Ideas become performative only when institutions carry and enact them

Evidence

How the Neoliberal Think TankWent Global: The Atlas Network,1981 to the Present … Since the late 1970s, neoliberalism has transformed the world. It has impacted the structures and strategies of firms and organizations—whether private, public, or not-for-profit. It has influenced policy-making at national and transnational levels. It has transformed our private lives and our very sense of self. The idea of a market society has become performative in the Austinian sense. Yet not all ideas that circulate become performative—only those that are framed, carried, adopted, appropriated, enacted, and institutionalized successfully. Despite the many studies of neoliberalism as a doctrine and way of life, scholars have yet to explain fully how this particular set of ideas was translated into institutions and practices with a global reach. — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 539

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines ‘performative’ in the Austinian sense and contrasts circulating ideas with those successfully institutionalized.
• XREF: Connects to Callon’s and MacKenzie’s work on performativity of economics and to the broader ‘ideas need carriers’ literature. — connects to: Not every authoritative formula can make itself true; only viable ones become performative. — Donald MacKenzie, An Engine, Not a Camera: How Financial…, 96; Ideas gain influence only through organizational architecture and network building — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 605; People change only by producing and acting on their own ideas. — Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, 313 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Ideas gain influence only through organizational architecture and network building #corroborates (0.90) — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 605
• People change only by producing and acting on their own ideas. #contradicts (0.85) — Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, 313