Forms of uncertainty reduction: decision, valuation, and contest

Abstract

Uncertainty is an intriguing aspect of social life. Uncertainty is epistemic, future-oriented, and implies that we can neither predict nor foresee what will happen when acting. In cases in which no institutionalized certainty about future states exists, or can be generated, judgment is needed. This article presents the forms by which uncertainty is reduced as a result of judgments made about different alternatives in a process involving several actors. This type of uncertainty may exist, for example, about which artist is the best, which offer in the market is more valuable, which football team is better than all the rest, or which research proposal will get a grant. The result of different forms of uncertainty reduction is increased certainty concerning alternatives in relation to one another, such as good and bad, rank lists, scores, quality assessment, and Bwinner and losers.^Based on the result, uncertainty is reduced and action is facilitated. The forms are structural and comprise roles; may be legitimate in a smaller or larger domain; and may exist in all spheres of life, as exemplified in sports competitions, in labor markets, and in the ranking of universities. Three forms of uncertainty reduction based on judgment are identified in this article: (1) decision, made by an authority; (2) valuation, by means of which order arises as a result of actors ascribing values; and (3) contest, by which an order is the result of direct struggle.Keywords Competition . Game . Market . Ranking . Status . ValueUncertainty is an intriguing but essential aspect of social life. Although total certainty would probably be unbearable, we are often plagued by uncertainty. Uncertainty is epistemic, future-oriented, and refers to a lack of knowledge concerning how to act with predictable outcomes. Uncertainty means that we cannot predict or foresee what will happen when acting or not acting

Encultured Biases: The Role of Products in Pathways to Inequality

“…Uncertainty is an important condition under which a reliance on encultured preferences may influence product selection decisions. Sentiments and sympathies always play a role in decision-making outside (Bruch and Feinberg 2017) and inside (March 1994:213) organizational settings, but even in highly rationalized systems, what is deemed as “good” boils down to people’s emotions and preferences (Aspers 2018). Contexts characterized by uncertainty heighten these effects, as uncertainty creates the conditions under which individuals “are thrown back on sympathy as an assessment criterion,” with sympathy “constructed in part out of categories (like us/not like us)” (DiMaggio 1992:127).…”

Navigating Uncertainty: Early Career Academics and Practices of Appraisal Devices

“…This is because situations of risk are calculable situations (Knight 1921 ). Nevertheless, appraisal devices do not change the actual status of the situation, as uncertainty cannot be eliminated (Aspers 2018 ). Rather, appraisal devices function in so far as they let people act as if the future is more certain than it actually is (cf.…”

“…Appraisal devices are thus not neutral but active forces; a form of valuation that establishes the worth of academics and their work. However, “for valuation, not only do people’s views matter; who these people are matters, too […] conceptualized in terms of identity, each has more or less status” (Aspers 2018 : 140). This is to say that the practices of appraisal devices are influenced by how high-status traits are defined within specific contexts or groups, underlining the importance of the more or less stable status hierarchies and institutional role structures that order academic environments.…”

The influence of financial practice in developing mathematical probability

“…Evaluation is distinct from valuation (Aspers 2018). Evaluation is an objective assessment against a recognised standard.…”