This volume contains an Open Access chapter. We have witnessed an avalanche of quantitative public measures over the past decades. Research in the social sciences has shown that rankings in particular are now a driving force of social change - both, desired and undesired - in many areas of modern life. This volume explores the distinct allure of rankings in diverse empirical settings such as healthcare, the IT sector, the arts, professional sports, anti-slavery advocacy, the pharma industry, and educational governance. Drawing from a rich variety of social theories and methodologies, the contributions to this volume advance our understanding of the production, institutionalization, and effects of rankings significantly, sparking new debates and suggesting promising pathways forward.

The classical concept of organizations as comprising solitary 'walled-in' actors with clear operational boundaries is increasingly being challenged. On the one hand, established organizational forms have been supplemented by a whole variety of new ones that only partially exhibit their properties and that frequently embed single organizations in national or transnational networks; furthermore, it is often not clear who the members of an organization are and what membership actually means, as in the case of new companies such as Uber or AirBnB, and even traditional organizations, such as universities, are undergoing drastic changes. On the other hand, organizations face increasing demands for transparency, meaning they have to disclose more and more information, which is supposed to engender less corruption, more efficiency, and more legitimacy. This volume investigates the impact of these changes on organizations and offers conceptual as well as empirical insights. Divided into four parts this volume examines concepts of organizational boundaries, boundaries and organizational dynamics, meta organization and organizational networks, and boundaries and organizational fields.

Rankings sind in der modernen Gesellschaft allgegenwartig: Athleten, Hotels, Nationalstaaten, Unternehmen, Universitaten, Kunsttreibende und viele andere sehen sich Leistungsvergleichen in der Form von regelmassig veroeffentlichen Ranglisten ausgesetzt. Die Beitrage des Sammelbandes nahern sich dem Phanomen aus einer genuin soziologischen Perspektive und untersuchen u.a. die Produktion, Verwendungsweisen, Institutionalisierung und Effekte von Rankings in unterschiedlichen gesellschaftlichen Feldern.

Leopold Ringel entwickelt die These, dass Organisationen bestandig versuchen, ihr Inneres vor ausserer Einsicht zu verstecken, um eine idealisierte Selbstdarstellung aufrechtzuerhalten - auch dann, wenn sie sich dazu bekennen, mehr Transparenz herzustellen. Daraus folgt eine Spannung zwischen den institutionalisierten Idealvorstellungen von Transparenz und der organisationalen Praxis, die in einer qualitativen Fallstudie zur Landtagsfraktion der Piratenpartei NRW untersucht wird. Trotz der starken Verankerung der Piratenpartei im Transparenzdiskurs ist die Fraktion nach ihrer Wahl in den Landtag Stuck fur Stuck und entgegen ihren eigenen Vorstellungen dazu ubergegangen, eine intransparente organisationale Hinterbuhne herauszubilden.