Trasformazioni delle basi informative e immaginazione sociologica

The process of intense abstraction and quantification of the informational basis of policies is at the centre of this article. In the first part, the authors summarize some of the main trends of the increasing process of transformation of the informational basis of policies and of the ways such a abstract, standardised and quantified knowledge is imposed as objectified to the individuals. The “bureaucratization of the world” and some of its consequences are discussed. These processes are then more precisely addressed into two different fields of policies: the relationship between safety and work; the educational processes and the sphere of professionalization. Here, the performative and disciplining effects of the devices incorporating these cognitive basis (undergoing the transformation described in the first part of the article) are discussed. Finally, the authors deal with the responsibilities characterizing social research itself, as one of the voices contributing to the processes of producing and formatting informational basis. The need to move towards “enlarged scientific communities”, promoting citizens’ capability for voice (also) into the production of informational basis and democratizing research activities is argued.