Evaluation as a social practice: Disenchantment, rationalities and ethics

摘要

We live in an age where evaluation is omnipresent. However, as a social practice, it has become hard to distinguish from auditing, inspection, quality assurance and other means of social control. As a result, the evaluation occupation is now widely viewed as intrusive and burdensome ? a self-serving commercial enterprise. Yet, evaluation at its creation was conceived (or perhaps imagined) as a vocation devoted to the public good. This article probes the root causes of the spreading disenchantment; puts Weber?s logic of social action to work; and puts his rationalities concepts to work to explore the ethical and professional challenges currently faced by the evaluation community.