Valuing the Unique: The Economics of Singularities.

Lucien Karpik. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press,

2010. 280 pp. $39.50, paper.
We are all consumers of singularities—that is, commodities
with unique and incommensurable aesthetic or other quality-
based characteristics. Lucien Karpik wants to understand
how markets for singularities operate. These are markets for
things like fine wines, books, movies, art work, and profes-
sional services for which it is often difficult to determine the
quality of competing products. How, for example, do con-
sumers decide which lawyer or architect to hire, which
recording of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony to buy, or which
bottle of red wine to purchase for a wedding anniversary
when the quality of competing items is difficult to ascertain?
What price should they put on a “priceless” Picasso? How
much should they pay to have a violin maker build an instru-
ment for them when the tonal quality of the violin will not be
known for years? Karpik suggests that these sorts of mar-
kets cannot be understood with the tools of neoclassical
economics for which supply and demand are said to deter-
mine price. In addition, and more important, consumers of
these and many other singular items must rely on judgment
devices of all sorts that help them gauge the quality of
different lawyers, architects, classical CD recordings, wines,
etc., for which quality itself is a complex multidimensional
phenomenon and therefore difficult to determine. Picking the
“best” Beethoven recording, for example, involves assessing
the quality of the orchestras, conductors, technical features
of the recordings, pleasantness to the ear, and much more
among dozens of different CDs on offer. It all gets very
complicated for the consumer, such that decisions are
fraught with uncertainty, which is why judgment devices are
so necessary.
Karpik spends much of the book identifying and explaining
different types of judgment devices and how they fit together
in seven economic coordination regimes, each specific to a
different type of singularities market. Some judgment devices
are impersonal, such as critics’ reviews of movies and books,
professional rankings, brand names, prestigious awards, and
the like. But some are personal, including the recommenda-
tions of family, friends, colleagues, and other trusted indivi-
duals with whom consumers have network ties.
It should be obvious by now that this is a book that will have
broad appeal. Economic sociologists will find many insights
about how real markets work and will delight in its reasoned
critique of neoclassical economics. They will also find appeal-
ing the book’s emphasis on networks as a means of obtaining
trustworthy information necessary for making decisions about
some types of singularities. And given that many of the singu-
larities under investigation involve the worlds of literature,
food, drink, cinema, and music, there is much in the book that
will appeal to cultural sociologists. In short, this is a book that
is broad in scope both theoretically and empirically. Readers
may cringe once they realize that they must come to grips
with dozens of formal concepts in order to fully grasp Karpik’s
arguments, but they will be rewarded for their effort in the

683/ASQ, December 2010

end. Above all, they will learn a great deal about how different
types of markets are embedded in and constituted by all sorts
of interesting institutions and social relations.
One regret that I had with the book was that it did not address
to my satisfaction where the markets for singularities end and
the markets for more standardized commodities start. At its
core, Karpik’s argument is about how consumers reduce
uncertainty by gathering information to compare the quality of
competing commodities and services. The use of judgment
devices is the key because they provide presumably reliable
and well-informed opinions that consumers can use to help
make their decisions. But it seems to me that judgment
devices are used far more frequently than even Karpik realizes.
In fact, such devices are often available and used frequently
for a wide range of commodities that do not seem particularly
unique or singular. For instance, in the United States, people
often turn to Consumer Reports to help them determine the
quality of all sorts of standardized products, ranging from
washing machines, lawn mowers, and air conditioners to
automobiles and television sets. In my local pharmacy and
supermarket there are often signs on products ranging from
shampoo and aspirin to cold remedies and cough drops to
help consumers compare quality. Even in some of the alleg-
edly purest markets of all—stock, bond, and commodities
markets—buyers use all sorts of judgment devices, including
the now-infamous rankings of Moody’s, Standard and Poor’s,
and other ratings agencies, as well as more detailed reports
and ratings from companies like Morningstar. Or they defer
entirely to the judgment of a financial advisor or mutual fund
manager. In other words, the use of judgment devices is
extremely widespread and may not be as restricted to markets
for singularities as Karpik believes. This means, on the one
hand, that his theory may be more generalizable than he
realizes.
On the other hand, it may also be more restricted than he
realizes. I missed having a more explicit discussion of the
scope conditions of Karpik’s argument. I wondered how
historically or culturally specific his argument is. For instance,
I wonder if the wine market in the United States fits his
theory better than the wine market in France. As he explains,
wine is an integral part of French culture to a much greater
extent than it is part of the culture in the United States. So I
would assume that the average French citizen has a consider-
ably greater knowledge of wine than his or her American
counterpart and that the American would be in much greater
need of judgment devices, such as Parker’s Wine Buyers
Guide, than the French person. His discussion of the French
market for fine wine implies that this is not the case, but he
never addresses the issue directly for this or any product or
service that he discusses. There are a few pages at the end
of the book about the conditions under which singular com-
modities may be transformed into more standardized com-
modities—that is, how they are “desingularized,” as he puts
it. But this is too little, too late.
Despite these concerns, this is an admirable book. It is
theoretically rich, illustrated with many, many fascinating

684/ASQ, December 2010

 Book Reviews

examples of real markets, and a wonderful read for anybody

interested in how markets really work.

John L. Campbell
Department of Sociology
Dartmouth College
Hanover, NH 03755
and
International Center for Business and Politics
Copenhagen Business School

685/ASQ, December 2010

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