Matters of Scale

Abstract

This chapter discusses the misgivings of the micro-macro problem and argues that scales are much more varied and multiple than the dual model usually assumed by sociological analyses. The problem with the shifting between the individual’s point of view and the social context, suggested for instance by Mills, so the chapter argues, is that it ignores the laborious work of mediation and thus misses crucial steps. What is more, by assuming a fixed, pre -given scale, the bifocal model remains blind to the practices ofproducing scales. Abandoning the micro-macro distinction, the chapter opts for an altogether different scalar imaginary, discussed through three examples: the city of Paris; the manufacturing chain of a can of cheap, ready-made food; and a stock trading disruption at the New York Stock Exchange. It gives sustained attention to how scales are enacted and maintained in associations involving heterogeneous elements, from humans with their sayings and doings to technologies, things and materials.