« Performance », « excellence » et création scientifique

Lucien Karpik

Revue française de socio-Economie, 2012, vol. n° 10, issue 2, 113-135

Abstract: Analysis of the 2006 French public reform of research should distinguish between two levels of action: a general discourse and policies designed for specific scientific disciplines. The discourse links researchers increased performance to intensified interindividual competition ? an argument borrowed from neoclassical economic theory, which thus becomes the foundation for the new research policy. But this theory is not relevant to research products and actors and thus this justification is merely an illusion. The comparison of policies applied to economics and sociology brings to light two different worlds of indicators and rankings, two modes of resource distribution (bonuses, career, research funding) and two sets of effects, a situation due to the fact that the two disciplines apply two different criteria of scientific excellence. However, both disciplines are lacking in means for preventing harmful unexpected consequences. One may wonder about the real objectives of this research reform.

Keywords: researcher; research policy; effectiveness; performance; excellence; competition; indicator; ranking; singularities; judgment devices; economics; sociology (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012
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