From character to intellect: changing conceptions of merit in the social sciences and humanities, 1951–1971

Tsay, Angela; Lamont, Michèle; Abbott, Andrew; Guetzkow, Joshua

doi:10.1016/s0304-422x(03)00002-0

Cited by 37 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…In Western Europe anno 479, in contrast, pacifism, vegetarianism and asexuality were considered meritocratic traits (ibid.). Similarly changes in meritocratic traits over time are described with regard to the rise of court society (Elias, 1939), in the evaluation of American social science and humanities scholarship (Tsay, Lamont, Abbott, & Guetzkow, 2003), as well as between men and women today (Prentice & Carranza, 2002). These studies serve to make the point that what constitutes merit is historically shaped and institutionally-specific (Baez, 2006;Liu, 2011;Rhoads, Saenz, & Carducci, 2005).…”

Section: Lesson 3: There Is No Neutral Definition Of 'Merit'mentioning

confidence: 93%

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The Unfulfillable Promise of Meritocracy: Three Lessons and Their Implications for Justice in Education

2015

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This paper draws on a literature in sociology, psychology and economics that has extensively documented the unfulfilled promise of meritocracy in education. I argue that the lesson learned from this literature is threefold: 1) educational institutions in practice significantly distort the ideal meritocratic process; 2) opportunities for merit are themselves determined by nonmeritocratic factors; 3) any definition of merit must favor some groups in society while putting others at a disadvantage. Taken together these conclusions give reason to understand meritocracy not just as an unfulfilled promise, but as an unfulfillable promise. Having problematized meritocracy as an ideal worth striving for, I argue that the pervasiveness of meritocratic policies in education threatens to crowd out need and equality as principles of justice. As such it may pose a barrier rather than a route to equality of opportunity. Furthermore, meritocratic discourse legitimates societal inequalities as justly deserved such as when misfortune is understood as personal failure. The paper concludes by setting a research agenda that asks how citizens come to hold meritocratic beliefs; addresses the persistence of (unintended) meritocratic imperfections in schools; analyzes the construction of a legitimizing discourse in educational policy; and investigates how education selects and labels winners and losers.

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Section: Lesson 3: There Is No Neutral Definition Of 'Merit'mentioning

confidence: 93%

“…Sources: De Botton, 2008, pp. 175-179;Elias, 1939;Karabel, 2005;Prentice & Carranza, 2002;Tsay, Lamont, Abbott, & Guetzkow, 2003…”

Section: Tables and Figuresmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Unfulfillable Promise of Meritocracy: Three Lessons and Their Implications for Justice in Education

2015

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“…This literature provides heuristic tools for the analysis of social processes in which worth and value is attributed, and in which meanings are produced, legitimated and institutionalized (Lamont, 2012). Literature on academic evaluation shows how the valorization of academics contributes to their recognition, for example, when prospective graduate students or deceased professors are assessed based on different conceptions of merit (Hamann, 2016;Posselt, 2016;Tsay et al, 2003). Further, this literature shows that in appointment procedures, candidates are constructed in an interplay of the two attributive dimensions of excellence and gender (van den Brink and Benschop, 2012).…”

Section: How Academics Become a Professorial Someone: Assessment And mentioning

confidence: 99%

The making of professors. Assessment and recognition in academic recruitment

Hamann¹

2019

Preprint

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How do academics become professors? This paper considers the making of ‘professor’ as a subject position through which academics are acknowledged in both organizational contexts and disciplinary fields. The paper examines social processes of recognition in 145 appointment procedures for professorships in the discipline of history at sixteen German universities between 1950 and 1985. Based on an analysis of over 1500 documents from archived appointment records, I investigate how academics are acknowledged as professorial in appointment procedures. The procedures invoked both (1) processes of judgement, in which worth and qualities are attributed to candidates, and (2) processes of legitimation, in which said judgements are stabilized and made acceptable. Using insights from the sociology of valuation and evaluation, this paper sheds light on the fundamental processes of recognition and valorization in academia. The findings contribute to the sociology of scientific knowledge and science and technology studies, which have concentrated on academic recognition in the realm of research, but paid less attention to such recognition in organizational contexts. Complementing this literature, the paper allows for a more general understanding of ‘professor’ as a focal academic subject position.

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“…B. Tsay et al 2003), in Nachlässen (z. B. Solche Vergleiche sind nicht zuletzt hilfreich, weil Berufungsverfahren selbst bisher nur schlaglichtartig erforscht sind.…”

Section: Forschungsstand Zu Berufungsverfahrenunclassified

Berufungsakten als Datensorte für die Geschichte der Soziologie

Hamann¹

2019

Preprint

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Der Beitrag stellt Berufungsakten als empirisches Material für die Soziologiegeschichte vor. Berufungsakten gewähren Einblicke in formelle und offizielle Praktiken der Selbst- und Fremdpositionierung von Wissenschaftlern. In den Dokumenten dieser reglementierten Verfahren der Berufung kommen unterschiedliche Zuschreibungen und Kategorisierungen zum Ausdruck, die andere empirische Zugriffe in dieser Form nicht erfassen können. Nach einem Überblick über den Forschungsstand zu Berufungsverfahren im Allgemeinen werden im Hauptteil des Beitrags archivrechtliche Fragen des Zugangs zu und des Inhalts von Berufungsakten geklärt. Darauf folgen Überlegungen zu den methodologischen Potenzialen dieser Dokumente. Die im Beitrag vertretene These lautet, dass die in Berufungsakten dokumentierten formellen Praktiken der Positionierung eine eigene, ebenso wirkmächtige und soziologisch relevante Realität der Verfahren abbilden wie die informellen Praktiken, die in den Akten nicht enthalten sind.

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From character to intellect: changing conceptions of merit in the social sciences and humanities, 1951–1971

Cited by 37 publications

References 5 publications

The Unfulfillable Promise of Meritocracy: Three Lessons and Their Implications for Justice in Education

The Unfulfillable Promise of Meritocracy: Three Lessons and Their Implications for Justice in Education

The making of professors. Assessment and recognition in academic recruitment

Berufungsakten als Datensorte für die Geschichte der Soziologie

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