This paper reframes the concept of competition, arguing that recent tendencies to frame it in the context of neoliberalism are too narrow to grasp its full significance. We need to see how it operates well beyond the capitalist economy, as a social and not just theoretical concept. I contextualise it in a deeper history, going back to the eighteenth century, beginning with an empirical examination of the development of the concept in English language dictionaries and encyclopaedias, using a method of ‘conceptual history’. I show how the concept, its grammatical forms, and characteristic associations have evolved substantially since the eighteenth century. This finding is placed in a broader explanatory context, arguing that it is the combined rise of a set of core institutions of modernity, not just capitalism but also democracy, adversarial law, science, and civil society, that deeply embeds competition in the modern world. The decline of aristocratic and religious authority, and the national subordination of martial power, opened the way for more ‘liberal’ forms of society in which authority is routinely contested through competition, across economy, politics, culture and beliefs. Appreciating this is a necessary step towards truly grappling with the effects of competition on modern life.

中文翻译：

---

重构竞争概念的历史：新自由主义、精英政治、现代性

本文重新定义了竞争的概念，认为最近在新自由主义背景下构建它的趋势过于狭隘，无法理解其全部意义。我们需要看看它是如何在资本主义经济之外运作的，作为一个社会概念而不仅仅是理论概念。我将其置于更深入的历史背景中，可以追溯到 18 世纪，首先使用“概念历史”的方法对英语词典和百科全书中概念的发展进行实证检验。我展示了这个概念、它的语法形式和特征联想是如何自 18 世纪以来发生了重大变化的。这一发现被置于更广泛的解释性背景下，认为这是一系列现代性核心制度的综合兴起，不仅是资本主义，还有民主、对抗法、科学和公民社会，将竞争深深嵌入现代世界。贵族和宗教权威的衰落，以及军事权力的国家从属，为更“自由”的社会形式开辟了道路，在这种形式中，权威经常通过经济、政治、文化和信仰等方面的竞争来争夺。认识到这一点是真正应对竞争对现代生活的影响的必要步骤。