Donald MacKenzie

Professor

D.MacKenzie@ed.ac.uk

+44 (0)131 650 3980

6.26

Chrystal Macmillan Building

15a George Square

Edinburgh

EH8 9LD

Research interests

Digital sociology Finance and economic sociology Science, knowledge and policy Studies of information and communication technology Technology and material culture Work & Economy

I'm currently beginning new research on AI's foundation models and AI agents based on them. Our ESRC project on AdTech (online advertising's technical/economic systems) is now nearing completion, and an earlier project on HFT (ultrafast, automated high-frequency trading) is finished. Links below:

AdTech project

HFT project

Topics interested in supervising

I'm concentrating right now on my existing cohort of PhD students, but still open to new students working on areas very close to my current research. For info on our PhD programme see:

PhD in Sociology (opens in new window)

Background

I'm a sociologist of science and technology, and my research aims to throw new light on their role in shaping the modern world. I work on topics such as AI, digital advertising, automated financial trading and (in earlier projects) how financial-market participants use mathematical models and how nuclear weapons systems are designed.

My book with Koray Caliskan, Inside Digital Advertising: Platforms, Power, and Material Politics (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2026) is open access, and can be downloaded from Polity's website.

Earlier books include:

Trading at the Speed of Light: How Ultrafast Algorithms Are Transforming Financial Markets (Princeton University Press, 2021, also available as audiobook).
An Engine, Not a Camera: How Financial Models Shape Markets (MIT Press, 2006).
Inventing Accuracy: A Historical Sociology of Nuclear Missile Guidance (MIT Press, 1990).

Watch Donald talking about trading at Edinburgh's celebrated Library of Mistakes:

CV and publications

Full CV and Publications List

Selected recent articles

AI's Scale, Donald MacKenzie, London Review of Books, February 2026 [final draft + links to main sources used].

The Future of Search, Donald MacKenzie, London Review of Books, November 2025 [final draft + links to main sources used].

Ecologization, Part 1: Towards Assets-Actifs and Care Practices, Michel Callon, Koray Caliskan, Donald MacKenzie, Economy and Society, May 2025.

Ecologization, Part 2: Practices, Strategies and Devices for Managing Assets-Actifs, Michel Callon, Koray Caliskan, Donald MacKenzie, Economy and Society, June 2025.

Hey Big Spender: What Your Smartphone Knows About You, Donald MacKenzie, London Review of Books, August 2024 [final draft + links to main sources used]

Intermediaries, Mediators and Digital Advertising's Tensions, Addie McGowan, Donald MacKenzie and Koray Caliskan, Journal of Cultural Economy, July 2024.

The Longest Second: Header Bidding and the Material Politics of Online Advertising, Donald MacKenzie, Koray Caliskan and Charlotte Rommerskirchen, Economy and Society, 2023.

A Puff of Carbon Dioxide [digital advertising's carbon emissions], Donald MacKenzie, London Review of Books, January 2023 [final draft + links to main sources used].

Blink, Bid, Buy: Digital Advertising and Online News, Donald MacKenzie, draft article for London Review of Books, May 2022.

Spoofing: Law, Materiality and Boundary Work In Futures Trading, Donald MacKenzie, Economy and Society, January 2022.

Cookies, Pixels and Fingerprints, Donald MacKenzie, April 2021. Draft article for the London Review of Books.

Qualifications

BSc (University of Edinburgh)
PhD (University of Edinburgh)

Works within

Sociology

I am not currently teaching (working on a major research project), so not holding regular guidance and feedback hours. Please email Frances.J.Burgess@ed.ac.uk for an appointment.

