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Competition : a critical history of a concept
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Gane, Nicholas (2019) Competition : a critical history of a concept. Theory, Culture & Society, 37 (2). pp. 31-59. doi:10.1177/0263276419878247
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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0263276419878247
Abstract
This article expands Michel Foucault's genealogy of liberalism and neoliberalism by analysing the concept of competition. It addresses four key liberal conceptions of competition in turn: the idea of competition as a destructive but progressive and thus necessary force (roughly 1830–90); economic theories of market equilibrium that theorize competition mathematically (1870 onwards); socio-biological ideas of competition as something natural (1850–1900); and sociological arguments that see competition as adding value to the social (1900–20). From this starting point, the article considers the ways in which three main trajectories of neoliberal thought that emerged from the early 1920s onwards – Austrian, German and American – developed and responded to these conceptualizations of competition. In conclusion, it is argued that this history of the concept of competition leads to a new understanding of the tensions that lie at the heart of neoliberal thought, and which are largely missing from Foucault's account.
| Item Type: | Journal Article | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Subjects: | H Social Sciences > HB Economic Theory H Social Sciences > HM Sociology J Political Science > JC Political theory |
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| Divisions: | Faculty of Social Sciences > Sociology | ||||||
| Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Competition , Equality , Statics and dynamics (Social sciences) , Liberalism , Neoliberalism | ||||||
| Journal or Publication Title: | Theory, Culture & Society | ||||||
| Publisher: | Sage Publications Ltd. | ||||||
| ISSN: | 0263-2764 | ||||||
| Official Date: | 26 October 2019 | ||||||
| Dates: |
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| Volume: | 37 | ||||||
| Number: | 2 | ||||||
| Page Range: | pp. 31-59 | ||||||
| DOI: | 10.1177/0263276419878247 | ||||||
| Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||||
| Publication Status: | Published | ||||||
| Publisher Statement: | Gane, N. (2019). Competition: A Critical History of a Concept. Theory, Culture & Society. Copyright © 2019 The Author. Reprinted by permission of SAGE Publications. Additionally, please provide a link to the appropriate DOI for the published version of the Contribution on the SAGE Journals website https://doi.org/10.1177/0263276419878247. | ||||||
| Access rights to Published version: | Restricted or Subscription Access | ||||||
| Related URLs: |
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