Why do we believe in competition? A historical-sociological view of competition as an institutionalized modern imaginary

Werron, Tobias

doi:10.1080/1600910x.2015.1049190

Cited by 37 publications

(20 citation statements)

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“…Durkheim was not alone in going down this road. Similar perspectives can be found by Georg Simmel (Werron 2015), just as broader societal movements of both socialist, syndicalist and Catholic variants emphasised the need for a curbing of competition in society through the reinstalment of guild or guild-like corporations aimed at re-integrating a wide range of diverse social function from economic reproduction and welfare services to religious practices and law enforcement (Wiarda, 1997). These movements, in most instances, saw themselves as opposed to both liberal and Marxist ideas, and often emphasised the protection of artisans, shopkeepers and other groups appertaining to the petite bourgeoisie.…”

Section: Whereas Guilds and Other Types Of Intermediary Corporations mentioning

confidence: 68%

“…From the perspective of economic agents, for example, competition might be seen as providing an increase in the range of possible actions and choices, but, from a state perspective, it can be regarded as a way of establishing orderliness through its transmission of processes of "pure competition" into processes of "indirect competition". A switch which, as already indicated, implies a change from a dyadic form of competition between two parties and into an indirect form of triadic competition were the two parties compete for a goal set by a third party (Werron 2010;Werron 2015). As we shall return to, this move towards a structured form of competition furthermore paves the way for an indirect second-order form of steering of social processes (Foucault 2008, 159ff).…”

Section: Modern Statehood and The Introduction Of Competitionmentioning

confidence: 93%

“…For a detailed outline of this perspective and a reconstruction of the evolution in the meaning of the notion of competition over time seeWerron 2015 in this special issue.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Context construction through competition: the prerogative of public power, intermediary institutions, and the expansion of statehood through competition

Kjaer

2015

Distinktion: Journal of Social Theory

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This article examines the relationship between the evolution of statehood and competition in the European context. To begin with, a particular take on the evolution of modern political power in the state form in Europe is developed. Against this background, the article re-constructs how the institutionalisation of competition as a specific type of policy tool has been used by emerging modern states to establish their authority vis-à-vis competing claims to public authority in society. The article, furthermore, engages in an examination of (neo-) corporatist and governance based attempts both to curb and to expand the use of competition as a tool for organising social processes, and the implications of these attempts for the state of statehood.

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Section: Whereas Guilds and Other Types Of Intermediary Corporations mentioning

confidence: 68%

Section: Modern Statehood and The Introduction Of Competitionmentioning

confidence: 93%

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Context construction through competition: the prerogative of public power, intermediary institutions, and the expansion of statehood through competition

Kjaer

2015

Distinktion: Journal of Social Theory

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“…In order to create zero-sum games among the ranked organizations (Espeland & Sauder, 2007;Werron, 2015) such organizations need to be made comparable by means of common measures (Espeland & Stevens, 1998). A key measure chosen in the case of the Access to Medicine Index as the basis for the inclusion of companies in the ranking was company size, measured in terms of pharmaceutical revenues.…”

Section: The Access To Medicine Indexmentioning

confidence: 99%

Indexal Thinking – Reconfiguring Global Topologies for Market-Based Intervention

Mehrpouya¹,

Samiolo

2019

Thinking Infrastructures

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Author/s Biography/ies:Afshin Mehrpouya is an associate professor of accounting and management control systems at HEC Paris. Trained as a medical doctor in Iran, Afshin also holds an MBA and PhD in management. In his research he explores the expanding role of accounting regimes and performance measurement in transnational governance. His current research projects focus on the production and consumption of rankings and genealogical analysis of norms such as transparency in global governance. He has conducted empirical investigations of empirical fields ranging from access to medicine, to sovereign wealth funds, responsible investments, urban sustainability and the New Financial Architecture. Prior to starting his academic career, Afshin worked in the design of environmental and social rankings and ratings, with focus on healthcare and nutrition. Science. Rita's research is in the area of social and institutional studies of accounting. She has a broad interest in the changing roles and rationales of accounting and economic calculation in different governance settings. She is particularly interested in examining economic calculation from the perspective of the history and sociology of science, unpacking the epistemic assumptions underlying costing and performance measurement approaches. She has worked on empirical topics such as the appraisal of large public sector projects and the rise of rankings in transnational governance.

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“…Competition is exacerbated, manifest in the aggregated results of international large scale assessments (ILSAs), like PISA and PIAAC, in innumerable ratings and rankings of higher education organisations (that have led to 'ranking regimes' that influence knowledge production, see Normand 2016), and in benchmarks entire countries seek to achieveat all scales (Espeland and Sauder 2016;Naidoo 2016;Brankovic, Ringel, and Werron 2018). More than ever, competition to win awareness, audience, and attention relies on explicit, public comparisons of various performances (Werron 2015). Organizations seeking legitimacy, whether for-profit or not-for-profit, as actors, themselves engage in and manage themselves in competition with generalised others (Hasse and Krücken 2013).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparative education in an age of competition and collaboration

Powell

2020

Comparative Education

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Comparative education relies on experiences, expertise, data, and criticism derived from multiple contexts and diverse levels to generate insights, facilitate understanding, and explain change. Marked by connectivity, our contemporary era vastly increases the (potential) diffusion of ideas essential for scientific advance. Three interlocking trends emphasise the growing relevance of comparative educational research. Firstly, competition has become more potentamong scholars, their organisations, and within as across countries. Secondly, educational studies, as science more generally, are increasingly conducted in collaboration -across disciplinary, cultural, linguistic, and organisational boundariesenhancing the potential for discovery while producing influential scholarship. Thirdly, while educational research and policymaking are increasingly comparative, comparative knowledge stores are often only selectively used. To counter such reductionism, indepth comparative institutional analysis across divides of academy, politics, and practice remain crucial. The multidisciplinary field must claim its relevance more persuasively, even as scholarly exchange, mobilities, and cultural knowledge endure as vital foundations. Introduction: comparative education between experience, exchange and evaluationComparative education relies on experiences, expertise, data, and criticism derived from multiple contexts and diverse levels to generate insights, facilitate understanding, and explain change. We live in an age marked by extraordinary mobility, an encompassing Internet, and English as the increasingly-dominant scientific lingua franca. These phenomena extend our connectivity and vastly increase the (potential) diffusion of ideasthe essence of scientific advanceand policy learning, as challenging as it remains to adapt solutions found within complex institutional settings to others. Worldwide, institutions and organisations of education and science have dramatically expanded, becoming key sites of exchange and debate that are crucial for innovation. From international conference participation and academic exchange to sabbaticals and even careers abroad, individual spatial mobility has become a sine qua non of the (successful) scientific career (see Kim 2017). For comparative and international education, even more for

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Why do we believe in competition? A historical-sociological view of competition as an institutionalized modern imaginary

Cited by 37 publications

References 50 publications

Context construction through competition: the prerogative of public power, intermediary institutions, and the expansion of statehood through competition

Context construction through competition: the prerogative of public power, intermediary institutions, and the expansion of statehood through competition

Indexal Thinking – Reconfiguring Global Topologies for Market-Based Intervention

Comparative education in an age of competition and collaboration

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