Sociology Department Colloquium: Woody Powell

Please join us for a colloquium being given by Woody Powell, Professor at the Graduate School of Education, Stanford University.

"Lump, split, or elevate? How a classification created a château tradition in 19th century Bordeaux, France"

(with Gregoire Croidieu, Ecole Management-Grenoble)

How and why does something temporary become resilient? Social classifications, industrial categories, and technical standards can be more or less malleable; but they each have the effect that the more they are used, the more they are reinforced. Such classifications both enable coordination and create boundaries. They may also evolve into powerful symbolic representations. We examine how a classification that was temporarily created in the mid-19th century persisted in the face of many challenges (e.g. wars, depression, and pestilence)  and survives intact until today. Drawing on a wealth of data sources -- rival rankings, international exhibitions, architectural buildings, naming conventions -- we show how a temporary classification became venerated. We propose the concept of transcendence, that is, how a classification gains a superior, external quality, detached from its birth, and widely accepted as a social fact. Empirically, we show how the Bordeaux wine classification evolved into an invented tradition robust to numerous challenges. In a larger sense, our study illuminates how the messy and contingent origins of an institution are often forgotten and ennobling accounts are constructed.