Overview
Puts the concept of quality, its history, meaning and contemporary impact at center stage
Analyses the concepts’ transformation of meaning over time, inlcuding current and co-existing quality perspectives
Proposes models of qualitization and their potential effects on social order, comparing them with relevant democratic political-administrative systems
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Table of contents (7 chapters)
Keywords
About this book
The notion of quality features prominently in contemporary discourse. Numerous ratings, rankings, metrics, auditing, accreditation, benchmarking, smileys, reviews, and international comparisons are all used regularly to capture quality.
This book paves the way in exploring the socio-political implications of evaluative statements, with a specific focus on the contribution of the concept of quality to these processes. Drawing on perspectives from the history of ideas, sociology, political science and public management, Dahler-Larsen asks what is the role of quality, and more specifically quality inscriptions, such as measurement? What do they accomplish? And finally, as a consequence of all this, does the term quality make it possible to deal with public issues in a way that lives up to democratic standards?
This cross-disciplinary book will be of interest to scholars and students across various fields, including sociology, social epistemology, political science, public policy, and evaluation.
Reviews
“At a crucial time, this book holds a mirror up to our society, shedding light on how our collective obsession with ‘quality’ and its measurement have become a defining feature of our socio-political life. Peter Dahler-Larsen once again masterfully produced a piece of scholarship with far-reaching implications for the evaluation profession. Reading it will be a salutary moment for evaluators and other ‘quality inscriptors.’” (Estelle Raimondo, Independent Evaluation Group of the World Bank Group)
“I highly enjoyed reading this smart and original book. It is a must-read for anyone interested in the workings of quality as a global social phenomenon. Drawing on an impressive range of literatures, Dahler-Larsen systematically unpacks this elusive concept, and describes how quality configurations fundamentally shape our politics, institutions, and daily life.” (Sarah de Rijcke, Center for Science and Technology Studies, Leiden University)
“In this book, Peter Dahler-Larsen critically scrutinises and historically situates the concept of quality and its subsequent activities, like evaluation and quality assurance in the public sector. His analysis is excellent, theoretically challenging, and deeply grounded in knowledge from the field of evaluation and the social sciences. For everyone involved evaluative activities, and for democratic societies, Dahler-Larsen’s contribution is a necessity.” (Christina Segerholm, Mid Sweden University)
Authors and Affiliations
About the author
Peter Dahler-Larsen is Professor at the Department for Political Science at University of Copenhagen, where he is the leader of the Centre for Research on Evaluation, Measurement and Effects (CREME).
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Quality
Book Subtitle: From Plato to Performance
Authors: Peter Dahler-Larsen
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-10392-7
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham
eBook Packages: Social Sciences, Social Sciences (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-10391-0Published: 19 February 2019
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-61748-6Published: 17 September 2020
eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-10392-7Published: 07 February 2019
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: VII, 255
Topics: Knowledge - Discourse, Social Theory, Public Economics, Media Sociology, Research Methodology