Publication	Research Explorer link
Caliskan K, MacKenzie D, McGowan A. Superplatform: A framework to analyse and regulate Google's online ad ecosystem. Internet Policy Review. 2026 Feb 18;15(1):1-25. doi: 10.14763/2026.1.2077	View
MacKenzie D. AI's scale. London Review of Books. 2026 Feb 5;48(2):32-33. Epub 2026 Feb 1.	View
MacKenzie D. The future of search. London Review of Books. 2025 Nov 20;47(21):17-20.	View
MacKenzie D, Caliskan K. Inside Digital Advertising: Platforms, Power, and Material Politics. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press, 2025. 248 p.	View
Nur Unal S, Polillo S, Caliskan K, MacKenzie D. The modes of performativity: A meta-theoretical review. Finance and Society. 2025 May 15;1-24. Epub 2025 May 15. doi: 10.1017/fas.2025.11	View
Caliskan K, MacKenzie D, McGowan A. Prodexchange: Digital-industrial economization in Google Search supply chain. Platforms & Society . 2025 Apr 29;2:1-17. Epub 2025 Apr 29. doi: 10.1177/29768624251337868	View
Caliskan K, MacKenzie D, Callon M. Stacked economisation: A research programme for the study of platforms. Journal of Cultural Economy. 2025 Apr 1;18(2):304 - 331. Epub 2024 Dec 12. doi: 10.1080/17530350.2024.2423687	View
Elzen B, MacKenzie D. The Seymour Cray Era of Supercomputers: From Fast Machines to Fast Codes. ACM Association for Computing Machinery, 2025. 282 p. doi: 10.1145/3705551	View
Callon M, Caliskan K, MacKenzie D. Ecologization, part 1: Towards assets-actifs and care practices. Economy and Society. 2025;54(2):185-208. Epub 2025 May 2. doi: 10.1080/03085147.2025.2488121	View
Callon M, Caliskan K, MacKenzie D. Ecologization, part 2: Practices, strategies and devices for managing assets-actifs. Economy and Society. 2025;54(3):381-407. Epub 2025 Jun 9. doi: 10.1080/03085147.2025.2498825	View
MacKenzie D. Hey Big Spender: What Your Smartphone Knows About You. London Review of Books. 2024 Aug 15;46(16).	View
MacKenzie D. Da Vinci medal address: Material political economy. Technology and culture. 2024 Jul;65(3):979-993. Epub 2024 Jul 19. doi: 10.1353/tech.2024.a933102	View
McGowan A, MacKenzie D, Caliskan K. Intermediaries, mediators and digital advertising's tensions. Journal of Cultural Economy. 2024;17(5):513-531. Epub 2024 Jul 15. doi: 10.1080/17530350.2024.2360919	View
Caliskan K, MacKenzie D, Rommerskirchen C. Strange bedfellows: Consumer protection and competition policy in the making of the EU privacy regime. JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies. 2023 Sept 27. Epub 2023 Sept 27. doi: 10.1111/jcms.13552	View
MacKenzie D. Black-Scholes at 50: how a pricing model for options changed finance. Financial Times. 2023 Apr 26;Markets Insight.	View
MacKenzie D. A Puff of Carbon Dioxide. London Review of Books. 2023 Jan 11;45(2).	View
MacKenzie D, Caliskan K, Rommerskirchen C. The longest second: Header bidding and the material politics of online advertising. Economy and Society. 2023;52(3):554-578. Epub 2023 Aug 23. doi: 10.1080/03085147.2023.2238463	View
MacKenzie D. Baboon sociology? Commentary on Daniel Beunza’s Taking the Floor. Sociologica. 2022 May 19;16(1):71-75. doi: 10.6092/issn.1971-8853/14724	View
MacKenzie D. Blink bid buy. London Review of Books. 2022 May 12;44(9).	View
MacKenzie D. High-frequency trading and the material political economy of finance. In Arnon A, Marcuzzo MC, Rosselli A, editors, Financial Markets in Perspective: Lessons from Economic History of Economic Thought. 1 ed. Cham: Springer. 2022. p. 83-100. (Springer Studies in the History of Economic Thought). Epub 2022 Feb 11. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-86753-9_5	View
