presentation of work-in-progress: Hans Kjellberg (co-authored with David Olson) ‘Joint markets. Historical and systemic dependencies in the formation of legal cannabis markets’, November 18.
Presentation of work-in-progress: Alexandre Mallard ‘Governance of innovation through norms and standards in the construction sector’, October 21.

2014-2015

Presentation of work-in-progress: Paul du Gay & Signe Vikkelsø “‘Outside Organization’: The Idea of a ’Metaphysical Stance’ in Organization Studies”, June 3.

Reading group:  Göran Ahrne, Patrik Aspers and Nils Brunsson ‘The Organization of Markets’, April 15th.

Presentation of work-in-progress: Peter Skærbæk & Kjell Tryggestad ‘Accounting inscriptions in outsourcing trials of strength: time-space dynamics’, February 18.

Presentation of work-in-progress: Ann-Christina Lange, ‘Crowding of Adaptive Strategies: Swarm Theory and High-Frequency Trading’, January 21.

Workshop: Markets for Collective Concerns. Speakers: Philip Mirowski, Nicholas Gane, Annelise Riles, Daniel Breslau, Daniel Neyland, Liliana Doganova, Brice Laurent, Juan Pablo Pardo-Guerra and Peter Karnøe, December 12.

Presentation of work-in-progress: Rasmus Ploug Jenle (IOA), ‘Deploying markets for control – flexibility as liquidity’, November 19.

Reading group: Luc Boltanski’s book Mysteries and Conspiracies: Detective Stories, Spy Novels and the Making of Modern Societies, October 29.

Presentation of work-in-progress: Karen Boll (IOA), ‘State regulation through co-production and market mechanisms – Is ‘Neoliberal Tax Management’ taking form?’, October 22.

2013-2014

Reading group: Chapters 4 to 6 of Philip Mirowski’s book Never Let a Serious Crisis go to Waste, chapters 1 to 3, June 18th.

Reading group: Chapters 1 to 3 of Philip Mirowski’s book Never Let a Serious Crisis go to Waste, chapters 1 to 3, May 7th.

Presentation of work-in-progress: Manuel Tironi, CSISP - Goldsmith, University of London - Instituto de Sociologia, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, ‘Neoliberal electricity: economics and the purification of energy’. March 5th.

Reading group: Chapters (14, 15 and 16) of Bruno Latour’s An Inquiry into Modes of Existence. January 5th.

Presentation of work-in-progress: Trine Pallesen, Copenhagen Business School, ‘The value of Price’. December 3rd.

Presentation of work-in-progress: Mariana Heredia, Universidad de San Martin – Argentinian National Scientific Council, ‘The Convertibility puzzle: The intervention of local economists in Argentina’s path to neoliberalism’. November 4th.

Presentation of work-in-progress: Daniel Neyland, Goldsmiths, 'The Mosquito Multiple: Malaria and Market-Based Initiatives'. October 1st.

2012-2013

Workshop: ‘Paying Attention to Observation Theory: A Conversation on Finance, Networks and Observation Theory’, with Elena Esposito, Università di Modena e Reggio Emilia and David Stark, Columbia University. May 27.

Presentation of work-in-progress: Dean Pierides & Jon Roffe (University of Melbourne): ‘What is a market? Melbourne research on organization, society and markets’. April 17th.

Reading group: Breslau, D. (2011) ‘What Do Market Designers Do When They Design Markets?’ and Roth, A. (2002), ‘The economist as engineer: game theory, Experimentation, and computation As tools for design economics’. March 11th.

Reading group: T. Mitchell (2011) Carbon Democracy: Political Power in the Age of Oil. February 4.

Presentation of work-in-progress:  Peter Karnøe (Aalborg University) & Liliana Doganova (Mines Tech), ‘Controversial valuations: Assembling environmental concerns and economic worth in clean-tech markets. January 28th.

Presentation of work-in-progress: José Ossandón (IOA) & Sebastián Ureta (Universidad Alberto Hurtado), ‘Taming Uncivilized Markets’. December 12th.