The philosophical history of projectification: The project society

Abstract

This project did not fall from heaven; nor did it rise from hell. The project has its historical roots in culture and society. On the one hand, the project has always been there. Caesar had his projects, as did Napoleon, and even the Judeo-Christian God must have been working on a project as he set out to create the world in six days. On the other hand, the project has not always been the central mould for every student, every employee, and even every non-employed. And so the first question is this: How did the project become so ubiquitous? In this chapter we shall see how the project arose, if not in the main organisation mould in a less and less predictable world, then in the form of being and organising such that no one can decline it. This will open up into a more specific discussion in the chapters that follow of projectification. Whereas we normally see, think, and discuss the project within an organisational framework, philosopher Anders Fogh Jensen will show in this chapter that the organisational project is just one manifestation of a more general isomorphism in the surrounding projective culture and society. Thus, we shall see how a synchronic transformation of Western society and culture occurred after World War II in such disparate fields as social work, dance, treatment of diseases, the firm and public institutions, branches of sports, football systems, single life and coupling, architecture, pedagogy, and warfare.