Evaluation? Yes, but not This Way!

Editoriale inglese (tradotto da Silvia Benso)

Abstract

Evaluation techniques condition knowledge production. “To evaluate” does not simply mean to photograph that which exists; in many cases, evaluations force a radical change on the research methods and objects. The evaluator becomes producer, and the evaluation techniques become techniques of knowledge production.

Evaluation and rating agencies are agencies that produce reality; they do not confine themselves to selecting the best products available on the market but rather impose a line of products (a line of economic politics, a line of politics tout court, etc.) to the exclusion of others. Thus, evaluation stands in a critical relation with freedom and democracy.