The Power of Competition. The Max Planck Society and the Economization of Research since the 1990s

Since the mid-1990s the Max Planck Society (in German: Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, abbreviated MPG) dedicated itself to the continuous optimization of its international competitiveness the same as a global concern. Like the business sector, research organisations had to constantly improve their strategic positioning in order not to fall behind in the global race. Otherwise, MPG Presidents argued, social welfare in Germany was under threat. Ariane Leendertz shows, how, at the turn of the millennium, an economization of the political language of the MPG as well as the social legitimation of research funding occurred. She also discusses, which institutional and content-related consequences can be connected with this economization.