It is quite evident to the reader that digitalization is now a ubiquitous feature of modern societies, to the point that the digital is now an inextricable part of our lives, even of our identities. While we recognize that its reach is almost universal, we lack a comprehensive understanding of what that means. Not just regarding the role of social media or apps, but also regarding the digital infrastructure that is hidden from our daily experience or the impact of all this on businesses. Therefore, The Ordinal Society represents an important effort to understand the vast consequences of this transformation.
Marion Fourcade and Kieran Healy are renowned scholars in economic sociology, who have written together principally about markets from the perspective of economic sociology. In a sense, this book is an attempt by its authors to bring together the arguments made in their previous papersFootnote 1. In another sense, the book can be considered as part of the effort to understand the impact of digitalization alongside the transformation of capitalism.
Readers will therefore find both parallels with other authors addressing the same subject as well as a complementary reading of that subject. From the political issues surrounding the use of personal data, as in Zuboff’s The Age of Surveillance Capitalism Footnote 2, to the impact of apps on social life, as in Marie Bergström’s The New Laws of Love Footnote 3, to the rise of libertarianism as an ideology in Crack-Up Capitalism by Quinn SlobodianFootnote 4.
Indeed, given the relative secrecy and complexity of the digital firms involved in this transformation, we clearly need further research on the impact it is having on society. Fourcade and Healy’s book has the advantage of considering both micro and macro issues, from the markets to the individuals involved. Prevalent in the media, the Manichaean view that bestows total control on big tech and expects complete submission by individuals is absent here.
The term “ordinal society” encapsulates the way in which digital data has come to transform the fault lines of modern societies and capitalismFootnote 5. The reader should have a number of contextual points in mind when reading this work. First, Fourcade and Healy are trying to describe changes that are currently underway and have not yet completely crystallized: they point to market dynamics that may become crucial in the future. Second, the core tenet of The Ordinal Society is that it affects the logic of action for both firms and individuals. That is, actors now have to integrate new structural aspects of digital capitalism, such as the “data imperative”.
Divided into seven chapters, the book is centered on North-Western societies, in particular the US, and the birthplace of the main technological developments are set in Silicon Valley (introduction and chapter 1). We regrettably lack a section dedicated to the transformations outside of these geographical areas, and as readers we are left to assume that what is happening in the US will eventually affect the rest of the world and possibly even be replicated there. Some mention is made of China, chiefly with respect to some of its tech firms and the use of social credit scores. Rather than geopolitical issues and global social movements, this book is centered on how digital capitalism affects market-individual relationships within national boundaries.
Rather than following the trend of writing about digital innovations as if they were created out of thin air, Fourcade and Healy go to great lengths to retrace the development of the ecosystems in the Silicon Valley that created the foundations of digital capitalismFootnote 6.
As companies and tech entrepreneurs went from focusing on hardware to software, a second shift occurred that consolidated the foundation of this new society: data from individual activities became an asset to be exploited (chapter 2). In a capitalist society where “capturing” data can provide a competitive edge over other players, companies that managed to scale up in this area grew to become some of the biggest companies in the world. However, data production is far from natural: companies try to improve users’ engagement in their platforms in order to produce more data points, and this is now integrated in a business model based on targeted advertising.
Chapter 3 focuses on the issue of classificationFootnote 7, where the author’s conceptual contributions are the twin terms of eigenvalue and eigencapital, which they previously developed as übercapitalFootnote 8. Drawing from Bourdieu’s work, Fourcade and Healy emphasize that digital capitalism creates the conditions for both firms and individuals to value data and be valued by it. In this new logic, firms are now “contrived” to collect data, however superfluous it might seem, in a new competitive market where the technological edge is not obvious.
Individuals are affected as well, as digital valuation is an increasingly important tool in navigating social life and improving one’s chances in the market. Thus, The Ordinal Society points to a new order marked by a new form of capital. Inheriting and maintaining structural inequalities, it is however a new force that can shape new dynamics in society.
Perhaps, on this issue, a discussion with STS scholars and the ANT (Actor-Network-Theory) would produce some interesting insights. I am thinking particularly about the social role of digital objects, as Fourcade and Healy show they are clearly detached from both their creator’s and user’s intentions. What is clear is that digital objects are a crucial element in understanding social change. Nevertheless, a theoretical view that positions them either in the social structure or within social life would also be fruitful.
Chapters 4 to 6 retrace how data has affected economic (4), financial activities (5), and social life (6). This part reflects Fourcade and Healy’s perspective, going from markets to individuals, examples of which are provided in the chapters. The authors are apparently interested in demonstrating a state of affairs which might prove invaluable to the uninformed reader. The specialized scholar on issues such as financialization or digital markets and monies will probably see a solid summary of familiar issues.
In chapter 7 the development of an ordinal citizenship shows the underlying tensions between different rights, with social rights being shunned in favor of individual rights, embodied in digital manifestations that are ambiguous on their positive social value. The authors show that current solutions to the inequalities embedded in digital platforms—from financial education to reducing the bias in algorithms—miss the structural aspect of an ordinal society that a few tweaks will not change.
In this book, the political economy of digital capitalism intertwines with the moral economy of people. The allure of digital products also comes from the moral and emotional attachment they have to our social lives. A particularly shrewd insight from the authors is that we should demystify the rise of digital platforms, no longer seeing them as having risen solely from technological prowess. Indeed, they offered a product to the market, but also another way of socializing that has taken hold in society. Furthermore, they note the critical role of digital users in spurring innovation. For the authors, the real question requires going beyond the moral aspect of markets, as was the case in their previous papers, and exploring how society stratifies under a new technological paradigm.
Fourcade and Healy’s mastery of social theory is clear, demonstrating that digital capitalism cannot be understood from the perspective of one discipline only. Throughout the chapters we see an intelligent use of Mauss, Marx, Durkheim, Weber, Bourdieu, Schumpeter, etc. Unfortunately, using one set of authors in one chapter and another set in the next, does not help the reader grasp either the connection or differences between them. For all the discussion about the future shape of society, we lack a discussion on what Marx or Weber (or other authors) could provide to the debate. Nevertheless, they demonstrate that early social theorists are relevant to understanding the cutting-edge developments of today’s world.
The book is an effort to encompass the wide-ranging social effects of digitalization along with relevant theoretical concepts. While the authors cite current research on digital platforms, there is a lack of discussion with them. Instead, they are consistently used to reinforce the authors’ point and provide empirical proof. It may be that, as it is all-too-encompassing, the conceptual and theoretical impact fades behind the panoply of digital developments. Abundant in examples in all chapters, this intellectual endeavor would perhaps benefit from targeted research, for example on digital platforms, as they are shown to be core to the argument. They have therefore identified a promising research subject that is still open for exploration.
The goal is daunting: to pin down the future dynamic of contemporary capitalism is one of the most ambitious tasks in contemporary social sciences, and we see examples of how inequality, climate change, geopolitics, etc. might prove crucial. In that sense, Fourcade and Healy highlight another key aspect: the digital world. In addition to the concerning developments that social scientists are exploring, this book points to another significant factor: the rise of digital capitalism rests on market dynamics and a moral economy that creates, as well as hinders, real life possibilities for its participants.
As the authors acknowledge in their conclusion, they are trying to grasp and critique “the social form emerging in front of us”Footnote 9. Ultimately, this book is an excellent source for understanding the development of the digital economy and the impact it has on developed countries. Solidly anchored in the present, this is a book to read and remember. It may be that, in the near future, it will provide an important, and premonitory, insight on the ordinal society in the making.
