From
Bodies to Black-Scholes
A Two-day Workshop on Performativity and the Social
Studies of Finance
We are
now planning the next workshop. Please e-mail Yuval Millo for more details.
Also,
take a look at the last
workshop’s material
Organized
by Daniel Beunza (
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Social Studies
of Finance (SSF) is one of the new and exciting sub-disciplines to have
emerged in the social sciences in recent years. SSF, born from the
intersection of sociology of science, management and critical accounting
offers a new vantage point for the analysis of financial markets and their
dynamics. |
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SSF incorporates into a unified
analytical framework the effects that expert bodies of knowledge, such as
accounting, financial economics and management, have on the dynamics in
financial markets. In addition, SSF pays particular attention to the material
and organizational infrastructure that sustains market activity and examines
the long-duration process that affect price behavior. The young field of SSF has contributed
to the sociological and management discourse a growing array of analytical
notions, such as performativity, materiality of prices and market devices.
Yet, so far, the intellectual roots of the field, the epistemological bases
of its leading concepts and its methodological emphasis were not explored
rigorously. This workshop is intended to amend this
situation and to serve as a close, concentrated look at SSF, and a study of
the conceptual and methodological tools that it offers for the student of
contemporary financial markets. Convened by Daniel Beunza from The workshop will consist of six sessions, each composed of a
presentation of 30 minutes followed by an hour-long extensive discussion.
This structure is oriented towards the creation of a useful interaction
between the participants' particular research projects and the core ideas of
SSF. Hence, in addition to distributed reading material, the participants
will be asked to prepare questions for discussion; these will be put in
advance in a wiki dedicated to the workshop and serve as a knowledge base. To allow effective discussion, the group size is limited to 12
participants. The workshop's fee is US$200, which includes meals. To apply
for the workshop, please send a CV and a one-page description of your
research and how it relates to SSF by February 29th to y.millo@lse.ac.uk The Sessions Session 1: Market devices -
Understanding
the cockpits of modern markets: the ways in which trading and market analysis
environments affect market behavior -
Technology
in markets or 'market technology': how to analyze hybrid networks -
Is
the designer a market participant? Session 2: The concept of performativity -
Saying
things, writing things and doing things: critical accounting and SSF -
What
happens when things are counter-performative: SSF approach to financial risk
management -
Financial
regulation and performativity: who regulates? Session 3: The materiality of prices -
From
a baboon society to handheld devices: how are prices manufactured? -
Global
microstructures: the role of physical distance and computer-mediated
communication in the creation of prices Session 4: What is SSF? -
From
Sociology of scientific knowledge to SSF -
Actor-network
theory and SSF -
Experts
outside and inside the markets -
Differences
between economic sociology and SSF Session 5: Methodology -
SSF
and multiple method data collection -
The
challenge of doing multi-site research -
Ethnography
of machines: how to get the devices to talk? Session 6: Looking ahead -
New
markets or new outlets: the BRIC countries (Brazil Russia, India and China)
and the globalization of financial contracts -
Carbon-trading
markets -
Using
SSF outside the markets? |
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