CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 448Critical Realism in SociologyWeber, Simmel, Sociological TheoryContemporary Sociological Theory and Practice

On Qualculation, Agency, and Otherness

Callon, Michel, Law, John·2005·Environment and Planning D: Society and Space
DOI 10.1068/d343t
Open this paper in CoChat — free account

Abstract

In this paper we explore the boundary between calculative and noncalculative action by arguing that these are separate but mutually constitutive. By using the notion of qualculation, a neologism coined by Cochoy, we redefine the notion of calculation to include judgment. We then argue that making qualculability is not trivial: that it takes effort to create calculation and judgment. But it also takes effort to consider nonqualculability. Two strategies for achieving nonqualculability are identified, those of rarefaction and proliferation. Rarefaction, illustrated by the cases of Quaker worship and selfless love or agapè, works by withdrawing all qualculative resources. Conversely, proliferation, illustrated by the attribution of cause and responsibility after railway accidents, and by a major television fund-raiser, the ‘Téléthon’, works to impede calculation by an overload of qualculative resources.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1068/d343t

Cites

36 of 36 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Claims the paper makes

This paper’s full text isn’t openly available, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • The grain store became a calculative arrangement through which economic flows could be aligned with governance objectives such as fiscal preparedness, disaster relief, and social stability.

    “The grain store thus became not only a repository but a calculative arrangement through which economic flows could be aligned with governance objectives such as fiscal preparedness, disaster relief, and social stability.”

    From State, great families, and Buddhism: monasticism as calculation in the fiscal governance of early medieval China (2026) · cites this paper as Callon and Law's (2005)

  • Buddhist monastic institutions functioned as fiscal calculative spaces through three interrelated mechanisms-detachment, manipulation and transformation, and extraction-within which people, land, and wealth were progressively rendered calculable and actionable to the state.

    “Building on Callon and Muniesa's (2005) and Callon and Law's (2005) conception of calculation as a materially organized process, this section shows how Buddhist monastic institutions functioned as fiscal calculative spaces through three interrelated mechanisms-detachment, manipulation and transformation, and extraction-within which people, land, and wealth were progressively rendered calculable”

    From State, great families, and Buddhism: monasticism as calculation in the fiscal governance of early medieval China (2026) · cites this paper as Callon and Law's (2005)

  • Monasteries were not merely affected by state fiscal interventions but were actively constituted as institutional infrastructures that enabled calculation to take place.

    “Drawing on Callon and Muniesa's (2005) and Callon and Law's (2005) conceptualization of calculation as a process of detachment, transformation, and extraction, the analysis has shown that monasteries were not merely affected by state fiscal interventions but were actively constituted as institutional infrastructures that enabled calculation to take place.”

    From State, great families, and Buddhism: monasticism as calculation in the fiscal governance of early medieval China (2026) · cites this paper as Callon and Law's (2005)

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

3 of the 39 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Related

Authors
Callon, M., & Law, J.
Affiliations
  • Centre de sociologie de l'innovation (FR)
  • Lancaster University (GB)
Corresponding author
  • Callon, Michel
  • Law, John
Venue
Environment and Planning D: Society and Space
Publisher
SAGE Publications
Published
2005-10
Volume
23
Issue
5
Pages
717-733
ISSN
  • 0263-7758 (ISSN-L)
  • 1472-3433
DOI
10.1068/d343t
OpenAlex
W2032280823
Cited by
448
References
39
Citations by year
2026: 15 · 2025: 20 · 2024: 39 · 2023: 33 · 2022: 32 · 2021: 22 · 2020: 34 · 2019: 26 · 2018: 39 · 2017: 20 · 2016: 38 · 2015: 24 · 2014: 5 · 2013: 20 · 2012: 14
FWCI
36.31
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
journals.sagepub.com/page/policies/text-and-data-mining-license (tdm)
Locations
  • Environment and Planning D Society and Space (publishedVersion)
  • Open Research Online (The Open University) (submittedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Critical Realism in Sociology
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Weber, Simmel, Sociological Theory
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Contemporary Sociological Theory and Practice
Keywords
calculation, agency, otherness, judgment, rarefaction, proliferation, agape, Quaker worship, railway accidents, attribution of responsibility, Téléthon

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review