The Quantified Scholar

In this important and captivating book, Juan Pablo Pardo-Guerra applies his brilliant sociological and narrative talent to dissecting the social and intellectual consequences of the implementation of quantified measures in the evaluation of British social-scientific research. The outcome is dispiriting. We witness the capitulation of institutions of higher learning to monetary logics; the fragmentation of scholarly communities and the erosion of solidarity; and the flattening of knowledge and the depletion of creativity. The Quantified Scholar is an urgent, essential read by one the most imaginative and skilled scholars of his generation. -- Marion Fourcade, author of <i>Economists and Societies: Discipline and Profession in the United States, Britain and France, 1890s-1990s</i> The Quantified Scholar is a landmark study on how research evaluations affect the scholarly vocation. Juan Pablo Pardo-Guerra's book is as immersive as it is rigorous in showing how efforts to quantify the value of the social sciences influence academic careers and homogenize knowledge production. An extremely insightful book! -- Julian Hamann, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin This book is simply fantastic, characterized by its careful and focused analysis that employs some of the most cutting-edge techniques available to social scientists, deeply sociological but easily accessible to many interested audiences. Pardo-Guerra shows how evaluative frameworks of subjective and creative forms of production shape our work and, ultimately, our careers. -- Charles J. Gomez, City University of New York, Queens College With brevity, wit, and humanity, The Quantified Scholar shows how the formal, national research assessment process has changed the social sciences in the United Kingdom. Combining historical and quantitative data with qualitative interviews, Pardo-Guerra offers a compelling portrayal of the whole assessment process and its consequences, as well as concrete suggestions for what academics could do differently, without overpromising about our collective ability to roll back decades of austerity and audit culture. -- Daniel Hirschman, Brown University A crisply written, engaging, and thought-provoking contribution to the sociology of science. * H-Sci-Med-Tech * A compelling and timely analysis of a topic that is of great importance to scholars, policymakers, and society as a whole. * Social Forces *