ABSTRACT
Interest in the study of standards and standardization within the social sciences has grown dramatically over the past two decades. Standards are a ubiquitous part of daily life, whether in the realm of education, health care, or food and agriculture. There is a green frenzy taking place in which there is a tooth-and-claw-competition among a growing pack of stakeholders, including environmental activists, think tanks, etc; all clamoring to establish and impose their will on green standards. There is a new global sustainable beef initiative being organized by the private sector, both industry and non-governmental organizations, that seeks to reduce the environmental harms caused by beef production. Another important component of the political economy of standards revolves around the means through which compliance with standards is assured. Latour helps us best to understand that standards are fundamentally about acting at a distance, in that they are created to facilitate transactions between actors in distant locations.
