The Logic of Academic Hierarchies and the Impact of Quality Measures: On the Discursive Construction of 'Size' in Economics

The contribution will show how “size” is constructed in the economics discipline. Based on empirical studies of teaching and research practices by economists in UK and Germany, my paper will elaborate the discursive and institutional technologies which produce the image of a “great science”. It will particularly analysed how and inasmuch “size” is the effect of interplay between concentration of academic resources (money, funds, positions in organizations and journals), the application of technologies of evaluation (rankings etc.) as well as the formation of superiority images of researchers (“big shots”). While structuralist approaches reduce the formation of hierarchies to the access of resources and constructivist perspectives overestimate communication and negotiation processes, my paper argues for materialist-constructivist approach that brings together both, institutional sedimentations and discursive formations. The presentation draws on preliminary results from the WiKult project (funded by the BMBF).