Competition unbundled: taking stock and looking forward

Abstract

In this final chapter, we discuss how the preceding chapters illuminate some fundamental questions about competition. How is it constructed? How are the behaviours resulting from competition managed? What are the consequences of competition? How can competition be removed? And, how do these factors vary with the good people compete for? Our aim is to provide an outline of a social science research programme on competition that is long overdue. A central message of the book is that competition seems ubiquitous but that it should not be taken for granted or be naturalized as an inevitable aspect of human existence. Its emergence, maintenance, and change are often the result of intention and purposive efforts, and a central challenge for social science is to learn more about these developments.