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Hi all - many apologies for sending this three times: for some reason, the 
body of the message did not copy in properly the first two times around!

Hope it's of interest to some of you!
Nick

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American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting

New Orleans, November 17th- 21st 2010

 
 
 
 
The Social Life of Achievement

 
 
Organizers:            Dr. Nick Long & Professor Henrietta Moore,

Department of Social Anthropology, University of Cambridge

 
 
 
Social theory has often seen human action and agency as motivated by a 
drive to 'achieve', or to be successful in particular spheres. This panel 
seeks to establish a critical dialogue between these theoretical approaches 
and ethnographic studies of how notions of 'achievement' circulate in the 
contemporary world. How do certain notions of being 'an achiever' come to 
acquire normative force? What subjectivities, experiences, and social 
relations do these discourses engender as they circulate within and between 
a variety of social contexts? How do these effects come to influence the 
motivations behind, and the character of, human action?
 
As ever more countries around the word seek to increase their 
competitiveness in a neoliberal 'knowledge economy', notions of economic, 
academic, and personal 'achievement' are freely circulating in public 
policy and social life (Ong 2006; Obama 2010). Moreover, policy 
interventions often draw on work within the social sciences that posits a 
drive to become competent as both innate and universal (see e.g. Barth 
1959; Rowlands 1994; Elliot & Dweck 2005). Policy makers see practical 
value in circulating ideas of 'achievement' because they believe the trope 
speaks to a fundamental facet of the human condition: an innate desire to 
be better (e.g. McClelland 1961; Duncan Smith 2010). This raises a series 
of important anthropological questions. Can we assume that such desires are 
really human universals? What other impulses might come into play - and do 
these have biological or social origins? And even if one is motivated to 
'achieve' or 'become better', are the consequences of success as 
straightforward as they seem?

 
This panel seeks to develop new approaches to 'achievement' with the goal 
of better understanding the practical consequences - both socio-cultural 
and psychological - of achievement (and failure). In doing this we build on 
two exciting new research directions. The first is a growing body of social 
science research which has found that the effects of 'achievement' vary 
profoundly according to social and cultural circumstances (e.g. Fordham 
1996; Fong 2004; Long 2007; Demerath 2009; Long 2010). It may prove 
emotionally unsatisfying, may foster feelings of guilt or self-doubt, and 
may change the social perception of the 'achievers' in both positive and 
negative ways. The second is research in developmental psychology which 
shows that the ways in which achievement is experienced during childhood - 
in particular the ways in which children are praised - are very influential 
in shaping their own theories of self, affecting their propensity to take 
risks, be confident or be efficacious in the future (e.g. Dweck 1999; Grant 
& Dweck 2003).

 
We are therefore interested in exploring achievement's social life: what 
are the social meanings, and subsequent experiential dimensions, of 
'achieving'? How does this affect the ways in which people both perceive 
themselves and relate to others? What can be gained from looking at these 
processes in sequence over the life-course? Answering these questions 
allows us to a) see what might be at stake in policies seeking to encourage 
'achievement'; b) offer a more nuanced range of tools through which to 
interpret the causes and consequences of human beings' motivations to 
succeed (or not) in any given sphere; c) consider what is gained and what 
is lost when analysts frame something as 'achievement', as opposed to other 
possible idioms, such as 'fulfilment' or 'consummation'. The panel thus 
also reflects on how ideas of 'achievement' have come to circulate within 
academic discourse.

 
We anticipate that this panel will give rise to an edited publication on 
anthropological approaches to achievement.

 
Please email abstracts, of no more than 250 words, to Nick at 
[log in to unmask] by 17th March 2010. And if you have any questions or 
queries, please don't hesitate to get in touch!



-- 

Nick Long,
Department of Social Anthropology - Room G.7,
Free School Lane,
Cambridge
CB2 3RF

Tel: +44 (0)1223 763963
Fax: +44 (0)1223 335993

http://www.socanth.cam.ac.uk/staff

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