Comparisons : Framing similarity, framing difference

Deville, Joe and Guggenheim, Michael (2024) Comparisons : Framing similarity, framing difference. In: Elgar Encyclopedia of Science and Technology Studies :. Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd., Cheltenham, pp. 185-193. ISBN 9781800377981

Abstract

This entry makes an argument for the potential for comparison within STS-informed approaches to research. Comparison, we argue, should be considered as not in and of itself better or worse than other framing techniques used within social research. We introduce work that has explored comparison as an empirical object, before suggesting that STS could do more to critically explore the role of comparison as a deliberately deployed research practice. This would pull apart the functions of comparison, while making arguments for forms of comparison that do not simply acknowledge, but positively engage with, the socio-material contingencies of comparative research.