This paper explores the heterogeneous processes of social and technical change, and in particular the dynamics of techno-economic networks. It starts by considering the way in which actors and intermediaries are constituted and define one another within such networks in the course of translation. It then explores, first the way in which parts of such heterogeneous networks converge to create unified spaces linking incommensurable elements, and second how some of these links achieve longevity and tend to shape future processes of translation.

Techno‐economic networks and irreversibility

This article argues that many situations in social life can be analyzed by their requirement for the justification of action. It is in particular in situations of dispute that a need arises to explicate the grounds on which responsibility for errors is distributed and on which new agreement can be reached. Since a plurality of mutually incompatible modes of justification exists, disputes can be understood as disagreements either about whether the accepted rule of justification has not been violated or about which mode of justification to apply at all. The article develops a grammar of such modes of justification, called orders of worth (grandeur), and argues that the human capacity for criticism becomes visible in the daily occurrence of disputes over criteria for justification. At the same time, it is underlined that not all social situations can be interpreted with the help of such a sense of justice, which resides on a notion of equivalence. Regimes of love, of violence or of familiarity are systematic...

The Sociology of Critical Capacity

Convention theory helps refine our understanding of the governance of global value chains through its analysis of ‘quality’. In this article, it is argued that global value chains are becoming increasingly ‘buyer-driven’, even though they are characterized by ‘hands-off’ forms of co-ordination between ‘lead firms’ and their immediate suppliers. This is because lead firms have been able to embed complex quality information into widely accepted standards and codification and certification procedures. As suggested by convention theory, their success in doing so has depended on defining and managing value chain-specific quality attributes that are attuned to broader narratives about quality that circulate within society more generally.

Quality standards, conventions and the governance of global value chains

The proportion of traded goods in world output has been rising steadily over the past several decades. When we look at specific products exported by the advanced industrial nations, increasing export specialization is evident. Such specialization cannot be explained by conventional notions of comparative advantage, nor entirely by the new trade theory based on economies of scale. Rather, a significant proportion must be due to technological or “absolute” advantages on the part of the specialized exporter, and a significant dimension of technological advantage is product-based and renewed through learning, giving rise to dynamic economies of variety as a source of export specialization. Industries characterized by such product-based learning and absolute advantage tend to have important developmental effects on their host economies because they earn quasi-rents. Such industries also tend to be organized into production networks combining the advantages of specialization and flexibility, which are k...

The Limits to Globalization: Technology Districts and International Trade

http://www.bio-nica.info/Biblioteca/Renard2003QualityMarket.pdf

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Les économies de la grandeur