Performativity shifts analysis from model accuracy to model use effects

Evidence

Performativity has, however, three virtues. First, when confronted with a theory or model it is natural to ask: is it accurate? Keeping performativity in mind reminds us also to ask: if the model is adopted and used widely, what will its effects be? What will the use of the model do? Second, because performativity often resides not just in “big ideas” but also in apparently small technicalities, the notion reminds us also to pay attention to the latter, and to consider the role they play in the infrastructures of markets: in the material devices, procedures, routines, rules, and design features that make markets what they are. And, finally, the notion of performativity prompts the most important question of all: What sort of a world do we want to see performed? — Donald MacKenzie, An Engine, Not a Camera, 1239

Categorization

• DEFINE: Crystallizes what the performativity lens adds to ordinary evaluation of a theory: not ‘is it accurate?’ but ‘what will using it do?’
• ADDENDUM: The focus on material devices, routines and design features resonates with the ‘trees as infrastructure’ article’s argument about unglamorous infrastructure doing real world-shaping work.
• XREF: connects to: Performativity and efficiency both potentially explain the formula’s growing accuracy. — Donald MacKenzie & Yuval Millo, Constructing a Market, Performing Theory, 131; A model’s own applications can undermine its descriptive accuracy — Donald MacKenzie, An Engine, Not a Camera: How Financial…, 151; Performativity analysis complements rather than replaces economic sociology’s embedding approach — Donald MacKenzie, An Engine, Not a Camera: How Financial…, 1183 (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• Barnesian performativity means models create the price patterns they describe #exemplifies (0.85) — Donald MacKenzie, An Engine, Not a Camera, 148
• Effects research has stalled into staid reproduction of predictable results #exemplifies (0.72) — James W. Carey, Communication as Culture- Essays on…, 402