Download or read book The Force of Comparison written by Willibald Steinmetz and published by Berghahn Books. This book was released on 2019-09-01 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In an era defined by daily polls, institutional rankings, and other forms of social quantification, it can be easy to forget that comparison has a long historical lineage. Presenting a range of multidisciplinary perspectives, this volume investigates the concepts and practices of comparison from the early modern period to the present. Each chapter demonstrates how comparison has helped to drive the seemingly irresistible dynamism of the modern world, exploring how comparatively minded assessors determine their units of analysis, the criteria they select or ignore, and just who it is that makes use of these comparisons—and to what ends.