Market devices

the long version

What is a market without a set of market devices? This edited volume addresses the crucial role of technical instruments in the construction of markets. From pricing models to merchandising tools, from trading protocols to aggregate indicators, the topic of market devices includes a wide array of objects that have been often overlooked in sociological analysis. The contributions to this volume open new paths to investigate these compound objects. They explore how market devices set to configure economic calculative capacities. They observe the part they play in the marketability of goods and services. They analyse the performative aspects of knowledge and expertise needed in adjusting and calibrating them. All authors partake in the emerging intersection between economic sociology and science and technology studies that is increasingly enriching the research agenda of the sociology of markets. Each contribution addresses, with original empirical material, several aspects of markets devices.