Normalization, Standardization, and Control circa 1900: The Construction of Bad Insects and Good Workers

The paper starts from the concept of "normalization" (Michel Foucault, Jürgen Link) as a technique of structuring and perceiving the natural and the human world. Normalization as an essentially statistical form of perception is closely linked to standardization and to schemes of (self-) control. Jürgen Link's concept of "normalism" applies to the late twentieth century, but at the turn of the century, both forms "proto-normalism" and "flexible normalism" appear to be in existence. The paper will discuss as examples the construction of the insect as pest in applied entomology (dissertation of S. Jansen) and the "Principles of Scientific Management" of Frederick Winslow Taylor.