Patrik Aspers

Patrik Aspers is a sociologist who served as a Guest Lecturer at the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences (EHESS) in the Department of Sociology during November 2018.

• Lecture 1: Reducing Uncertainty (5 Nov 2018)
• Lecture 2: Uncertainty as a Bridge between Economics and Sociology (9 Nov 2018)

His research explores how uncertainty—epistemic and future-oriented—shapes social action. He emphasizes structural processes like decision-making by authorities, valuation by actors, and contests to produce orderings (e.g., rankings, quality assessments) in domains such as sports, labor markets, and universities. These mechanisms facilitate decisions in the absence of institutionalized knowledge.