IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/aosoci/v34y2009i5p675-693.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Brief encounters: Calculation and the interaction order of anonymous electronic markets

Author

Listed:
  • Preda, Alex

Abstract

Calculation has been recently discussed in relationship to market transactions as: (1) a set of operations, including classifications and computations, which support decision-making processes by economic actors; (2) action plans or strategies which can be evaluated against efficacy criteria; (3) broader social processes which induce behavioral modifications and transformations along (1) and (2). Calculations would appear as situated plans or strategies, bounded by institutional constraints, and anchored in classifications, computations, and evaluations, strategies which are implemented within trading interactions. Such plans make use of available resources and adapt to constraints, but are prior with respect to live trading interactions. Using a conceptual apparatus anchored in the work of Erving Goffman, I argue that calculation is situational action. Its features are shaped by the interaction order of trading, and it can be conceptualized as emerging from gaming encounters--i.e., competitive displays of the participants' socially relevant attributes. These arguments are supported with empirical data from online, anonymous financial trading. In these markets, gaming encounters make anonymous strangers present in the trader's situation, as a basis for assessing the relevance of displays on the trading screen and for reacting to these displays. At the same time, traders engage in repeated self-displays as a means for defining their own situation and for projecting subsequent action sequences.

Suggested Citation

  • Preda, Alex, 2009. "Brief encounters: Calculation and the interaction order of anonymous electronic markets," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 34(5), pages 675-693, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:aosoci:v:34:y:2009:i:5:p:675-693
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0361-3682(08)00060-3
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Donald Mackenzie & Fabian Muniesa & Lucia Siu, 2007. "Do Economists Make Markets? On the Performativity of Economics," Post-Print halshs-00149145, HAL.
    2. Fabian Muniesa & Michel Callon, 2007. "Economic experiments and the construction of markets," Post-Print halshs-00177935, HAL.
    3. Nicole Woolsey Biggart & Richard P. Castanias, 2001. "Collateralized Social Relations: The Social in Economic Calculation," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 60(2), pages 471-500, April.
    4. Zaloom, Caitlin, 2006. "Out of the Pits," University of Chicago Press Economics Books, University of Chicago Press, number 9780226978130, Febrero.
    5. Shleifer, Andrei, 2000. "Inefficient Markets: An Introduction to Behavioral Finance," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198292272.
    6. Peter Miller, 2008. "Calculating Economic Life," Journal of Cultural Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 1(1), pages 51-64, March.
    7. Vollmer, Hendrik, 2007. "How to do more with numbers: Elementary stakes, framing, keying, and the three-dimensional character of numerical signs," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 32(6), pages 577-600, August.
    8. Daniel Beunza Ibáñez & David Stark, 2004. "How to recognize opportunities: Heterarchical search in a Wall Street trading room," Economics Working Papers 735, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, revised Sep 2005.
    9. Michel Callon & Fabian Muniesa, 2005. "Economic markets as calculative collective devices," Post-Print halshs-00087477, HAL.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Aaron Z. Pitluck, 2016. "Performing anonymity: Investors, brokers, and the malleability of material identity information in financial markets," Working Papers 1, Becker Friedman Institute for Research In Economics.
    2. Vassili Joannides & Nicolas Berland & Danture Wickramasinghe, 2010. "Post-Hofstede diversity/cultural studies: what contributions to accounting knowledge?," Post-Print hal-01661685, HAL.
    3. Vassili Joannides & Nicolas Berland & D. T. Wickramasinghe, 2010. "Post-Hofstede diversity/cultural studies: what contributions to accounting knowledge?," Grenoble Ecole de Management (Post-Print) hal-00676570, HAL.
    4. Vassili Joannides & Nicolas Berland & D. T. Wickramasinghe, 2010. "Post-Hofstede diversity/cultural studies: what contributions to accounting knowledge?," Post-Print hal-00676570, HAL.
    5. Vollmer, Hendrik, 2019. "Accounting for tacit coordination: The passing of accounts and the broader case for accounting theory," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 15-34.