MacKenzie D. Spoofing: Law, materiality and boundary work in futures trading. Economy and Society. 2022;51(1):1-22. Epub 2021 Nov 30. doi: 10.1080/03085147.2022.1987753	View
MacKenzie D. How to Make Money in Nanoseconds. 2021.	View
MacKenzie D. Trading at the Speed of Light: How Ultrafast Algorithms Are Transforming Financial Markets. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2021. 304 p. doi: 10.1515/9780691217796	View
MacKenzie D. Cookies, pixels and fingerprints. London Review of Books. 2021 Apr 1;43(7):31-34.	View
MacKenzie D, Hardie I, Rommerskirchen C, Van der Heide A. Why hasn’t high-frequency trading swept the board? Shares, sovereign bonds and the politics of market structure. Review of International Political Economy. 2020 Mar 30;N/A:1-25. Epub 2020 Mar 30. doi: 10.1080/09692290.2020.1743340	View
MacKenzie D. Negotiating arithmetic, constructing proof: The sociology of mathematics and information technology. In Mazzotti M, editor, The History of Science. 1 ed. Routledge. 2020	View
MacKenzie D. Market devices and structural dependency: The origins and development of ‘dark pools’. Finance and Society. 2019 May 9;5(1):1-19. doi: 10.2218/finsoc.v5i1.3015	View
MacKenzie D. Pick a nonce and try a hash. London Review of Books. 2019 Apr 18;41(8):35-38.	View
MacKenzie D. How algorithms interact: Goffman's 'interaction order' in automated trading. Theory, Culture & Society. 2019 Mar 9;36(2):39-59. doi: 10.1177/0263276419829541	View
MacKenzie D. Just how fast? Donald MacKenzie on the increasing speed of high-frequency trading. London Review of Books. 2019 Mar 7;41(5):23-24. 9.	View
MacKenzie D, Bamford A. Counterperformativity. New Left Review. 2018 Nov 12;113:97-121. Epub 2018 Oct 31.	View
MacKenzie D. 'Making', 'taking' and the material political economy of algorithmic trading. Economy and Society. 2018 Nov;47(4):501-523. Epub 2018 Nov 27. doi: 10.1080/03085147.2018.1528076	View
Schyfter Camacho P, MacKenzie D. STS and its challenging obligations: Pablo Schyfter talks with Donald MacKenzie. Engaging Science, Technology, and Society. 2018 Jul 12;4:335-351. doi: 10.17351/ests2018.206	View
MacKenzie D. Material signals: A historical sociology of high-frequency trading. American Journal of Sociology (AJS). 2018 May 31;123(6):1635-1683. doi: 10.1086/697318	View
MacKenzie D. How to Solve the Puzzle: Donald MacKenzie on Short Selling. London Review of Books. 2018 Apr 5;40(7):11-12.	View
MacKenzie D. Short Cuts. London Review of Books. 2018 Jan 25;40(2):24.	View
MacKenzie D, Millo Y. Constructing a market, performing a theory: The historical sociology of a financial derivatives exchange. In Granovetter M, Swedberg R, editors, The Sociology of Economic Life. 3 ed. Taylor & Francis. 2018. p. 264-293 doi: 10.4324/9780429494338	View
MacKenzie D. Introduction: Financialising economic activities. In Boussard V, editor, Finance at Work. Routledge. 2017. p. 89-91. (Routledge International Studies in Money and Banking). doi: 10.4324/9781315470290	View
Arjalies DL, Grant P, Hardie I, MacKenzie D, Svetlova E. Chains of Finance: How Investment Management is Shaped. 1 ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017. 206 p. doi: 10.1093/oso/9780198802945.001.0001	View
MacKenzie D, Spears T. Die kognitive Soziologie toxischer Vermogenswerte: The Cognitive Sociology of Toxic Assets. In Diaz-Bone R, Hartz R, editors, Dispositiv und Okonomie: Diskurs- und dispositivanalytische Perspektiven auf Märkte und Organisationen. Springer. 2017. p. 157-178	View
