Abstract

This article, written as a critical dialogue between 2 interlocutors, puts forward a
number of arguments justifying and critiquing the practice of university ranking. It draws attention
to 3 key problematics: the ideological construction of institutional ranking as a professionally
necessary and inevitable activity, the symbolically violent character of ranking as a form of social
categorization and hierarchization, and the possibility of denying the system legitimacy by practicing
more prefigurative forms of its critique. Through the progression of this dialogue, the article
ultimately makes a case for turning away from university rankings on both scientific and ethicopolitical
grounds.