Ethics of quantification

Abstract

The proliferation of the visible and invisible numbers populating society, is attracting a growing interest for the sociology of quantification. This is also a natural consequence of digital agendas actively promoted by states and international organizations. Numbers are seductive, performative (in the sense of acting on the real), confer epistemic power and legitimacy, and often reflect or reinforce power imbalances. Beside sociologists, data scientists, technologists, statisticians, philosophers, and jurists have called for care and responsibility in the use of numbers. Different disciplines have targeted different aspect of numerification and datafication. Outside academia, grassroots movements have targeted privacy-invasive forms of datafication. As noted by the French movements of statactivistes governing the modern state, or even contesting it, without numbers is impossible. In this context, a strong current of studies on ethics of algorithms is fuelling a movement for an ethics addressing all aspects of quantification, from metrics to models to algorithms.

Keywords: sociology of quantification, epistemic legitimacy, reductionism, post-normal science, science and technology studies (STS), science for policy

JEL Classification: C00