Economization of Society: Functional Differentiation and Economic Stagnation

Wenzlaff, Ferdinand

doi:10.1080/00213624.2019.1557001

Cited by 25 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 77 publications

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“…In contrast to classical liberalism, which sought to establish a balance between the market and other spheres of society (including the state and civil society), Foucault claims, neoliberalism seeks to replace citizenship and all other forms of human participation in society with the atomistic, self-serving, and profit-maximizing homo economicus , and thus subsume society and all its parts under the hegemony of the market (see Brown, 2015: 17ff). This trend is almost identical to the process that several scholars have identified as economization: ‘a systemic societal process’ (Wentzlaff, 2019: 58) whose effects are manifest in several pervasive features of contemporary society, including a reorientation of policy in practically all domains ‘around economic interpretations of issues’ (Smith, 2007: 17; see also Berman, 2022) but also a discursive shift in broader society that reconstructs behaviors, organizations, and institutions as ‘economic’ (Callon, 1998) and makes the economy and all its constitutive parts the model for how to organize society as a whole and in all its parts (Hallonsten, 2023).…”

Section: What Is ‘Neoliberalism’?supporting

confidence: 58%

Are evaluative bibliometrics neoliberal? A historical and theoretical problematization

Hammarfelt

Hallonsten

2022

Social Science Information

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In this article, we problematize the notion that the continuously growing use of bibliometric evaluation can be effectively explained by ‘neoliberal’ ideology. A prerequisite for our analysis is an understanding of neoliberalism as both denoting a more limited set of concrete principles for the organization of society (the narrow interpretation) or as a hegemonic ideology (the broad interpretation). This conceptual framework, as well as brief history of evaluative bibliometrics, provides an analytical framing for our approach, in which four national research evaluation systems are compared: Norway, Russia, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. On basis of an analysis of the rationales for implementing these systems, as well as their specific design, we discuss the existence or non-existence of neoliberal motivations and rationales. Overall, we find that a relatively homogeneous academic landscape, with a high degree of centralization and government steering, appears to be a common feature for countries implementing national evaluation systems relying on bibliometrics. Such characteristics, we argue, may not be inductively understood as neoliberal but as indications of national states displaying strong political steering of its research system. Consequently, if used without further clarification, ‘neoliberalism’ is a concept too broad and diluted to be useful when analyzing the development of research evaluation and bibliometric measures in the past half a century.

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Section: What Is ‘Neoliberalism’?supporting

confidence: 58%

Are evaluative bibliometrics neoliberal? A historical and theoretical problematization

Hammarfelt

Hallonsten

2022

Social Science Information

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“…There are many reasons behind all this. Historical developments in the world economy-most of all the end of the postwar economic boom and the broad downturn in the 1970s, followed by globalization, digitalization, and new competition from faraway labor markets-made competition and renewal into key priorities in industries and national economies alike, and economic growth into the highest priority of government policy (Kuttner 1999;Wentzlaff 2019;Berman 2022). Meanwhile, not only private actors but also governmental and supra-governmental agencies have their own interests to guard , among which are attention and funding for their specific areas.…”

Section: Innovationismmentioning

confidence: 99%

Moonshots and the New Industrial Policy: Questioning the Mission Economy

Henrekson,

Sandström,

Stenkula

2024

SSRN Journal

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“…It describes the conglomeration of the influence that economic entities have to affect and/or transform the behavior of individual or collective entities or the predominant logic in other systems (i.e., the political or societal sphere). The economization of the life‐worlds (i.e., expansion of the economic logic into multiple non‐economic spheres) and the borders of economic logic are frequently problematized in the business ethics discipline (e.g., Manzeschke, 2011; Polanyi, 2010; Sandel, 2013; Ulrich, 2008; Wenzlaff, 2019).…”

Section: Corporate Powermentioning

confidence: 99%

Corporate power and democracy: A business ethical reflection and research agenda

Kroll,

Edinger‐Schons

2023

Business Ethics Env & Resp

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Corporations significantly influence the public and political spheres. In light of this corporate power in society, academics have criticized the lack of legitimization (i.e., the legitimacy gap) and highlighted a potential divergence between corporate resource allocation and the needs and preferences of the public (i.e., the social issues gap). To address these problems, democratizing organizations has been proposed as a potential solution. In line with this, the authors argue that an increase in corporate power outside the economic realm should be counterbalanced by more democratic corporate governance (i.e., an internalization of democracy). While important groundwork exists, academic attention to these topics remains limited. The authors provide an overview of the literature linking corporate power and the claim for democratizing organizations, advocate for legitimization, identify research gaps, and develop a research agenda to inspire and guide future research efforts. The paper's findings suggest the importance of conceptual and empirical research on the micro‐, meso‐, and macro‐levels and the cross‐level effects, which is needed to advance this incipient research area. Future research must (1) clearly define corporate power and discuss how democratizing organizations can contribute to more legitimate organizational decisions, (2) unveil novel approaches for more democratic corporate governance, and (3) understand the organizational‐ and individual‐level factors necessary for the successful realization of democratic organizations.

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Economization of Society: Functional Differentiation and Economic Stagnation

Cited by 25 publications

References 77 publications

Are evaluative bibliometrics neoliberal? A historical and theoretical problematization

Are evaluative bibliometrics neoliberal? A historical and theoretical problematization

Moonshots and the New Industrial Policy: Questioning the Mission Economy

Corporate power and democracy: A business ethical reflection and research agenda

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