Wither the Social Sciences? On Excellence, Rankings, and other Trifles

I argue in this chapter that it is essential for the social sciences to provide explanations and possibly also critical reflections as to how, why and to what end rankings and assessments are imbued with social (and other) values in different contexts. For too long we have delib- erately avoided scrutinizing the very mechanisms that have been framing and often also constraining our ways of ‘doing social science’ (including teaching and research). Therefore it is important to include in our research agenda the things that determine the present and future of our academic disciplines.