MacKenzie D. On Invoking "Culture" in the Analysis of Behavior in Financial Markets. In Chemla K, Fox Keller E, editors, Cultures Without Culturalism: The Making of Scientific Knowledge. Duke University Press. 2017. p. 29-48. 1	View
MacKenzie D. A material political economy: Automated Trading Desk and price prediction in high-frequency trading. Social Studies of Science. 2017 Apr 1;47(2):172-194. Epub 2016 Dec 6. doi: 10.1177/0306312716676900	View
MacKenzie D. This Is Not Alchemy. In Senneby G, Einarsson K, editors, The Exquisite Corpse of August Nordenskiöld. Berlin: Sternberg Press. 2017. p. 34-58	View
MacKenzie D. Capital's Geodesic: Chicago, New Jersey, and the Material Sociology of Speed. In Wajcman J, Dodd N, editors, The Sociology of Speed: Digital, Organizational, and Social Temporalities. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2016. p. 55	View
MacKenzie D. The credit crisis as a problem in the Sociology of Knowledge. In Ertürk I, Gabor D, editors, The Routledge Companion to Banking Regulation and Reform. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge. 2016. p. 9 - 54. 1. (Routledge Companions in Business, Management and Accounting).	View
MacKenzie D. Must Do Better. London Review of Books. 2016 May 5;38(9):29.	View
MacKenzie D. Donald MacKenzie: a continent. inter-view. Continent. 2016 Apr 13;2016(5.2):20-24.	View
MacKenzie D, Barany M. A Dusty Discipline. In Pitici M, editor, The Best Writing on Mathematics 2015. 2015 ed. Princeton University Press. 2016. p. 1-6	View
MacKenzie D. Mechanizing the Merc: The Chicago Mercantile Exchange and the Rise of High-Frequency Trading. Technology and culture. 2015 Jul;56(3):646. doi: 10.1353/tech.2015.0102	View
MacKenzie D. Dark Markets. London Review of Books. 2015 Jun 4;37(11):29-32.	View
MacKenzie D. On 'Spoofing'. London Review of Books. 2015 May 21;37(10):38.	View
MacKenzie D, Tyc S. Comment: Regulators Should Raise Public Trade Data Standards. Financial Times. 2015 Mar 19.	View
Spears T, MacKenzie D. The Cognitive Sociology of Toxic Assets. In Balke F, Siegert B, Vogl J, editors, Modelle und Modellierung. 1 ed. Paderborn: Wilhelm Fink Verlag. 2015. p. 163-171	View
MacKenzie D. At Cermak. London Review of Books. 2014 Dec 4;36:25.	View
Hardie I, MacKenzie D. The lemon-squeezing problem: Analytical and computational limitations in collateralized debt obligation evaluation. Competition & Change. 2014 Oct;18(5):383-401. Epub 2014 Sept 9. doi: 10.1179/1024529414Z.00000000067	View
MacKenzie D. Be grateful for drizzle: Donald MacKenzie on high-frequency trading. London Review of Books. 2014 Sept 11;36(17):27-30.	View
MacKenzie D. LIBOR. In Thrift N, Tickell A, Woolgar S, Rupp WH, editors, Globalization in Practice. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2014. p. 119-123	View
MacKenzie D, Spears T. 'The formula that killed Wall Street': The Gaussian copula and modelling practices in investment banking. Social Studies of Science. 2014 Jun 1;44(3):393-417. Epub 2014 Feb 6. doi: 10.1177/0306312713517157	View
MacKenzie D, Spears T. ‘A device for being able to book P&L’: The organizational embedding of the Gaussian copula. Social Studies of Science. 2014 Jun 1;44(3):418-440. Epub 2014 Feb 6. doi: 10.1177/0306312713517158	View
MacKenzie D, Pardo-Guerra JP. Insurgent capitalism: Island, bricolage and the re-making of finance. Economy and Society. 2014 May;43(2):153-182. Epub 2014 May 20. doi: 10.1080/03085147.2014.881597	View
