Competition beyond Capitalism: Anthropological Perspectives on an Unruly Dynamic
Leo Hopkinson · Teodor Zidaru
May 2026 · Studies in Social Analysis Book 16 · Berghahn Books
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186
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About this ebook
Competition often appears to typify capitalist social life as a process that defines relative value and pits people against one another. But capitalism is not all there is to competition. In ethnographic perspective, the outcomes of competition depend on always varied, shifting and contested interpretations of what is worth competing for and how to do so. Hence, even when competition is imaged to engineer pre-defined changes or institute particular social orders, in practice its effects are often complex and unexpected. This book explores how competition is an unruly dynamic that generates unforeseen possibilities for human connection and mediates divergent social orders, rather than imposing one or another.
Competition often appears to typify capitalist social life as a process that defines relative value and pits people against one another. But capitalism is not all there is to competition. In ethnographic perspective, the outcomes of competition depend on always varied, shifting and contested inte...
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About the author
Leo Hopkinson is a Lecturer in Medical Anthropology at University College London. He works with boxers and other athletes mostly in Ghana and the UK, exploring how they build lives through sport with a particular attention to gendered experience, competition, and the ethics of physicality in sport.
Leo Hopkinson is a Lecturer in Medical Anthropology at University College London. He works with boxers and other athletes mostly in Ghana and the UK, exploring how they build lives through sport with a particular attention to gendered experience, competition, and the ethics of physicality in sport.
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