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Cited by 57Management and Organizational StudiesInformation Systems Theories and ImplementationCritical Realism in Sociology

The state of affairs: Critical performativity and the online dating industry

Open access
Roscoe, Philip, Chillas, Shiona·2014·Organization
DOI 10.1177/1350508413485497
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Abstract

In this article we pursue a dialogue between Callon’s (1998) ‘performativity thesis’ and Critical Management Studies (CMS). We make use of the performativity thesis to elaborate on the construction of a market and the generation of calculative and rational economic agency in a specific empirical setting: the markets for relationships offered by dating services. We find evidence for ‘effective’ performativity, where technical processes and outcomes are shaped by academic theory. We link the performativity analysis with three critical perspectives: a novel enclosure in the commodification and sale of relationships; the politics of standardization, classification, expertise and responsibility; and the enactment of instrumentally rational, self-interested social relations through the individualist assumptions of matching systems. We argue that a performativity analysis must begin with a critical politics: what kind of world would we like to see performed?

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Cites

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

  • Many of these tendencies are highly opaque because they are often implicit and part of a formalized design for digital interaction that is in itself an arrangement of 'false consciousness'.

    “However, many of these tendencies are highly opaque because they are often implicit and part of a formalized design for digital interaction that is in itself an arrangement of 'false consciousness' (cf. Knudsen, 2011; Roscoe and Chillas, 2014).”

    From The illusion of the digital commons: 'False consciousness' in online alternative economies (2017) · cites this paper as Roscoe and Chillas, 2014

    In “The algorithm knows best” (page unavailable), the paper says dating sites’ analytic processes are invisible and their questionnaires may be impenetrable. The Discussion (page unavailable) likewise says sites do not disclose how their algorithms work, while the Conclusions describe how their design embeds assumptions about rational choice. These passages support opacity and designed influence on interaction, but the paper does not characterize that arrangement as “false consciousness.” (LLM, conf=0.84)

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  • The infrastructure of matching on eHarmony might provide only an illusion of choice.

    “Firstly, as Roscoe and Chillas (2014) show in their analysis of the online dating platform eHarmony, the infrastructure of matching might provide only an illusion of choice.”

    From Evaluative infrastructures: Accounting for platform organization (2017) · cites this paper as Roscoe and Chillas, 2014

  • Commoning understood in its original sense is an essentially informal practice that resists the technological rationality of formalization, standardization, and quantification.

    “As Roscoe and Chillas (2014) argue, commoning understood in its original sense is an essentially informal practice that resists the technological rationality of formalization, standardization, and quantification.”

    From The illusion of the digital commons: 'False consciousness' in online alternative economies (2017) · cites this paper as Roscoe and Chillas (2014)

    The Performativity thesis discusses calculation, measurement, and standardized metrics, but does not characterize commoning as an informal practice or say that it resists them. Searches for commoning, commons, and the claimed resistance to formalization found no passage addressing that point; the available passages have no page numbers. (LLM, conf=0.73)

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Cites

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4 of the 99 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.

Research works printed but not linked: 9

  1. Barnes B. (1988) The Nature of Power, Cambridge: Polity.
  2. Bourdieu P. (1970) Marriage strategies. In: Foster R and Ranum O (eds) Family and Society: Selections from the Annales. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
  3. Bowker GC and Leigh Starr S. (1999) Sorting Things Out, Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press.
  4. Callon M. (2008) Economic markets and the rise of interactive agencements. In: Pinch T and Swedberg R (eds) living in a material world. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press, 29- 56.
  5. Carter C, Clegg S and Kornberger M. (2010) Reframing strategy: Power, politics and accounting. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal 23: 573-594.
  6. Didier E. (2005) Do statistics perform the economy? In: Mackenzie D, Muniesa F and Siu L (eds) Do Economists Make Markets? Princeton: Princeton University Press.
  7. Houran J, Lange R, Rentfrow PJ, et al. (2004) Do online matchmaking tests work? An assessment of preliminary evidence of a publicised "predictive model of marital success". North American Journal of Psychology 6: 526.
  8. Nik-Khah E and Mirowski P. (2007) Markets made flesh: perfomativity, and a problem in science studies, augmented with a consideration of the FCC auctions. In: MacKenzie D, Muniesa F and Siu L (eds) Do economists make markets? Princeton: Princeton University Press, 190-224.
  9. Webb A. (2013) Hacking the Hyperlinked Heart. The Wall Street Journal. New York.

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Authors
Roscoe, P., & Chillas, S.
Affiliations
University of St Andrews (GB)
ORCID
Venue
Organization
Publisher
SAGE Publications
Published
2013-05-03
Volume
21
Issue
6
Pages
797-820
ISSN
  • 1350-5084 (ISSN-L)
  • 1461-7323
DOI
10.1177/1350508413485497
OpenAlex
W2070161863
Cited by
57
References
99
Citations by year
2026: 3 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 5 · 2017: 6 · 2016: 5 · 2015: 4 · 2014: 2 · 2013: 1
FWCI
8.23
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Organization (publishedVersion)
  • St Andrews Research Repository (St Andrews Research Repository) (submittedVersion, public-domain)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management › Management and Organizational Studies
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Information Systems Theories and Implementation
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Critical Realism in Sociology
Keywords
online dating, dating services, commodification of relationships, enclosure, standardization, classification, expertise, instrumental rationality, matching algorithms, economic agency, critical management studies, Callon

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