Barany M, MacKenzie D. Chalk: Materials and concepts in mathematics research. In Coopmans C, Vertesi J, Lynch ME, Woolgar S, editors, Representation in Scientific Practice Revisited. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. 2014. p. 107-130. (Inside Technology). doi: 10.7551/mitpress/9780262525381.003.0006	View
Lovell H, MacKenzie D. Allometric equations and timber markets: an important forerunner of REDD+? In Stephan B, Lane R, editors, The Politics of Carbon Markets. Taylor & Francis. 2014. p. 69-90	View
MacKenzie D. The Magic Lever. London Review of Books. 2013 May 9;35(9):16-19.	View
Hardie I, MacKenzie D. The Material Sociology of Arbitrage. In Knorr Cetina K, Preda A, editors, The Oxford Handbook of the Sociology of Finance: Oxford Handbooks in Business and Management. Oxford University Press. 2012 doi: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199590162.013.0011	View
Lovell H, MacKenzie D. Accounting for Carbon: The Role of Accounting Professional Organisations in Governing Climate Change. In Newell P, Boykoff M, Boyd E, editors, The New Carbon Economy: Constitution, Governance and Contestation. Wiley-Blackwell. 2012. p. 107	View
MacKenzie D. Knowledge Production in Financial Markets: Credit Default Swaps, the ABX and the Subprime Crisis. Economy and Society. 2012;41(3):335-359. doi: 10.1080/03085147.2012.661635	View
MacKenzie D, Beunza D, Millo Y, Pardo-Guerra JP. Drilling Through the Allegheny Mountains: Liquidity, Materiality and High-Frequency Trading. Journal of Cultural Economy. 2012;5(3):279-296. doi: 10.1080/17530350.2012.674963	View
Lovell H, MacKenzie D. Accounting for Carbon: The Role of Accounting Professional Organisations in Governing Climate Change. Antipode: A Radical Journal of Geography. 2011 Jun 1;43(3):704-730. Epub 2011 May 9. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-8330.2011.00883.x	View
MacKenzie D. How to Make Money in Microseconds. London Review of Books. 2011 May 19;33(10):16-18.	View
MacKenzie D. The Credit Crisis as a Problem in the Sociology of Knowledge. American Journal of Sociology (AJS). 2011;116(6):1778-1841. doi: 10.1086/659639	View
MacKenzie D, Tyc S. Unlocking the Language of Structured Securities. Financial Times. 2010 Aug 19;32.	View
MacKenzie D. Constructing Carbon Markets: Learning from Experiments in the Technopolitics of Emissions Trading Schemes. In Lakoff A, editor, Disaster and the Politics of Intervention. New York: Columbia University Press. 2010. p. 130-148	View
MacKenzie D. Beneath all the Toxic Acronyms Lies a Basic Cultural Issue. Financial Times. 2009 Nov 26;36.	View
MacKenzie D. All Those Arrows. London Review of Books. 2009 Jun 25;31(12):20-22.	View
MacKenzie D. Making things the same: Gases, Emission Rights and the Politics of Carbon Markets. Accounting, Organizations and Society. 2009 Apr;34(3-4):440-455. doi: 10.1016/j.aos.2008.02.004	View
Beunza D, Hardie I, MacKenzie D. “The Material Sociology of Arbitrage”. In Material Markets: How Economic Agents are Constructed. Oxford University Press. 2009. p. 85-108	View
MacKenzie D. “Produire des comptes: Finitisme, technologie et application de la règle,”. Revue d'Anthropologie des Connaissances. 2009;2009/2:234-258.	View
Millo Y, MacKenzie D. "The Usefulness of Inaccurate Models: The Emergence of Financial Risk Management,". Accounting, Organizations and Society. 2009;34:638-653.	View
Millo Y, MacKenzie D. The usefulness of inaccurate models: financial risk management "in the wild". Journal of risk model validation. 2009;3(1):23-49.	View
