ATT GREPPA DET OMÄTBARA. Ledbyggares arbete med svårighetsgrader i en klätterhall

Sammanfattning

In many contemporary contexts, numbers and measurements are used to make subjective andqualitative phenomena measurable and comparable. This can be understood as a process ofcommensuration (Espeland & Stevens, 1998). The study examines how such a process takesshape in practice through route setters’ production of difficulty grades in a climbing gym.Through bodily and subjective assessments, climbing grades are transformed into quantifiablegrades. This study is based on ethnographic methods, including participant observation andinterviews. The participant observation involved my own participation in climbing practicesas a researcher, which made my own body part of the ethnographic process. The informantsconsisted of route setters and managers working at climbing gyms in Gothenburg. Findingsshow that difficulty grades are not objective measurements, but are produced through bodilyexperiences, social collaboration, and shared negotiations between route setters. At the sametime, the grades appear stable and trustworthy to climbers, which is connected to the routesetters’ expertise and the organized structure of the gyms. The study therefore contributes to abroader understanding of how standards and systems of evaluation are created, stabilized, andgiven legitimacy in practice, also beyond the context of climbing. The thesis is written inSwedish.