Repertoires of Comparison: How Common Comparisons Shape Social and Political Life

Mischa Dekker, Thijs van Dooremalen & Galen Watts (2025) Cultural Sociology, Open access Abstract. Comparison is ubiquitous in social life, yet some comparisons are far more common, institutionalized, and influential than others. Building on work in cultural sociology, we call these repertoires of comparison (RoCs). Institutionalized across one or more social fields, RoCs are employed at different levels of society (local, national, global) and across myriad social contexts (sports clubs, ci...