Hardie I, MacKenzie D. “Assembling an Economic Actor”. In Material Markets: How Economic Agents are Constructed. Oxford University Press. 2009. p. 37-62	View
MacKenzie D. End-of-the-World Trade. London Review of Books. 2008 May 8;30(9).	View
Damro C, Hardie I, MacKenzie D. The EU and Climate Change Policy: Law, Politics and Prominence at Different Levels. Journal of Contemporary European Research. 2008;4(3):179-192.	View
MacKenzie D. Producing Accounts: Finitism, Technology and Rule-Following. In Mazzotti M, editor, Knowledge as Social Order. Rethinking the Sociology of Barry Barnes. Aldershot, Hants: Ashgate Publishing. 2008. p. 99-118	View
Hatherly D, Leung D, MacKenzie D. The finitist accountant: Classifications, rules and the construction of profits. In Pinch T, Swedberg R, editors, Living in a Material World: Economic Sociology meets Science and Technology Studies. MIT Press. 2008. p. 131-160	View
Damro C, MacKenzie D. The European Union and the Politics of Multi-Level Climate Governance. In Compston H, Bailey I, editors, Turning Down the Heat: The Politics of Climate Policy in Affluent Democracies. Palgrave Macmillan. 2008. p. 65-84	View
MacKenzie D. Material Markets: How Economic Agents are Constructed. Oxford University Press, 2008. 240 p. (Clarendon Lectures in Management Studies).	View
MacKenzie D. Zero Is a Clenched Fist. London Review of Books. 2007 Nov 1;29(21).	View
Hardie I, Mackenzie D. Constructing the Market Frame: Distributed Cognition and Distributed Framing in Financial Markets. New Political Economy. 2007 Sept 1;12(3):389-403. doi: 10.1080/13563460701485649	View
Mackenzie D. The material production of virtuality: innovation, cultural geography and facticity in derivatives markets. Economy and Society. 2007 Aug 1;36(3):355-376. doi: 10.1080/03085140701428332	View
MacKenzie D. The political economy of carbon trading. London Review of Books. 2007 Apr 5;29(7).	View
Hardie I, Mackenzie D. Assembling an economic actor: the agencement of a Hedge Fund: Assembling an economic actor. The Sociological Review. 2007 Jan 1;55(1):57-80. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-954X.2007.00682.x	View
MacKenzie D, (ed.), Muniesa F, (ed.), Siu L, (ed.). Do Economists Make Markets? On the Performativity of Economics. Princeton University Press, 2007. 392 p.	View
MacKenzie D. An Engine, Not A Camera. MIT Press, 2006.	View
Mackenzie D. Opening the black boxes of global finance. Review of International Political Economy. 2005 Oct 1;12(4):555-576. doi: 10.1080/09692290500240222	View
Bundy A, (ed.), Atiyah M, (ed.), Macintyre A, (ed.), Mackenzie D, (ed.). The Nature of Mathematical Proof. Philosophical Transactions A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences. 2005 Oct;363(1835).	View
MacKenzie D. The Blindfolded Archer. London Review of Books. 2005 Aug 4;27(15).	View
MacKenzie D. Models and markets. Wilmott. 2005;17.	View
MacKenzie D. An Equation and its Worlds: Bricolage, Exemplars, Disunity and Performativity in Financial Economics. Social Studies of Science. 2003 Dec;33(6):831-868. doi: 10.1177/0306312703336002	View
MacKenzie D, Millo Y. Constructing a Market, Performing Theory: The Historical Sociology of a Financial Derivatives Exchange. American Journal of Sociology (AJS). 2003;109(1):107-145. doi: 10.1086/374404	View
MacKenzie D, Wajcman J. The Social Shaping of Technology. Oxford University Press, 1999.	View

Donald Mackenzie's Research Explorer profile