    6. Ahblom, Per & Sjögren, Ebba, 2019. "Delivering performance: the capital market framing of financial numbers from a preparer perspective," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 102819, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    7. Vassili Joannides & Nicolas Berland & Danture Wickramasinghe, 2010. "Post-Hofstede diversity/cultural studies: what contributions to accounting knowledge?," Grenoble Ecole de Management (Post-Print) hal-01661685, HAL.
    8. Roberto Casarin & Niccolò Casnici & Pierpaolo Dondio & Flaminio Squazzoni, 2015. "Back to Basics! The Educational Gap of Online Investors and the Conundrum of Virtual Communities," Journal of Financial Management, Markets and Institutions, Società editrice il Mulino, issue 1, pages 51-69, June.
    9. Lambert, Caroline & Pezet, Eric, 2011. "The making of the management accountant - Becoming the producer of truthful knowledge," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 10-30, January.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Vollmer, Hendrik & Mennicken, Andrea & Preda, Alex, 2009. "Tracking the numbers: Across accounting and finance, organizations and markets," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 34(5), pages 619-637, July.
    2. Martha Poon, 2009. "From New Deal institutions to capital markets: commercial consumer risk scores and the making of subprime mortgage finance," Post-Print halshs-00359712, HAL.
    3. Williams, James W., 2013. "Regulatory technologies, risky subjects, and financial boundaries: Governing ‘fraud’ in the financial markets," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 38(6), pages 544-558.
    4. Martha Poon, 2009. "From New Deal institutions to capital markets: commercial consumer risk scores and the making of subprime mortgage finance," Working Papers halshs-00359712, HAL.
    5. Iain White, 2020. "Rigour and rigour mortis? Planning, calculative rationality, and forces of stability and change," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 57(14), pages 2885-2900, November.
    6. Mennicken, Andrea & Miller, Peter & Samiolo, Rita, 2008. "Accounting for economic sociology," economic sociology. perspectives and conversations, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies, vol. 10(1), pages 3-7.
    7. Callon, Michel, 2009. "Civilizing markets: Carbon trading between in vitro and in vivo experiments," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 34(3-4), pages 535-548, April.
    8. Michel Callon, 2006. "What does it mean to say that economics is performative?," CSI Working Papers Series 005, Centre de Sociologie de l'Innovation (CSI), Mines ParisTech.
    9. Poon, Martha, 2009. "From new deal institutions to capital markets: Commercial consumer risk scores and the making of subprime mortgage finance," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 34(5), pages 654-674, July.
    10. Alex Preda, 2007. "The Sociological Approach To Financial Markets," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(3), pages 506-533, July.
    11. Westerdahl, Stig, 2021. "Yield and the city: Swedish public housing and the political significance of changed accounting practices," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    12. Martin Tironi & Brice Laurent, 2014. "Experiments for industrial exploration. Testing a car sharing system," CSI Working Papers Series 036, Centre de Sociologie de l'Innovation (CSI), Mines ParisTech.
    13. François-Xavier de Vaujany & Sabine Carton & Carine Dominguez-Perry & Emmanuelle Vaast, 2012. "Performativity and Information Technologies: An inter-organizational perspective," Post-Print halshs-00851315, HAL.
    14. Mélodie Cartel & Franck Aggeri, 2013. "Exploring low carbon futures," Post-Print hal-01117309, HAL.
    15. Horacio Ortiz, 2012. "Anthropology – of the Financial Crisis," Chapters, in: James G. Carrier (ed.), A Handbook of Economic Anthropology, Second Edition, chapter 35, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    16. Heidi Østbø Haugen, 2018. "The unmaking of a commodity: Intermediation and the entanglement of power cables in Nigeria," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 50(6), pages 1295-1313, September.
    17. Walter, Christian, 2016. "The financial Logos: The framing of financial decision-making by mathematical modelling," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 597-604.
    18. Carlo Massironi & Marco Guicciardi, 2011. "Investment decision making from a constructivist perspective," Qualitative Research in Financial Markets, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 3(3), pages 158-176, October.
    19. Franck Aggeri, 2017. "How can performativity contribute to management and organization research? Theoretical perspectives and analytical framework [Qu'est-ce que la performativité peut apporter aux recherches en managem," Post-Print hal-01609172, HAL.
    20. Kristin Asdal & Béatrice Cointe, 2022. "Writing good economics: how texts 'on the move' perform the lab and discipline of experimental economics," Post-Print hal-03429169, HAL.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:aosoci:v:34:y:2009:i:5:p:675-693. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/aos .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.