Governance by and through testing: What values, rationales and expectations influence the use of testing?

During the COVID-19 pandemic, many countries used tests to detect SARS-CoV-2 infections. However, how these tests were deployed varied considerably. A research project supported by the FWF is investigating which conclusions can be drawn from the use and design of technologies in pandemic management.

Austria was considered the unofficial ‘testing champion’ during the pandemic. Significantly more coronavirus tests were carried out here than in England. At the same time, the number of tests in Austria was very volatile, while it remained relatively stable in the Netherlands. “We are taking these divergent figures as an opportunity for a systematic social science debate”, says Erik Aarden (Department of Society, Knowledge and Politics at the University of Klagenfurt). Together with Ingrid Metzler (Karl Landsteiner University of Health Sciences), he is heading a project funded by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) with the title ‘The Governance of and by Tests’, which will start in early April.

To this end, the research team will examine and compare SARS-CoV-2 testing during the COVID-19 pandemic in Austria, England and the Netherlands. Erik Aarden elaborates: “We see testing as a use case that allows us to learn more about the importance of technologies in pandemic management specifically and the governance of life in general.” The research team understands governance as the sum of practices used to manage, shape and govern life.

The project design is based on the assumption that a variety of values, rationalities and expectations influenced the use of tests in specific contexts. “These include expectations about how tests could help manage the pandemic, as well as assumptions about the responsibility of authorities to protect the health of citizens and the lives of populations,” Erik Aarden continues.

The aim of the project is to contribute to the social science literature on the significance of testing in healthcare and the relationships between technologies and the governance of life, as well as to contribute to a better understanding of the increasing importance of data in society.