On Assemblages and Things: Fluidity, Stability, Causation Stories, and Formation Stories

This article conducts a dialogue and creates a new synthesis between two of the most influential ontological discourses in the field of sociology: assemblage theory and critical realism. The former proposes a focus on difference, fluidity, and process, the latter a focus on stability and structure. Drawing on and assessing the work of Deleuze, DeLanda, and Bhaskar, we argue that social ontology must overcome the tendency to bifurcate between these two poles and instead develop an ontology more suited to explaining complex social phenomena by accommodating elements of both traditions. Going beyond DeLanda’s recent work, we argue that a concept of causal types must be used alongside a typology of structures to give us an ontology that can sustain sociology’s need for both formation stories and causation stories. We illustrate the necessity and value of our proposed synthesis by discussing MacKenzie’s recent empirical analysis of a high-frequency trading firm.

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An Empirical Analysis of Order Dynamics in a High Frequency Trading Environment

10.3790/978-3-89644-635-0 ◽

2013 ◽

Author(s):

Arne Breuer

Keyword(s):

Empirical Analysis ◽

High Frequency ◽

High Frequency Trading

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Cognition in High-Frequency Trading: The Costs of Consciousness and the Limits of Automation

Theory Culture & Society ◽

10.1177/0263276418758906 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 35 (6) ◽

pp. 75-95 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Armin Beverungen ◽

Ann-Christina Lange

Keyword(s):

Financial Markets ◽

Recent Work ◽

High Frequency ◽

Human Perception ◽

Media Theory ◽

High Frequency Trading ◽

Media Technologies ◽

Contemporary Media ◽

Full Automation

Certain strands of contemporary media theory are concerned with the ways in which computational environments exploit the ‘missing half-second’ of human perception and thereby influence, control or exploit humans at an affective level. The ‘technological unconscious’ of our times is often understood to work at this affective level, and high-frequency trading is regularly provided as a primary illustrative example of the contagious dynamics it produces. We challenge and complicate this account of the relation between consciousness, affect and media technologies by drawing on the recent work of N. Katherine Hayles and by focusing in detail on the ways in which the ‘costs of consciousness’ are accounted for and negotiated in high-frequency trading. We suggest that traders actively develop modes of awareness accounting for the costs of consciousness, and that the necessary ‘stupidity’ of high-frequency trading algorithms as well as competition pose limits to the full automation of financial markets.

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Reassembling the Artwork

Tahiti ◽

10.23995/tht.103177 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 10 (4) ◽

Author(s):

Dan Karlholm

Keyword(s):

Eighteenth Century ◽

Martin Heidegger ◽

Art History ◽

Gilles Deleuze ◽

Social Ontology ◽

Felix Guattari ◽

Bruno Latour ◽

Social Phenomena ◽

Assemblage Theory ◽

The 1950S

This article discusses how materialist philosopher Manuel Delanda’s “assemblage theory” could be of use for art studies. I begin by situating what I term art studies in relation to art history and comment on the differences. After a selective presentation of Delanda’s social ontology on assemblages, in turn following A Thousand Plateaus by Gilles Deleuze & Félix Guattari, I relate his theory to the concept of assemblage, its origin in the eighteenth century as well as its references as an art term from the 1950s. Theoretical assistance from Martin Heidegger and Bruno Latour allows me to specify how the notion of assemblage could be used in connection with art studies focused neither on Art nor History but on artworks, as the first assemblage, followed by other assemblages, connecting with other works, agents and institutions, i.e. social phenomena literally assembled or com-posed. I present five types of assemblages of relevance to art studies as a different way of doing history, as something ongoing and openly unfolding (assisted and assembled by us), thus theoretically immune to being “history” in the sense of over. Keywords: art history, art studies, assemblage theory, artwork, Gilles Deleuze, Manuel DeLanda, Martin Heidegger, Bruno Latour

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High-Frequency Financial Econometrics

10.23943/princeton/9780691161433.001.0001 ◽

2014 ◽

Cited By ~ 20

Author(s):

Yacine Aït-Sahalia ◽

Jean Jacod

Keyword(s):

High Frequency ◽

Practical Importance ◽

Financial Econometrics ◽

Trading Strategies ◽

Financial Data ◽

Jump Processes ◽

High Frequency Trading ◽

Microstructure Noise ◽

Econometric Methods ◽

Mathematical Foundations

High-frequency trading is an algorithm-based computerized trading practice that allows firms to trade stocks in milliseconds. Over the last fifteen years, the use of statistical and econometric methods for analyzing high-frequency financial data has grown exponentially. This growth has been driven by the increasing availability of such data, the technological advancements that make high-frequency trading strategies possible, and the need of practitioners to analyze these data. This comprehensive book introduces readers to these emerging methods and tools of analysis. The book covers the mathematical foundations of stochastic processes, describes the primary characteristics of high-frequency financial data, and presents the asymptotic concepts that their analysis relies on. It also deals with estimation of the volatility portion of the model, including methods that are robust to market microstructure noise, and address estimation and testing questions involving the jump part of the model. As the book demonstrates, the practical importance and relevance of jumps in financial data are universally recognized, but only recently have econometric methods become available to rigorously analyze jump processes. The book approaches high-frequency econometrics with a distinct focus on the financial side of matters while maintaining technical rigor, which makes this book invaluable to researchers and practitioners alike.

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