The core methodological concept nearly all of Busch's analysis stems from is that of authority. Busch asserts that standards are a form of moral, political, economic and technical authority. The rest of the book examines each type of authority, emphasizing a the connive situational strands. It also elaborates upon the nature of this authority itself. In this, he traces the kind of authoritative function standards have played on a historical level. During the enlightenment standards played the role of universalizing conduct, concepts, and mechanisms, this was the fundamental nature of its authority. In the modern era, differentiation becomes a more dominant aspect. Through differentiation, standards accuse a higher level of scrutiny, monitoring, and regulation through devices such as audits, certification. There is a shift from manufacturing a regulative common or general, to an evaluating of the individual.
Two adjacent concepts to these qualities of authority is that of choice and information mobility. Pertaining to the former, Busch analysis of standards finds that choices, decisions, trends all aspects at play, are not opposed to standards, especially in operation. Busch shows choices or 'play' in general is not restricted but rather created. Versions of deceptions and conducts are manufactured by the nature of its authority. Inversely it this ability to create a play that feeds into and bolsterers standards nature of authority. Between the two comes protocols and procedures, especially in reactive instances such as medical prognosis, where the best version of a choice has to be made admits a plethora of options. In this information mobility becomes key. Standards allow for a common semiotic system. Any new choice, information or action that takes place in the limited occasion, need only be translated into the common signifiers in order to be made legible to the whole system and its actors.
Taking these three concepts of standards, Busch augments them as to apply to neoliberal institutions, political thought, and socio-technical systems. It is here that Busch methodology truly comes forth. Just as he draws common threads between the functioning of standards in various institutions, he simultaneously does the same for the neoliberal institutions that they operate within. The thrust of his argument is to show that both neoliberal logic and conduct, and the ubiquitous standards that inhabit the various conditions of social life, are intertwined in a dynamic relationship, setting of trends of growth, the notion of development and forms of choice. The extent of the is dynamic relation is best shown through sites of contention where standards in achieving safety, justice or even health can vary according to locative conditions.
